Trouble seating bullets

M

MrNick

Inactive
I have been having trouble seating my 45 acp 185 gr JHP bullets. The bullets measure .450" and the case Id after expanding measures .449 to .450. If I don't get the bullet just right on the case I will crush the side of the case. I have set the expander down lower until it touches the shell plate with no improvement. I am using Lee dies on a loadmaster. Has anyone had this problem?
 
When I bell the case I put enough bell on it to start the bullet, for pistol. Rifle/bottle neck cases when seating bullets the neck is sized then expanded with the sizing ball and the inside of the case neck is beveled.\

F. Guffey
 
With the Lee expanding/powder through dies, the .45acp was the only one I had this trouble with when adjusted to the directions:( screw the die in untill it touches the shell holder then back out one full turn). I crushed a few myself. After i turned the die in to get enough bell to be able to set a bullet to just enter the casemouth...everything started to work as it should. no more crushed cases.
 
Quick and easy solution it seems. The case necks just need some additional flaring. You seem to say that the expander die is screwed all the way down to the shell holder but is the expander stem within the die screwed down far enough to do the flaring? Or does the Loadmaster use the powder die expander system; those familiar with the Loadmaster can relate to that. At any rate the problem should be solved momentarily or sooner as others check in on the Loadmaster. In the meantime don't crush any more cases. Just a matter of getting the flaring system adjusted properly.
 
Some bullets are hard to seat because they have no taper on the heel at all.
I don't like to bell cases for autos too much.
 
Problem solved. Condor Bravo got me thinking. Operator error. I did not have the powder dispenser screwed down all the way. There is a sleeve in the powder dispenser that pushes the expander die down. After screwing the dispenser down I gained another .001" in neck expansion. Just enough to start the bullet. The bullets that I am using have a pretty sharp radius at the base making them a little harder to start anyway. Thanks for the help. Saved by the Forum.
 
You're very welcome. Always pleased to be of some service. Thanks and acknowledgements go to all who contributed. We always appreciate a reply of success.
 
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I don't want to get too far off the subject but since I suspect I will soon be purchasing some 230gr. FMJ for my 45 ACP. What make bullets are you having the sharp base problem with?
 
The 45 ACP Lee powder through die I had didn't have enough taper to flare the case before it hit a "ridge" or "step" in the expander. Solution? Flaring die from RCBS...

Hint; don't worry about case life shortening by "over flaring" now. Use as much as necessary to seat your bullets straight. 45 ACP brass is readily available and cheap so if you lose 5 or 8 reloadings to split mouths, no big deal. Get good shootable ammo now, and sweat the small stuff later...
 
Are you getting good "bullet pull" with a .450" bullet in a .449"+ case neck?

I once had some undersize bullets like that and it was the very devil to get them seated firmly enough to not set back against the feed ramp.
 
Your bullets are too small. The case should ideally be 0.001-0.002" under bullet diameter for max bullet hold. More is waste as the case will be expanded or the bullet will be swaged down and less gives you the problem you are writing about.
1) Get larger bullets. SAAMI specifies 0.452" nominal for jacketed and 0.453" nominal for lead, though common is 0.451" jacketed and 0.452" lead (as long as the diameter is at least 0.001" over actual groove diameter). Are these really jacketed or are they plated bullets? With plated, I have had problems with undersized bullets, but never with jacketed.
2) Get a smaller expander plug/stem or try not expanding at all.
3) Complain to bullet manufacturer and ask for their "fix."
 
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