Problems loading .45 ACP

It has been a wile since I loaded 45ACP. Although I have had the kocked bullet issue many times in the past with pistole rounds. In November I noticed my Son had factory rounds with the same bullet as my hand loads. His bullets were all seated straight and mine kocked.

Since then I came across Dies in my 2020 catalogue. The Dies are designed to seat bullets true. They are called (Competition Bullet seating Die). One of the guys mentioned Redding dies earlier. Looks to me that is the way to go. Although If you don't want to spend the money. Then you can puts around with them for 40 years like I did. Hold the bullet straight, Bell well, Crimp with all cases same length and crimp carefully. The drop test with chamber is a must. Or for $144.25 You can purchase from Redding the Competition Seating Die. The times are a changing.


Good luck
 
With the Dillon press, the flare is made by the tip of the powder drop tube/powder measure operating rod. A separate M-die would seriously interrupt the production flow on a 550, as there are only four die positions on it. However, if you have or know someone who has a lathe, you can do what I did and turn your own Dillon powder drop tube that has the M-profile on it to clear this problem. It is no issue with most jacketed bullets as they straighten themselves pretty well in the throat and the inaccuracy introduced by the lack of concentricity is generally not going to matter to most handgun shooting disciplines. However, with lead bullets, that tilt does cause extra lead shaving and increased leading results. But, in general, it is one of those "nice-to-have but not required items.

What you can do is get a Lyman M-die or a Redding Premium Expander Die (the nicest, but most costly) and run your sizing and priming and expanding operation on your 550 using this pair, then feed them to your Square Deal at the powder drop station and finish them that way.
 
latsafun said:
The only thing I have to measure with is a set of digital calipers. I measured the wall thickness, and it read 0.010-0.011.
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A standard caliper (digital, dial, or vernier) isn't really accurate for measuring the thickness of a curved surface, because the jaws have some width even at the narrow points. However, they could be used for comparison purposes.

So which brass had a thickness of .010 to .011? You have ascertained that one brand of brass is the problem. Your task now is to figure out what's different about that brass from all the others? Since you resized it before loading it, the first thing I would look at is the case wall thickness.
 
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Longshot4 said:
It has been a wile since I loaded 45ACP. Although I have had the kocked bullet issue many times in the past with pistole rounds. In November I noticed my Son had factory rounds with the same bullet as my hand loads. His bullets were all seated straight and mine kocked.

Since then I came across Dies in my 2020 catalogue. The Dies are designed to seat bullets true. They are called (Competition Bullet seating Die). One of the guys mentioned Redding dies earlier. Looks to me that is the way to go. Although If you don't want to spend the money. Then you can puts around with them for 40 years like I did. Hold the bullet straight, Bell well, Crimp with all cases same length and crimp carefully. The drop test with chamber is a must. Or for $144.25 You can purchase from Redding the Competition Seating Die. The times are a changing.


Good luck
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Bought mine when they came out and were cheaper than the $90 at Graph and Sons, but worth it for purposes purchased for. Especially handy when using Lee undersize dies to increase bullet pull.

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/583
 
Well, I loaded 50 rounds of SNS Casting RN poly-coated, and 200 rounds of Sierra JHP on my 550. Used new Starline brass. EVERY round passed case gauge. Plunk-tested a few rounds in my FNX45 - looked great.

I'm convinced that the Xtreme primed brass is crap.
 
Aguila Blanca said:
A standard caliper (digital, dial, or vernier) isn't really accurate for measuring the thickness of a curved surface, because the jaws have some width even at the narrow points. However, they could be used for comparison purposes.

So which brass had a thickness of .010 to .011? You have ascertained that one brand of brass is the problem. Your task now is to figure out what's different about that brass from all the others? Since you resized it before loading it, the first thing I would look at is the case wall thickness.
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Yea, I figured that the digital calipers were not the best way to measure wall thickness. But, I did take some measurements using the tip of the jaws, on the rim of the case. The XtremeBullets brass measured 0.011. The new Starline brass measured 0.006.
 
A standard caliper (digital, dial, or vernier) isn't really accurate for measuring the thickness of a curved surface, because the jaws have some width even at the narrow points. However, they could be used for comparison purposes.
Click to expand...

