Loading 45 acp for first time . . .

Prof Young

New member
Loaders:
As the happy owner of a new Rock Island 1911 in 45 acp, I'm preparing to load my first 45 auto. I have the four die set from Lee. I imagine loading 45 auto is pretty much like any other pistol loading, but thought I ask for thoughts and advice.

Talk to me.

Thanks

Live well, be safe
Prof young
 
It's pretty forgiving. Assuming you've loaded for auto pistols before........... If not, make sure you don't flare the case too much, and make sure you get all of that flare out of it without "crimping".

Enjoy.
 
45 ACP is a fun round to load. It's safe too, since it's real easy to see the powder charge level. The cases are short n fat, so they're easy to work with. I prefer to load revolver cartridges; but 45 ACP is far and away my favorite semi-auto to load. Did 200 of them yesterday, in fact.

Oh gosh, why am I going down this road . . .

make sure you don't flare the case too much, and make sure you get all of that flare out of it without "crimping"

I flair my cases a lot (for all handgun calibers, actually). An in depth discussion about flairing is outside the scope of this post, so I'll keep it brief: Basically, I'm getting too darn old to fight with seating bullets. So I don't subscribe to the above quote, and give my cases a generous flair.

You have a Lee Factory Crimp Die. It'll fix up any anomalies caused by a generous flair. I know, because I've been doing it on a regular basis for about three years now. I proved this 200 times just yesterday ;)
 
Yes, over crimping, rather than over flaring, could be more of a concern since that might cause the case to expand unnoticed, resulting in decreased bullet tension, rather than increased, and even interfering with proper chambering. Apply just sufficient crimp to remove the flare which then provides proper head spacing on the case mouth.
 
Disassemble your .45, and use your barrel as a "Go/No Go" check, when you're adjusting crimp and o.a.l. It'll save you a lotta trouble, later.
 
Check out Xtreme Bullets for reasonably price plated .45's. I've been using them for a good while now as range ammo and works pretty well.
 
Not too many problems with the 45.

45 auto bullets are generally about as wide as they are long and it's easy to seat them a little crooked if you're not careful.

Keep your flare to a bare minimum.

After checking the first few with the plunk test in the barrel, I like to check the rest with a cartridge gauge, it's tighter than your chamber and finds problems sooner.

.45 acp is my favorite by far.
 
You have a Lee Factory Crimp Die. It'll fix up any anomalies caused by a generous flair. I know, because I've been doing it on a regular basis for about three years now. I proved this 200 times just yesterday

I can agree with this, even though NickCS disagrees with my statement, however, I will add that I only use a taper crimp dies and not the LFCD, which causes me to be more careful about how much I flare the case mouth.
 
"...loading 45 Auto is pretty much like any other pistol..." Yep, only easier. Like it's made for loaders with stubby fingers. And it's pistol, not revolver. Taper crimp ONLY(The Lee Factory Crimp Die does it, but that brand is NOT essential. Some of their marketing of 'em is nonsense too. A firm crimp has nothing to do with magnum anything.). Using just enough to hold the bullet in place.
Which bullet depends on what you're doing with it. Cast 230 RN's or FP's(Flat Points) work extremely well with Bullseye(my Colt likes 4.5). Nice pleasant to shoot target load.
 
Yes, there are different ways to arrive at the same place. I know my way isn't the only way to make good ammunition. ;)

It's a bit of a topic drift, but when I load 45 ACP (and others), I use a three-die set up on my progressive. The first die (RCBS) seats; the second die (RCBS) taper crimps (even if it's a revolver cartridge, yes); and the third die (LFCD) does it's wall-straightening thing - if/as needed - and then a second crimp.

(In the case of plated, and even some lead bullets, with revolver cartridges, I still use the above three-die method; but I disengage the crimp mechanism of the FCD (because it's a roll crimp); so the FCD serves only to straighten the cartridge wall if/as needed.)
 
Per Hammerheads point about the bullets tilting easily, I had that problem when I first got my Dillon Square Deal long ago. I noticed the bulge in the case that mirrors the location of the bullet base would often be visible only on one side of the case, indicating bullet tilt. So I chucked the powder drop and actuator tube into my lathe and ground a Lyman M die contour onto it to create a little step at the case mouth that the bullet sets squarely into. Bingo, no more one-sided case bulges. A few are not perfectly even all the way around due to case wall thickness unevenness, but all-in-all much more square than before. This affects both accuracy and leading, IME. If you want to make the switch, you can buy the Lyman multi-expander die which comes with M-profile expander inserts in all the common handgun calibers.

The only other thing is that if you are loading flat meplat bullets, in particular, is to keep and eye on how much fouling builds up in the seater die. If your bullets come in a randomly packed box and have normal cast bullet lube on them, it can pick it up off the bullet noses and cake to the point it is actually seating bullets deeper. A little mineral spirits on a Q-tip will generally remove it without having to remove or adjust the die.
 
.45 ACP - short fat cartridges...short fat fingers...for me it was a match made in heaven.:D

I started on .45 ACP a long time ago with just 'book learnin' (no practical experience at all) and so far still have all my fingers and thumbs.

Enjoy in moderation.
Good luck.
 
If you want to make the switch, you can buy the Lyman multi-expander die which comes with M-profile expander inserts in all the common handgun calibers.
Yup, the Lyman M die, the Redding copy, or the Lyman multi expander is the way to go for .45.
Square base bullets seem to help as well, I'm really happy with Blue Bullet's 200 grain SWC, a real nice design for a coated bullet and very affordable.
http://www.thebluebullets.com/category-s/1831.htm
250-200SWC-45-2T.jpg
 
I just love this Forum. So last night I kicked out 50 rounds of the
Win. 230 Gr.RN. It was 1999 the last time I loaded the 45 ACP. So I used the pamphlet that came with the RCBS die.
It sounds like I may have over crimped. It was a firm but not deforming bullet but the case forward edge had a slit shine to it.
So I should measure the mouth to make sure or just use the pistol chamber to gage it? Is that it?
 
I'd get more info than I'm giving you in this post because I loaded for years and years without a gauge. (NOT something I'd recommend today.)

I used my 1911 barrel as the 'gauge' doing the famous 'plunk' test. I would crimp until the round would enter the chamber and I would get the sharp 'click' as the mouth of the cartridge hit the edge of the chamber. At this point I called it good. Other folk have told me that the sharp 'click' changes to a dull, kind of mushy, thud noise if you over crimp. Of all the (many) mistakes I've made reloading, over crimping wasn't one of them. IMhO the .45 ACP might be the most forgiving cartridge around.

I did play around a bit with different loads but always came back to 200 grain semi-wadcutters loaded with just enough Bullseye powder to reliably cycle MY 1911. I'd say easily 75% of my reloading was this formula. It was for bullseye paper target shooting.
 
Thanks . . .

Loaders:
Thanks for all the info. Useful stuff here. I haven't tried loading any 45 acp yet but that day will be here soon.
Thanks again.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
It's also difficult to find a pistol powder that won't work at least adequately in .45 ACP. I think the cartridge was first loaded commercially with Bullseye, but powders as slow-burning as Blue Dot and HS-6 also find application.

MY preference is Unique, but any powder that burns slower than AA#2 and faster than SR-4756 is very likely to do all that you wish. IMR PB is another favorite. Economical, mild, very clean-burning.
 
Skip hot loads for now. Choose a medium 'powder' load for starters.

Lee's instruction for step by step will help with most questions.

That 4th die (FCD) is a good one! I make sure that the seating die is not adjusted for any crimp. That's what the 4th die accomplishes all by itself.
 
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