Do these look okay?

[sasquatch094]

Ive been reloading now for a couple months and used FMJ boolits before i went to cast. I bought a box of cast ones from Fin Feather & fur since it was cheap and i only use it for target practice at the range.. Tried reloading 100 rounds tonight just to see how it went.
It seems like the cast boolits were to big in diameter and the case was shaving some of it off the sides? I can see some wax come out, but mainly its cast shavings as seen in the pictures. is this normal? do i need to remove it all before i shoot?

http://imageshack.us/a/img837/2695/1007122234a.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/837/1007122234a.jpg/)

http://imageshack.us/a/img856/8131/1007122234.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/1007122234.jpg/)
thanks for your help..

[RP]

you need to check the size of you bullets if they are fine you need to bail the cases more so they do not shave the bullet. I would avoid shooting them at the least they will lead like crazy

[runfiverun]

more case flair will eliminate the shaving.
put just enough for the boolit to sit straight on the case mouth.

[40Super]

That sure looks like a lot of shaved lead, make sure those bullets are the right size for ,45acp(it looks like), so they should be .452ish. If they are fine ,first thing I do for lead is to take a chamfer tool and put a chamfer on the ID of the case mouth, then bell enough for the bullet to sit on top. A expander with a step, like a Lyman M die is nice for cast bullets.

[bumpo628]

That happened to me the first time I loaded lead too.
You just need to flare the case mouth a bit more.

Hard to tell from the pics, but they look a little short. What is your OAL?

[woody2]

I had a similar problem when I started loading cast bullets. First I made sure the cases were adequately belled as others have mentioned. Upon further investigation it turned out it was the result of bullet seating and crimping in the same step. Started using a separate seating die to completely seat the bullet, then switching over to the crimping die. Haven't had the problem since doing this.

[chris in va]

Yup, bell the case mouth more and back off the crimp on the seating die. Make it so the case is simply straightened back out, not crimped. I do my final taper crimp with my FCD.

[Mavrick]

Just seat and crimp in two different steps. I won't use an FCD because it sizes the boolit.
Have fun,
Gene

[popper]

With all the plated lead on the cases, will they even chamber? Try making dummy rounds first, check for chambering and feeding.

[mdi]

Lead Boolits 101; cases must be flared to accept lead bullets without shaving the sides of the bullet. Perhaps a copy of Lyman't Cast Bullet Handbook is needed...

Will the next question be "I can't get my lead bullets to chamber, they're too big?". The flare will need to be removed too.

[sig2009]

Yup, bell the case mouth more and back off the crimp on the seating die. Make it so the case is simply straightened back out, not crimped. I do my final taper crimp with my FCD.

No FCD for me. Swages the lead inside the case and reduces bullet diameter. No good for lead!

[RobsTV]

No FCD for me. Swages the lead inside the case and reduces bullet diameter. No good for lead!

Unless you like streaks of it left in your barrel and maybe tumbling. Fun stuff.

[MtGun44]

Pull and use the dismounted barrel as a gauge to set LOA and degee of TC. Inadequate or
no TC has been one of the most common causes of failure to feed in .45 ACP over the
last 30 yrs of helping new loaders with it. Set LOA so the boolit is not engraved by the
rifling and then set the TC so the loaded round will drop freely into the chamber all the way
with no more than 1 lb fingertip pressure.

This usually is about .470 +/-.002 on the TC diam right at the case mouth. Stay away from
the Lee pistol type FCD, can damage the loaded rounds. Use an ordinary TC die.

Bill

[UBER7MM]

sasquatch094,

Welcome to the forum! The lead shavings on the side of your press tell the story. Flare, bell or expand the mouths of your cases. (Different names for the same die.) Straight wall cases and cast bullets need this procedure before seating. Don't worry, my first cases looked like that too.

Good shooting,

[nicholst55]

I would add to what Bill said that some .45 ACP 1911 chambers have essentially NO THROAT, which makes bullet seating a bit more tricky. I kept wondering why my high-dollar aftermarket barrel was so finicky about cartridge OAL, and then I realized - it had no throat, and the transition from chamber to rifling was quite abrupt. I had my gunsmith just kiss it with a chamber reamer, and all it did was cut a more gently transition at that point and my problems went away.

[UBER7MM]

sasquatch094,

Welcome to the forum! The lead shavings on the side of your press tell the story. Flare, bell or expand the mouths of your cases. (Different names for the same die.) Straight wall cases and cast bullets need this procedure before seating. Don't worry, my first cases looked like that too.


Just seat and crimp in two different steps .....


sasquatch094,

Belling the case mouth is important, however after giving your problem some thought,
your seating die might set that the crimp is engaging before the bullet is seated completely, thus shaving the bullet. As Mavick says it's two different steps. Read the directions that came with your die set. They are usually accompaned with photos or diagrams.

Basically, you first set the crimp. I do this on a empty case. When you have the crimp the way you like it, back the die out of the press a turn or two. This way the crimp will not engage for the next step. Then with a another expanded case (see above), seat the bullet into the case to the desired length by adjusting the set screw on the top. Then crank the die body back down to its proper place. You will then need to crank the seating screw down the same amount. Make another test dummy for verification. There may be some more fine tuning. You may be making a few dummy rounds before you get it right. When you get it the way you like tighten the lock nut on the seating screw.

I hope this helps,

[Cherokee]

Since you bought the bullets at FF&F, you are within driving distance of me. Shoot me a PM and maybe I can give you personal help. Comments about flaring the case mouth, taper crimpling and using barrel to set OAL are all good.

[UBER7MM]

Cherokee,

You da' man!

[sasquatch094]

well first off all, i want to thank everyone on the super fast responses and accurate thoughts.
I turned in my expanding die some and threw a dummy round in it and it was perfect. Didnt shave any off this time, the OAL is at 1.250 which my Hornady book says it should be at 1.245" with a 230 grain lrn.

My old Lyman 49th edition didnt give me anything for cast boolits, but this newer hornady did.
Also id like to point out ive heard the bad stories with the LEE FCD, which is why i went straight to the taper crimp die instead.
These cycle through very nicely..

one thing above that someone stated was degree of TC. My books or i cant find it, dont say anything about what TC is? im lost on that..

[462]

TC is taper crimp. Not to confuse you, but TC could mean truncated cone, which is a bullet/boolit nose profile. In this case, I"m sure the abbreviators were referring to taper crimp.

I don't know why some people have a facination with abbrevations, especially when it comes to answering a new member's question(s).

Welcome Sasquatch094.

By the way, my Lyman 49 is packed with cast boolit loads, don't know why yours isn't.

[sasquatch094]

oh well i meant not the same cast grain size, they had 200 or 225 while the hornady had my 230.. lol sorry!

and thanks for the warm welcome! I already took advantage of this forum and picked up a few thousand cases for my 357 and the 45.. Thanks again everyone

[462]

You can use the load information for Lyman's 452473, 225-grain round nose boolit.

[mdi]

You're on your way. Good reloadin'...

[gwpercle]

I had the same experience when I started reloading 45 acp . Solved it by making sure all cases had adequate amount of flare ( bell ) to start cast boolit into case, make sure it is in straight and not crooked, if it goes in cocked to one side it stays that way. Then seat bullet to its proper depth and then remove seating plug and adjust die to crimp in seperate steps. It is more convienent to have 1 die for seating and a seperate die for crimping but not absolutely necessary.
I still just use one die and adjust it for seperate operations. this is harder to write than to show someone I can see how it seem's confusing.

Hang in there and don't be afraid to ask questions.........gary