Re: Loading for 1911, problem

[ole_270]

In the old thread I told about my new Sig Sauer 1911 Target and the loads I wanted to use. I've been playing with it the last couple days and can't seem to stop the leading. Full length strips along the lands whether I use BLL or Powder Coat. Load is the Lee H&G 68 clone, sized to .4525, over 4.9 gr Solo1000. Supposed to be around 875-900 fps according to the book. I've tried the .4525 sized and as cast at .4535-.454.
Alloy is a mix that should be about 2% SN, 1.62%SB, a trace of copper, and the rest lead. I just had the base ingots XRF checked again yesterday and this time I used a file to clean off a spot for them to check. I used my Cabine Tree tester at about 24 hours after casting and got 13 Bhn, though I wonder if the small flat point on this bullet is stable enough for an accurate measurement.
I've used this same basic alloy for years in my 25-20 at 1450 fps and more recently in the 38-55 up to 1500 with no problems, so I have to think it be more of a fit issue. Thought I'd ask the assembled knowledge here for guidance.
The good thing in all this experimenting, not a single malfunction from the gun and it seems accurate if you can discount the new handgun shooter from the equation.

[TexasGrunt]

Have you slugged the bore?

Are you sure it's lead?

I've shot thousands of that same Lee boolit, either PC or Hi Tek through around 15 different pistols and never had a problem. Everything is sized to .452

[ole_270]

Slugged the bore at .450-4505 with a Hornady swaged 50 caliber round ball. It's really not making sense to me with the success I've had with the alloy in the rifles. I can increase the SB content and try it, just hoping to spread the alloy further is the reason for the moderately soft mix.
Further experiments will have to wait till next week, got a 6 year old grandson that thinks he needs to go to kids fishing day at Roaring River State Park with Grandpa. Hope the weather doesn't screw it up.

[Whitespider]

... I can increase the SB content and try it...
I'd increase the PB content... probably a 50/50 mix of your alloy with SOWW metal (you could add a touch more tin if needed). Your alloy is likely too hard for the boolit base to fully obturate and seal the barrel at the low pressure of the .45 ACP. This allows "flame-cutting" alongside the boolit, and the most likely place for that to happen is at the bottom of the groove where it meets the land... which would explain the type of leading you're seeing (i.e., full length strips along the lands).
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[243winxb]

Size to .451"


Full length strips (lead) along the lands Looks nasty, accuracy is good, cleans up easy for me.

[OS OK]

He is not depending on obturation here...the bore is .450-.4505" and he is running sized .4525" all the way up to as cast .454"...he is swaging these rounds and the 13 BHN is plenty soft anyway.
I'd say his chamber throat has abrupt lands that need some work done to them...I'd say they are cutting into the casts instead of swaging them.

I've got the same bore and I use PC exclusively now sized @ .451" but my throat is slanted well.

[jcren]

Have you pulled a bullet from an assembled round to measure diameter of the loaded bullet? The bullet has to be being swedged undersize somewhere for a 45 to lead like that. Also check that the lube/pc is not being scraped off either during loading or on a sharp barrel lead in the chamber.

[Blackwater]

Could be the lube, or another number of things. What lube are you using? .45's generally have pretty shallow rifling and a 1:16" twist, IIRC. The twist is probably a bit faster than necessary, but may also help keep them point on longer due to their lowish velocity, at least by modern standards. If the lead happens to be softer than you think, seating them in tightly sized cases, even with the mouths expanded to take the bullet, might be squeezing them down smaller. All sorts of possibilities, and this kind of situation, you probably need to eliminate the possibilities one by one by changing only one thing at a time until you arrive at an optimum load with your metal and equipment.

But also, I have a question for you: does this leading build up with subsequent shots, or does it "shoot out" with each shot, and not build up? If perchance it shoots out with each shot, I wouldn't worry about it, but would casually try other lubes and techniques to see if I could get even that eliminated, and accuracy at the top level you can achieve from that particular gun. It's hard to diagnose things like this from afar. That's all I can think of on the spur of the moment that might be helpful, and that hasn't already been mentioned.

[AnthonyB]

Send the barrel to DougGuy to be throated and your problem should go away. He will be along soon....

