sizing help with .45 SWC

[mos2111]

I have lurked and read and collected pb and cast ingots and made my first boolits. And they are too large at the head to fit into my chamber. I know I need to size them so they chamber, but I am at a loss as to how to do this.
Boolits are lubed with liquid alox already and I have a dillon rl 550. Is there a die I can screw into my existing set up? I was trying to cut out the sizing/lube machine in my process.
Cheers and thanks.

[ANeat]

What size do your bullets measure? Are you sure its a bullet size issue?

If it is a lee push thru sizer may do the trick

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1295306205.5543=/html/catalog/lubesize.html

[Grapeshot]

First off, Have you belled the case mouth so the bullet starts into the case?

Do the bullets drop thru the chamber throats or do they hang up?

If the bullets do go thru the chamber throats and your problem is chambering after you seat them you may have over crimped the cases so that they have a slight bulge just behind the case mouth.

It may just be that you need to readjust your dies to crimp with out causing the cases to bulge behind the crimp.

[mos2111]

They size to .453 (.4525ish on a dial calliper)
I have reloaded before and the powder stage "die" is set to bell the case mouth. The cast bullets do not fit in a chamber mouth of the weapon. I am not using a push through chamber, but loading several "duds" to check my dimensions.

As I seated several bullets to photograph and chamber (no powder or primer) I had much less of an issue with it sticking in the chamber. In the past all the reloads I have had were able to cycle by hand and not hang up in the chamber upon chambering.
I am uploading some pics to help clarify.

[mos2111]

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j116/mos21112/IMAG0307.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j116/mos21112/IMAG0310.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j116/mos21112/IMAG0309.jpg
you can see just infront of the case where the lead is marred and encountering resistance.

Is this even a big deal?

[ANeat]

Looks like youre hitting the Rifling, I would try a little shorter OAL

[MtGun44]

You are clearly hitting the rifling. The rifling marks are visible in the picture on the
boolit.

Seat deeper. Pull the barrel out of the gun and us it as your loading setup
gauge. The round should seat fully with no more than 1 lb force, best to drop freely
into place. Set seating depth and taper crimp level using the dismounted barrel
as your gage.

Bill

[Trey45]

Others may disagree with my suggestion, and it won't hurt my feelings a bit. If you were to use a Lee carbide factory crimp die on station four, it would size and crimp your cartridge, and just might size down the bullet too. If you use ebay, enter the following into their search to see the exact die I am talking about.

LEE Carbide Factory Crimp Die 45 ACP 45 Auto Rim #90864

Since you are not sizing your boolits to begin with, this die just might solve all your problems.

[mos2111]

Trey, that is kind of what I was going to ask at next.
My COL is only 1.217 and lee 2nd edition has my max length at 1.23 for my 230gn wadcutter with the powder I am running. Those marks look like rifling, but are not seating that far in the chamber I am pretty sure they are just fat bullets. I am going to try seating them a hair further before spending any $, but it would be nice to have a sizing and crimp die instead of just a crimp, and 20$ isnt that much....

[ANeat]

Mos you need to seat past that final lube groove in the bullet, (that is the Lee tumble lube TC bullet right?) you want just .030 or so of bullet shoulder exposed before the angle starts on the nose. Dont worry about the OAL as much as the ammount of the full diameter of the bullet thats out of the case.

FWIW I size all my 45 bullets to .453 and they run 100%

[David2011]

Hope I'm not being overly picky but those boolits look more like truncated cones than semiwadcutters. I've run into similar problems seating truncated cones too far out. A SWC works in all of my 1911s at 1.250 OAL. The shoulder of the TC is much farther forward than the shoulder of a SWC relative to the meplat which affects how long the OAL can be without the shoulder running into the riflings. SWC OAL specs aren't going to work with truncated cones. I size all of my boolits, though so that will afect what works as well. I've seen similar problems with .40 cal TCs.

David

[Dale53]

Mos2111;
Your problem is simple. The bullets are seated out too long. If you have a 1911 platform, do as MtGun44 states.

Remove your barrel from the pistol. Hold the barrel vertical with the chamber up. Drop the loaded round into the chamber. The proper seating depth is had when the base of the case is flush with the barrel hood (with lead bullets) and just slightly deeper (.005" or so) when using jacketed bullets. This will solve your problem.

Overall length stated in most loading manuals for 230 gr bullets normally refers to round nose bullets. They are considerably longer than the truncated cone design.

Just seat it flush with the barrel hood and all will be right with the world (and your pistol).

I use that same bullet and it is a dandy. It should feed well in any proper 1911 auto pistol and works beautifully in my S&W 625 revolvers when speed loading with full moon clips. Good bullet!

Dale53

[mos2111]

Thanks all, that is going to be what I try after work. hopefully it will be the solution.

[Echo]

Well - I will ask a question. Have you tried actually firing these rounds? The action of the slide may nicely chamber the rounds, even though they are contacting the origin of the rifling, and you will have a firm and reliable headspace/endplay situation. My reloads stand a little proud when placed in a dismounted barrel, but feed and shoot nicely.

[Recluse]

I was trying to cut out the sizing/lube machine in my process.
Cheers and thanks.

In all honesty, this is not the best way to begin your casting journey. There is an old rule that reads, "You have to first know the rules before you can break them."

The attitude of taking shortcuts when casting boolits can get dangerous in a hurry.

A Lee push-through sizer is around $15 bucks. Lot cheaper than a new gun or a trip to the ER because pressures peaked too high or something got forced, etc etc.

:coffee:

[MtGun44]

If the as cast size is reasonable and you pan lube, no sizer system is necessary. This low
first cost can be a big deal for the new caster. Shooting a couple thousandths larger than
you can get away with AS LONG AS THE ROUNDS CHAMBER FREELY, is no problem. Too small
has caused far more problems than too large.

Bill

[Bula]

I need to go to 1.18" to get that profile to feed reliably, at 1.20", every 10th round would hang up. Since that bullet drops at close to 240gr, (traditional lube groove in my case) AND the bullet sits deeper, I backed off max loads a few tenths (W231 works great). Still get plenty of smack with that profile, my favorite ball replacement load.

[Char-Gar]

I would agree with others about using the barrel of your pistol as a gauge to set seating depth. I would agree with others about the lack of wisdom in trying to cut corners in the casting and loading process.

Size the bullets .452, use your barrel as a gauge, taper crimp and your problems will be over.