Noob Questions Part II

G

Ghostpepper5K

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I am in the process of teaching myself how to reload. I'm an experienced shooter, but zero experience reloading. I've taken a bunch of good advice so far and am making good progress. I can't fully run the press yet as it was missing a spent primer tube when I got it (yes I could run it but I think I would get loose primers in the mechanism - not worth it).

Anyhow, I have now run some .45 ACP brass through it, sacrificing about 15 cases and bullets to get what I think is a pretty consistent run. No primer or powder was used. In fact, I haven't fully setup the powder feed yet.

The press is a RCBS 2000 Pro non-index and prepped once fired brass. Primer strip fed.

These are the results of the last 5/15 dummy loads. Tolerances are pretty tight IMO. What would be the consensus on the next level of training? I guess learning the priming system and watch some videos and try loading some round (less powder).

Also - Assuming I have my dies setup properly, my plan is to your blue threadlocker to set screws, nuts on dies, leave it in the die plate. I was overjoyed when I discovered they were only 18.00 on Amazon Prime. Is this a solid practice? Advice?

Please critique - I'm here for the solicited advice.

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Have you tried to drop your dummy rounds into the chamber of your barrel yet? Do that before continuing on. Even using the books OAL you can sometimes run into problems with the bullet ogive hitting before the round is chambered.
This is something you need to test with all semi-auto guns/ammo.
 
Thank you. They failed. My FN FNP Tactical cycled 4/5 without issue. Then a second round started being finicky as well. I did this 4 times. Then, I went to do the same in a Spingfield 1911. Bigtime fail. I now have a dummy .45 stuck in my .45 with the slide closed and STUCK. Now time to figure out how to get the dummy round out.

Any suggestions on what to look for causing this, even though COAL is spot on?
 
FIRMLY hold the pistol by the side in your weak and, briskly drive your strong hand into the back strap of the pistol so as to work the action more forcefully than you can just tryi g to shuck it.

Could be cases swollen/not sized well or the bullets could be getting forced into the throat, getting stuck. What you are almost doing then is trying to pull the bullet out of the case if its really jammed in.
 
Thank you. They failed. My FN FNP Tactical cycled 4/5 without issue. Then a second round started being finicky as well. I did this 4 times. Then, I went to do the same in a Spingfield 1911. Bigtime fail. I now have a dummy .45 stuck in my .45 with the slide closed and STUCK. Now time to figure out how to get the dummy round out.

Any suggestions on what to look for causing this, even though COAL is spot on?
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The best plunk test are done with the barrel removed from the gun as in field strip the gun. Now I would field strip the gun and use a dowel (wood) and knock the stuck practice round out. Did you look at the shooting times link?

As to die locking rings? Seems the rings by each manufacturer have good and bad points. I would not use any type of thread locking compound. I happen to like the Lyman Rings available through Amazon but also use others. There should be no need for thread lock compound.

Any suggestions on what to look for causing this, even though COAL is spot on?
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Yeah, mark the case with dykum or bluing or even a magic marker as shown in this link.

Ron
 
Such a deluge of good advice. Thanks. I wound up pulling the spring and giving the slide a bump at it broke free. I'm going to Back off the expanding die, watching the video, and using a free barrel. Standby....
 
Yes to just leaving the dies in the plate. I do that for all my most used calibers. As mentioned, there's no real need for thread locker. In many thousands of rounds I've never had a setting loosen up. In fact, (at least with cast bullets) on occasion you will need to pull the seating stem out to clean off the buildup of bullet lube, and thread locker will be a nuisance then.

.......
Edited because I just saw the pics in the other thread. Looks as if crimp might be an issue but I can't tell for sure.
 
You are much more tedious/studious than I was. I didn't practice with dummy rounds. I loaded .38spl (a forgiving round) to minimum charge weight and seated to crimp grove. I then rolled with it.

I commend your practice though. And dittos on plunk testing rounds in semi-auto. My BDE needed rounds seated about .01 deeper than minimum OAL. I first found this out at the range, and was pretty bummed my range session was shortened. That was back in the day... Now I know better (learned at the school of hard knocks).
 
Any suggestions on what to look for causing this, even though COAL is spot on?
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Welcome to the joys of reloading!!

I've been reloading since the early 1970s, and am currently equipped to load for over 30 different rifle and pistol rounds. I've also made about every goof there is, at one point or another. Not going to claim expert status, but I do have a little experience.

First off, while internet videos are useful, get a book! Get more than one! All the loading manuals from the major makers have sections explaining the basics of reloading. Also consider "The ABCs of Reloading", which while somewhat dated now, contains a lot of good information not found in the loading manuals.

There are two slightly different things at work here, basic reloading, and operating the specific equipment you have. By choosing a progressive press, you've made the learning curve steeper than I would recommend, but it can be done.

Ok, on to some specifics about your practice .45acp loads.

It may be the camera angle, but those rounds look very long, to me. You said COAL is spot on, (which I assume means you measured it with a caliper). COAL= CARTRIDGE OVER ALL LENGTH (also known as loaded length with bullet)

This is a length decided on as an industry standard, one that SHOULD work in all firearms chambered for the round. SHOULD. For the .45ACP the length is 1.275". This is not a hard and fast rule like a law of nature, but a setpoint that may require modification due to other factors. Bullet shape is one. Some guns will not feed rounds unless they are shorter than the max COAL.

The benchmark for the COAL of your loads should be: they work through your gun (both feed from the magazine and eject the loaded rounds without issues.

now, about the cases & bullets you "sacrificed"...
Get a bullet puller. I can personally recommend the "orange hammer" from Lyman, though the green one from RCBS should do fine as well. With a kinetic puller (the hammer type), used properly, you will be able to recover and reuse both the brass and the bullets you've loaded.

As to the rounds that are sticking in your barrel(s), look at them, see if you can see where the contact was. Smoke them (or use some other method) to leave a coating on the bullet & front of the case and try them again. (Carefully) where they stick will be shown by where the coating is rubbed off.

This will tell you what part of your loading process need to be addressed, FIRST.

Once you figure out what it is that is keeping your rounds from chambering freely (the plunk test), THEN load the magazine, fully, and do a feeding test. It is entirely possible that a rounds that drops easily into the chamber may not feed from the magazine. So that needs to be tested, too.

Please leave the Loctite (all colors) in the tube, for now. You may discover a need for it, eventually, but I'd bet you won't need it.

We can probably get you through about any issues you have (probably some of us have done the same things) and we ALL began not knowing what we were doing! ;)

Those of us who began in the pre-Internet era did a LOT of trial and error that this forum and things like it can save you from having to do.

First step (beyond doing some more reading/watching in general) find out where the rounds are sticking, is it the bullet? or the case??

Then we can go from there. Good Luck, and we'll be around to help (as well as bury you with information overload, so, beware! :rolleyes:)
 
There's no need for any kind of thread locker. You will probably want and maybe need to adjust everything at some point. Lock 'em down and tighten with the Allen wrench only.
Reloading isn't rocket science. Read your manual's How-to chapters or the ABC's of Reloading and do what it says. Read the guides that come with all the kit too.
If the rings on the bullets are from chambering, they're too long. That's why the pistol jammed too. Like 44 AMP says, 1.275" is max and works for most bullets.
"...the learning curve steeper..." Mostly about how to set the thing up. Read the book.
 
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