[Whitespider]

He is not depending on obturation here... 13 BHN is plenty soft anyway.
I don't wanna' start an argument, but I have to disagree.
Obturation is always required to maintain the seal of a plain-base boolit, regardless of the size when it hits the rifling.
And, when it comes to handgun rounds, 13 BHN is really hard in my world.

Heck, I use COWW metal (maybe 12 BHN at best??) for magnum revolver loads up to 1400 FPS or so. When handgun loads start dropping below 1000-1100 FPS I usually start adding SOWW metal to the alloy. I'm running a 50/50 mix of COWW/SOWW (maybe 8 BHN, maybe softer??) in my .45 ACP and I've yet to find even a trace of leading.

Whenever I've found leading in the form of full length strips along the lands (they come out as long slivers when cleaning) it's always been because of an alloy too hard for the application. For example, my .40 S&W exhibited the exact same type of leading with hard-cast commercial boolits... but mine cast with softer WW metal produce zero leading. The commercial hard-cast measured .4016 from the box, and mine measure .4015 after sizing.
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[ole_270]

The expander used is a NOE .455x.451, so I doubt there was too much sizing done on seating the bullet. I'll double check to make sure.
Just eyeballing, it looks like the lands have some angle to them, but I may send it to DougGuy next week just to take that out of the equation. I have a Lee 452-200RF mold coming that may need more throat anyway. I've even tried a double coat of PC but no luck. The start of the lands may be cutting the PC, so there is that possibility.
I've got a hundred pounds of SOWW, so I'll do some playing with a softer alloy too.

These strips didn't come out as strips, you could see a narrow band along each land, but it took the copper chore girl strips wrapped around a patch to do much good on getting them out. I had shot about 35 rounds sighting in and shooting a gong before cleaning early on. After pushing a couple loose patches of Eds Red through I noticed the lead. That one took a while, since then it's only been 5 rounds at a time till I get it figured out. Getting pretty good at field stripping it though.

[fredj338]

I don't wanna' start an argument, but I have to disagree.
Obturation is always required to maintain the seal of a plain-base boolit, regardless of the size when it hits the rifling.
And, when it comes to handgun rounds, 13 BHN is really hard in my world.


*

If the bore is 0.4505" & the bullet is 0.452", no obturation is likely to occur nor is it needed. The bullet is already fitting the bore. It could just be a really rough bore &/or as noted, an abrupt/sharp rifling at the throat.

[Whitespider]

If the bore is 0.4505" & the bullet is 0.452", no obturation is likely to occur nor is it needed.
Again, I have to disagree.
"Obturate" does not mean "deform", or "swell up" or anything like that... the word "obturate" means to "close", "block", "obstruct", or "seal". When we talk about boolit base obturation we ain't talking about the base swelling or bumping up... we're talking about it applying outward pressure on the barrel wall. It's that outward pressure that keeps the base "sealed" against the barrel wall as it travels over tiny variances, machine marks, grooves, and whatnot. Without obturation the boolit will not maintain the "seal" and prevent flame-cutting no matter how large it starts out. Without that outward pressure at the base (called obturation) the the gas pressure behind the boolit will find it's way past the base... simple, basic physics. This is exactly why a boolit cast too hard for the application will lead the barrel... no matter how oversize it begins it's travel down the barrel, it will eventually allow gas pressure past the base without obturation.
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[TexasGrunt]

If the powder coat is done right there's no way you should be seeing leading in the .45 ACP.

I've cast pure lead, powder coated and shoot with no leading.

[Dusty Bannister]

Since you are working with a cast bullet with a generous lube groove, but using a tumble lube or powder coat, it is possible that you have lost the seal somewhere along the way. Have you mic'ed the unsized cast bullet at three points, to the opposite sides of the mold seam and at 90 degrees from the mold seam, and are they equal readings? If you have some soft wax lube, apply some to the groove with your fingers and see if that clears up the leading. Just apply it over whatever coating you have already applied to see if that will seal the gasses.

