bigbadbowtie
New member
As far as the attraction to the plated bullet...it was 100% price for this box of 500. That's the only reason.
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Issues with reloading .45.
- Thread starter bigbadbowtie
- Start date
Excellent! And you seated it with no crimp and now you have seen hands-on that the taper crimp is not there to hold your slug in place in .45. You applied no crimp and your slug is fitting nicely.Seated the bullet with no crimp and it's SOLID.
Some times the crimp can be the problem. Brass has more spring to it than lead and too much crimp sizes the bullet and brass down, but the brass will spring back leaving the bullet undersized and loose.
I find the best way to make good rounds is using minimal flare and minimal if any crimp.
I find the best way to make good rounds is using minimal flare and minimal if any crimp.
I purchased 1000 200Gr. Rainer Plated round nose bullets and they are the most accurate 45 ACP bullets I have ever shot in my Colt 1911.
The seating process is the only touchy process with these bullets. When the case bell is closed. If you continue to push the bullet the jacket will buckle or even tare.
Try working with those bullets and find the right seating depth. You may find that they are fine bullets and at a great price.
I used Winchester Large pistol primers and Bulls Eye. It's the best pistol accuracy I have ever had.
One note is that the Round nose bullets don't give the nice hole in the paper target that a wad cutter would.
Good Luck
The seating process is the only touchy process with these bullets. When the case bell is closed. If you continue to push the bullet the jacket will buckle or even tare.
Try working with those bullets and find the right seating depth. You may find that they are fine bullets and at a great price.
I used Winchester Large pistol primers and Bulls Eye. It's the best pistol accuracy I have ever had.
One note is that the Round nose bullets don't give the nice hole in the paper target that a wad cutter would.
Good Luck
I have to disagree with the following.
The Taper Crimp does hold the bullet (or help) while at the same time it maintains the rim of the case such that it headspaces on the front of the case. A roll crimp turns that in and then you (at least supposedly) do not have head space. Having successful (to a degree) run 45 GCP though a 45 ACP, I am not so sure about that!
I doubt its the issue but it is important distinction for general reloading. of semi auto pistol rounds.
Too much flare and it won't fit, but there is a lot of room in there that it may fit just fine.
SO its not the chamber, its the headspace in play there.
The Taper Crimp does hold the bullet (or help) while at the same time it maintains the rim of the case such that it headspaces on the front of the case. A roll crimp turns that in and then you (at least supposedly) do not have head space. Having successful (to a degree) run 45 GCP though a 45 ACP, I am not so sure about that!
I doubt its the issue but it is important distinction for general reloading. of semi auto pistol rounds.
Too much flare and it won't fit, but there is a lot of room in there that it may fit just fine.
SO its not the chamber, its the headspace in play there.
Pssst.... with semi-auto pistol rounds, the "crimp" you are applying is a taper crimp and it does NOT HOLD THE BULLET IN PLACE. That is not the function of a taper crimp in .45 ACP.
The function of taper crimp in .45 ACP is to un-do the case mouth flare and prepare the cartridge for proper fit in the chamber.
Attempting to use a taper crimp to forcibly "hold" a bullet in to a .45 ACP case is a bad idea and usually will not work.
What normally happens in a 1911 pattern gun is that the case rim, slides up under the extractor as it feeds out of the magazine, and most of the time, the extractor will hold the case close enough to the breechface that the round will fire. It almost always happens, but cannot be counted on as a 100% of the time thing.
Cases too short (or roll crimped) to be stopped by the chamber mouth will often fire because they are held by the extractor.
HOWEVER, other types of actions might not do this, or do it with any kind of consistency. IF you have the kind of gun where the extractor snaps over the rim of the chambered round, failure to have a positive headspace stop (such as you would get with a roll crimp) the round could be shoved too deeply into the chamber to fire, or maybe even have the extractor engage the rim.
A SLIGHT taper crimp absolutely does hold the bullet in place, but not very well alone, and if overdone, has just the opposite effect, most noticeably with lead bullets or plated ones.
