Bucksnort1
New member
Prof Young,
Instead of disassembling your pistol, buy a case gauge for 45 ACP. It will do the same thing as inserting each empty and sized case in your gun's chamber and you don't have to handle your gun (safety) just for this. You can buy them caliber specific for rifle or handgun or, you can buy a Lyman Chamber Checker. Recently, I purchased one on sale from Cabela's and had it shipped to the store. I paid about $25. I believe they are around $35, normally.
The Lyman will check the length and indicate whether your case will fit in the chamber. The checker is made from a block of aluminum and is machined to SAAMI minimum specifications. It will handle 40 S&W, 38 Super, 9mm Parabellum, 380 auto, 45 Colt, 44 mag/special, 357 mag/38 spl, and 45 ACP.
You can't determine if 38 spl or 44 spl cases are too long because it's set up only for the longer magnum cases but it will, for those calibers, indicate whether the case will fit in the cylinder.
The checker is perfect for me because I load 45 ACP, 44mag, 44 spl, 45 Colt, and 357 mag/special.
Here is a quick note on belling. Some say they bell more than others. If you bell too much, the case will not go into the mouth of the seating die or, in your case, the seating die and the factory crimp die. If the case won't go into the seating die, you probably won't be able to remove the bell with the sizing die. I had this happen to me but I was lucky because my 45 Colt sizing die mouth is slightly larger than the ACP sizing die mouth. I was able to run the case in the Colt die just enough to remove the bell.
Instead of disassembling your pistol, buy a case gauge for 45 ACP. It will do the same thing as inserting each empty and sized case in your gun's chamber and you don't have to handle your gun (safety) just for this. You can buy them caliber specific for rifle or handgun or, you can buy a Lyman Chamber Checker. Recently, I purchased one on sale from Cabela's and had it shipped to the store. I paid about $25. I believe they are around $35, normally.
The Lyman will check the length and indicate whether your case will fit in the chamber. The checker is made from a block of aluminum and is machined to SAAMI minimum specifications. It will handle 40 S&W, 38 Super, 9mm Parabellum, 380 auto, 45 Colt, 44 mag/special, 357 mag/38 spl, and 45 ACP.
You can't determine if 38 spl or 44 spl cases are too long because it's set up only for the longer magnum cases but it will, for those calibers, indicate whether the case will fit in the cylinder.
The checker is perfect for me because I load 45 ACP, 44mag, 44 spl, 45 Colt, and 357 mag/special.
Here is a quick note on belling. Some say they bell more than others. If you bell too much, the case will not go into the mouth of the seating die or, in your case, the seating die and the factory crimp die. If the case won't go into the seating die, you probably won't be able to remove the bell with the sizing die. I had this happen to me but I was lucky because my 45 Colt sizing die mouth is slightly larger than the ACP sizing die mouth. I was able to run the case in the Colt die just enough to remove the bell.