[ole_270]

I doubt the pic process is at fault since I've fired over a thousand pic bullets in my 25-20 rifle without problems and quite a few in the 38-55. I've had the powder for about a year and it's still in the twin bags it was shipped in. I noticed quite a bit more pigment separation but could see the base coating was covering well. Those I double coated were well covered with no separation.
I've got some Winds Wonder Lube that I pan Lube the 38-55, so I'll try that as well
the as cast bullets were about a half thousandths out of round. Those sized with the NOE.452 bushing came out round and measured .4525

[Gtek]

What if you filled a fired case with COW or something dense and seat long. Take a large C clamp or some other operation to force your chosen projectile gently into throat. Tap back out and see what is going on, sharp/harsh entry onto lands making boogers?

[OS OK]

If the throat is removing the coating, scraping it instead of allowing the boolit to swage into the Barrel then you have bare lead without any lube of any kind from the very start. I think that's why it's laying long leading in the grooves.

Interesting post...it'll be educational to see what the problem is, if it's figured out.

[DougGuy]

What if you filled a fired case with COW or something dense and seat long. Take a large C clamp or some other operation to force your chosen projectile gently into throat. Tap back out and see what is going on, sharp/harsh entry onto lands making boogers?

Well, you can simply look into the throat and if the lands are running right down to the chamber mouth like a lot of manufacturer's want to do, and not put any freebore, or very little freebore, you will see they are abrupt.

OP doesn't say how deep he is seating in the case, but a modern made, unthroated barrel, with his stated diameters, would have to be seated dang near to the case mouth with none of the boolit sitting in the throat, or the gun wouldn't go into battery.

Non-throated barrels are the norm these days. They will chamber and shoot factory .451" j words but they suck for anything else.

Here is a Glock barrel after throating, you can see a generous freebore, and lands which are on a 1.5 degree taper, this is a very gentle transition from case to rifling for the cast boolit, accuracy is superb and they don't lead if you size to .452"

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Cylinder%20Services/Glock%20Throating/DSC03871crop768_zpsvmumhdwb.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Cylinder%20Services/Glock%20Throating/DSC03871crop768_zpsvmumhdwb.jpg.html)

Here is a Springfield Range Officer, stock as-shipped from the factory on the left, you can see there is no throat to speak of, and this one has rather abrupt rifling right off the chamber mouth. On the right, is the same barrel after throating with a Manson throating reamer. I have one from Pacific Tool & Gauge now that is tapered out longer like the Glock in the photo above, and it does great.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Cylinder%20Services/1f06c85f-3c7d-434b-9061-ca061af26de9_zps0aqi32iq.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Cylinder%20Services/1f06c85f-3c7d-434b-9061-ca061af26de9_zps0aqi32iq.jpg.html)

[Menner]

+1 ^^^^^^
I would send that barrel to DougGuy let him work his magic on it and I bet your leading problem goes away
Tony

[ole_270]

I'm planning to get it to DougGuy this week. Mine looks similar to the Springfield in DougGuys post but with a bit shallower ramp angle. It's hard to see with my eyes,but the ramp may be rough as well.
Does the increased freebore cause any problem with the swc not approaching the lands in the chamber?

[tazman]

Having a boolit not touching the lands in a semi auto pistol is a necessity. If it hits the lands the action normally won't close. It will not effect your accuracy for most pistol shooting done with a 45acp.

[reddog81]

Sending the barrel to get throated correctly is a good idea but I doubt it will help with leading. If the powder coat was done correctly you shouldn't get leading in .45 ACP. If you can pull some bullets I'd bet the powder coat is scraping off or not cured correctly. I under-cooked a batch of 9mm bullets and it was a big problem, but done correctly should be a able to withstand .357 velocities and pressure.

The small free bore jump shouldn't be a problem at all. Think of a 45 ACP revolver that has to slide through the large N frame cylinder, through the barrel cylinder gap, and into the forcing cone before entering the rifling and you can get accuracy just as good as a 1911.

[jsizemore]

The driving bands on a #68 swc are longer then the throat cut by Dougguy. So the boolit hasn't entirely cleared the case before fully engaging the lands at the front driving band. The increased friction wants to slow down the front of the boolit so the boolit base gets to bump up/obturate as it crosses from the case to leade. I had Dougguy recut my chambers from .888" ,minimum case length, to .900" which is max case length +.002". The end result is an easier recoiling gun with clean powder burn and no leading. I'm shooting a very round Kart barrel that's .450" in the groove and size my boolits to .4517" and pulled boolits are .4513". My alloy runs in the 8-9BHN.