Its not seen so much with jacketed bullets, because being harder they are more difficult to "over squeeze" than softer slugs. Too much taper crimp has the effect of squeezing the bullet slightly smaller and the small amount the case brass springs back is different from the amount a lead bullet does, and can leave the bullet looser in the case than no crimp at all.
Cases too short (or roll crimped) to be stopped by the chamber mouth will often fire because they are held by the extractor.
HOWEVER, other types of actions might not do this, or do it with any kind of consistency. IF you have the kind of gun where the extractor snaps over the rim of the chambered round, failure to have a positive headspace stop (such as you would get with a roll crimp) the round could be shoved too deeply into the chamber to fire, or maybe even have the extractor engage the rim.
A SLIGHT taper crimp absolutely does hold the bullet in place, but not very well alone, and if overdone, has just the opposite effect, most noticeably with lead bullets or plated ones.
Its not seen so much with jacketed bullets, because being harder they are more difficult to "over squeeze" than softer slugs. Too much taper crimp has the effect of squeezing the bullet slightly smaller and the small amount the case brass springs back is different from the amount a lead bullet does, and can leave the bullet looser in the case than no crimp at all.
Sorry fellers, but I disagree. I have only been reloading 45 ACP since 1988 and 9mm since 1995. I am a confirmed tinkerer and have often tried "I wonder what would happen if..." things with reloading. I have only used enough taper crimp to barely allow the round to chamber (in actuality, no "crimp" at all). I backed out the die so no contact was made with the case and slowly lowered it until a round would "plunk". Upon examination with my magnifying visor under bright light, I could see that no portion of the case mouth was forced into the bullet, no squeeze at all. Measurements confirm this also. So, with any of my reloads, using jacketed, cast, plated, PCed and coated the bullets in my semi-auto ammo are not held in place bu a crimp...44 AMP: "A SLIGHT taper crimp absolutely does hold the bullet in place, but not very well alone, and if overdone, has just the opposite effect, most noticeably with lead bullets or plated ones."
Exactly
ammo.crafter
New member
45 reloading
Lots of excellent suggestions given by obviously longtime reloaders.
Pick up some cast lead 45's bearing in mind d the BHN as regards the velocity you are loading for.
As others have said, start over again from the beginning with your dies and adjust them slowly and see what you reloads look like.
Personally, I am not a Lee fan.
You are reloading ammo you will be shooting. Do not go cheap.
Good luck and report back.
Lots of excellent suggestions given by obviously longtime reloaders.
Pick up some cast lead 45's bearing in mind d the BHN as regards the velocity you are loading for.
As others have said, start over again from the beginning with your dies and adjust them slowly and see what you reloads look like.
Personally, I am not a Lee fan.
You are reloading ammo you will be shooting. Do not go cheap.
Good luck and report back.
polyphemus
New member
Ordnance specs don't call for it,SAAMI specs don't either,factory rounds don't have it.If the reason why a taper crimp is applied to .45 AUTO rounds is to straighten out remaining bellmouth then the flaring die is incorrectly setup.
When this round is used in revolvers a cannelured bullet should be used to allow a roll crimp to prevent inertial bullet creep.
When this round is used in revolvers a cannelured bullet should be used to allow a roll crimp to prevent inertial bullet creep.
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Mikld, you are free to disagree, but with my reloads, the way I produce them, the taper crimp does have some holding force, but very limited, so not worth much arguing, YMMV. The tension of a properly sized brass case is the primary method of preventing bullet from shifting up or down.
.....I backed out the die so no contact was made with the case and slowly lowered it until a round would "plunk". Upon examination with my magnifying visor under bright light, I could see that no portion of the case mouth was forced into the bullet, no squeeze at all. Measurements confirm this also. So, with any of my reloads, using jacketed, cast, plated, PCed and coated the bullets in my semi-auto ammo are not held in place bu a crimp...
In my testing, this method will hold the bullet for a couple times 1 or 2 loading in the chamber without shortening the oal more than 0.005". Applying taper crimp until you get to straight walls, or 0 crimp is stronger. In my testing though, straight plus 1/2 turn of taper crimp yields the most feeds before movement.
Last, with plated bullets, a post seating taper crimp die is a huge help. Seat and crimp in one die causes the seater to dig into the plating and create a ring in my setup on the bullet.