Using the outside jaws to measure the curved case wall thickness can induce errors, try this, use the inside jaws (the pointed knife edge ones) to measure the inside diameter of the case and the outside jaws to measure the outside of the case and the difference is your case wall thickness.

Not as precise as other instruments, but should be close enough for comparison and practical uses.

If you were loading ok rounds before and you changed brass and now you have issues, then obviously there's something different about the new brass. It may be all their brass in that caliber, or it may just be you got a "bad" lot. I've never used that brand, so can't offer any opinion on that.
 
"Yes - I lubed and sized each piece of brass."

Did you also chamfer and deburr the case mouths on the new brass?
 
Carmady said:
"Yes - I lubed and sized each piece of brass."

Did you also chamfer and deburr the case mouths on the new brass?
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Not at first, but after a couple of hours of troubleshooting this issue, I did start chamfering and deburring the cases. Doing so did nothing to fix the problem.
 
44 AMP said:
Using the outside jaws to measure the curved case wall thickness can induce errors, try this, use the inside jaws (the pointed knife edge ones) to measure the inside diameter of the case and the outside jaws to measure the outside of the case and the difference is your case wall thickness.

Not as precise as other instruments, but should be close enough for comparison and practical uses.

If you were loading ok rounds before and you changed brass and now you have issues, then obviously there's something different about the new brass. It may be all their brass in that caliber, or it may just be you got a "bad" lot. I've never used that brand, so can't offer any opinion on that.
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I will do this when I get into the reloading room later today.
 
latsafun said:
The XtremeBullets brass measured 0.011. The new Starline brass measured 0.006.
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Okay, even allowing for slight inaccuracy, that's a significant difference, and it may be pointing you toward some resolution. Next see what your die is sizing the OD to.

If we use just ther SAAMI spec for the OD, that's .4730. To get the ID, we have to subtract two times the case wall thickness. For your Extreme brass, that would be .4730 - .0220 = .4510. That's smaller than the diameter of most .45 ACP bullets. I think Berry's advertises theirs as being .452", and every Berry's bullet I have measured has been .4515.

For your Starline, we would get .4730 - .0120 = .4610. That's actually larger than what we'd want, even for a bullet diameter of .452", but it illustrates the issue. If one brand of brass is significantly thicker than another, you can't assume that the same dies and the same setup will work for both.
 
Firstly, Uniquetec sells powder funnels for Dillon presses with a similar 2 step expander to the Lyman. I bought one for 9MM to use with some coated bullets.
I do have a problem with the bulge on my .45 ammo. Even with the bulge it plunks in my 1911 bbls. They do not plunk in my S&W revolver so I bought the Lee taper crimp die with the carbide sizing ring in it. It won't completely remove the bulge but it does reduce it enough to allow it to plunk in the revolver. I know this sizes the bullet too and probably more on one side but if it affects accuracy, I can't tell it in the revolver or in my semis. I don't use it on bullseye ammo, don't get the bulge with the bullet and brass I use for bullseye. I suspect it would affect accuracy at 50 yards.
 
Aguila Blanca said:
If we use just ther SAAMI spec for the OD, that's .4730. To get the ID, we have to subtract two times the case wall thickness. For your Extreme brass, that would be .4730 - .0220 = .4510. That's smaller than the diameter of most .45 ACP bullets. I think Berry's advertises theirs as being .452", and every Berry's bullet I have measured has been .4515.

For your Starline, we would get .4730 - .0120 = .4610. That's actually larger than what we'd want, even for a bullet diameter of .452", but it illustrates the issue. If one brand of brass is significantly thicker than another, you can't assume that the same dies and the same setup will work for both.
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The SAAMi specs are the Maximum OD. Few, if any, virgin cases are at maximum SAAMI specs.

The SAAMI spec for the 45 Auto head is .476, but of the remington, starline, federal, asym and winchester new ammo i measured they are all right at .470.

of the remington, starline, federal, asym and winchester new ammo i measured at the bullet (loaded ammo) they are at .470, the exception being federal at .472.

The .006 for the starline is anomalous and probably wrong. if it were true, then a 45 bullet would fall into a virgin case. my virgin starline brass has a .011 wall thickness, as does most other brands +/- .001.
 
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