[gwpercle]

The increased free bore , or throat , actually solves a lot of problems. Loading for two newer 9 mm's that had no throats , gave all kinds of feeding problems unless the boolits were seated just right. An old WWII military P-38 that had a generous throat would feed anything , even 158 grain SWC revolver boolits . Also the free bore will lessen pressure because the boolit isn't jammed into the rifling when the powder ignites.
To me , a decent throat with cast boolits is much better than the new throat-less ones .
Sized to .357 they chamber with no problem at all.
Gary

[DougGuy]

The driving bands on a #68 swc are longer then the throat cut by Dougguy.

I'm not real sure on that one. The throat on the right in the photo was done with a Manson reamer, it has I think a 3 degree leade in maybe? My PT&G reamer has either 1 degree or 1 1/2 degree leade in, and the whole throat is stretched out a little more. If the barrel is tight, it comes out even longer.

Also I have the freebore on a taper as well so it's not parallel. It mimics the SAAMI throat for a 9mm auto. If you look at a SAAMI drawing of the 9mm throat, it shows the freebore on a taper. I do my 45 ACP throats the same way so length of freebore is pretty close to the driving bands on a 68.

The freebore is tighter than the walls of the expanded case, so if you imagine the case walls expanding until they are tight against the chamber walls upon firing, the I.D. of the case is greater than the I.D. of the freebore I put in the throat so the boolit, is guided to the leade in being held quite concentric in the bore, and fairly square to the centerline of the bore as well.

Factory throats don't have this gentle transition from case mouth to leade in, and when the boolits are jammed into the rifling while most of the driving band is still inside the case, once the case walls are expanded, the boolit can tilt, it can be eccentric when it swages into the lands, there are any number of things that the boolit can be subjected to and once the soft lead alloy takes to the rifling a tad off kilter, it's going to remain that way. The longer, smoother, tapered freebore takes care of aligning the boolit to the bore before it engages the leade in and IMO it's a much better and much more functional throat.

There was a comment earlier about the throat not helping with the leading, in fact it helps tremendously with cutting down on leading because powder gas is more contained in the tapered freebore than it is in the expanded case so you have little or no gas cutting now.

[ole_270]

Just got home and had to try something. Drove a PC'd bullet through the barrel and there was no cutting of the PC. The bullet was in fine shape. I mic'd it and it came out .451 where the pure lead round ball was .450. I suppose that's to be expected considering softer slug would deform easier than the alloyed one.
One other thing. I've been mixing my alloy lately by the XRF tests I had a local scrap yard run for me and using the calculator to get to the 10-12 Bhn area. I had some ingots I got from a local guy who said he got them from a printing company selling out a few years ago. The scrap yard XRF showed 2.32SN, 3.5SB so I just figured it was pretty well depleted. I added some to the mix I had been using trying to get slightly more SB than SN and both just over 2%. Cast a few test bullets before leaving Friday and tested them with the Cabine Tree tester tonight. Got 22 Bhn. Starting to think they need to re-calibrate their machine. I'll start mixing again tomorrow, I've got some SOWW that should work at about 3/1

[Whitespider]

Wow‼ At 22 BHN I'm thinkin' you could use SOWW at 4/1 without a problem.
*

[jsizemore]

I'm not real sure on that one.





My chamber headspace is cut to .900", ,002 over max case length. When I drive a sized and lubed boolit in to .800" from rear of hood to base of boolit, the front driving band shows engagement with the start of the lands. At .810" the lube groove side of the rear driving band starts to show signs of engaging the origin of the lands. At .875" , .013" shy of minimum case length, there is a noticed change of force needed to continue driving the boolit into the chamber. This could be from me hammering the boolit into the chamber and the base obturating. When I drive the base of the boolit flush or just beyond the start of the leade or lip that the case headspaces on, the base dimension is .4517", my sized dimension. When I drop a boolit in the chamber, the measurement to the boolit base is .630". The driving band length from front of front driving band to base of boolit .300" on my San Diego #68. I load so that the front driving band shoulder sticks out the case to help it feed correctly in my pistol. That measurement is .9022-.9023 from boolit shoulder to case base. It appears from the other measurements that I have about .007-8" boolit jump before engaging the throat so I pass the plunk test. Not all chambers and throats are cut like mine but that's what I wanted and Doug did what I wanted. The gun shoots great with no leading.

