45 acp oal

[mhp]

To get my Llama 45 to chamber the lee 452-200-RN I ended up with a overall length of 1.131 in. This is shorter than the Lyman gauge shows. They are loaded with 4 grains of red dot and work well, but sure look short.

Has anyone used this bullet? What length have you used?

[paul h]

It's not just the OAL you need to be concerned with, but where the ogive of the bullet ends up and how that applies to how the case seats in the barrel.

Dale53 posted this in the handgun form on the pt 1911 lee 230 tc thread and it best illustrates what you need to be concerned with when loading 45acp autoloaders.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/1911Headspace.png

[geargnasher]

Like Paul said, use your chamber as a case gauge. We tend to call it the "plunk test". If you can drop the cartridge in the chamber and it freely "plunks" in there at least flush (I prefer about .010" below flush for a "fudge factor" with a dirty gun), then you're halfway good to go. The other half is assemble at least three "dummy" rounds that pass the plunk test with no primers or powder, and manually cycle them through the action to check feeding issues and magazine fit. Step three is pick a good starting load, build some ammo based on your dummy rounds (crimp and overall length), and go shooting.

Gear