[ole_270]

Back after more trials. I mixed 4-1 SOWW with the 22 Bhn lead I'd been using and it's running 10 Bhn or so after 2 days.
Did a smash test on a couple bullets and had no flaking or peeling. Oven thermometer shows about 425 when empty, I haven't checked with the thermometer in the middle of a tray of bullets.
I pulled a couple bullets to see if the powder coat was being scraped off since I was seating and taper crimping in the same op. The front band was completely scraped off.
I've flared the case mouths with a NOE expander plug size .455X.451
Loaded a few with the die backed off to only seat the bullet , then backed the seating stem off and taper crimped to .469. Pulled a couple of those and had about half as much bare lead showing as the all in one seating/crimping op., but still quite a bit. Front band only, the base band is fine. Evidently the crimped case mouth is pulling through the coating when the bullet is pulled, doubt it's anything different in the pistol.
This is with Randy's Dark Silver powder and I know others have been having good luck with it. The original loads were with PBTP durable gloss black powder.
I've tried BLL and a modified Emmerts lube instead of the PC, but it leads worse with those. I'm planning on having Doug work on the throat, but not sure even that will work with damage on the front band.
Any ideas?

[DougGuy]

Throating will make it smoother on any kind of boolit PC or plain either one will work better in the longer smoother throat. Mine don't lead and I never clean them. Nothing there to clean out. Just sayin'

[Whitespider]

Try shooting the softer boolits.
Just because pulling a boolit from the loaded round is scrapping off some coating on the front band does not mean the same will happen when the round is fired (it may, or may not, and may not matter anyway).

Don't get me wrong... I ain't sayin' you shouldn't have the throat work done regardless of what happens shooting the softer boolit. What I'm sayin' is, test to see if the softer boolit (crimped in a separate step) reduces or eliminated the leading problem before adding another variable by having the barrel work done. Even if the leading is eliminated with the softer alloy, there are still benefits to having the throat work done.
*

[ole_270]

Okay, just stepped out on the porch and ripped off 6 shots with the separate seating and crimping steps, and the softer alloy. The barrel is fairly clean, some grey in the corners of the grooves, but then I'm using a dark silver PC. Not near what it was before. My only other PC is the gloss black. I'll keep shooting and see how it goes. In over 30 years of casting for rifles I've never had this kind of trouble, I always assumed the lower pressure and velocity of the 45 auto would be simple in comparison.
The boys get their turn with it this weekend and then it's off to Doug for throating. Got some of those 200RF cast of the softer alloy waiting for it's turn.
Thanks for the help guys, I'm not normally this much of a pain.

[Whitespider]

I will say that 10 BHN is still plenty hard for the .45 ACP... especially since it's only been 2 days, will likely get even a bit harder over the next 10-15 days or so.
I don't own a hardness tester, I can only guess at the hardness of the alloy I use... and I "guess" a 1:1 ratio of COWW:SOWW would be around 8 BHN at the hardest, and very likely something less than that. Think of the billions of nearly pure lead (5 BHN??) WCs and HBWCs fired in .38 Specials at comparable pressures/velocities using nothing more than a coating of what amounts to candle wax for lube?? Heck, I've run those Hornady and Speer soft swedged bullets over 1000 FPS without problems in a couple revolvers. One of my revolvers, a convertible Blackhawk .38-40/10mm I ran Hornady soft lead SWCs over 1100 FPS with no leading.

By-the-way, if anyone has tested a 1:1 COWW:SOWW alloy I'd be curious to know your results.
*

[DougGuy]

By-the-way, if anyone has tested a 1:1 COWW:SOWW alloy I'd be curious to know your results.
*

That's so close to 50/50 it ain't funny, and should be excellent air dropped for 1911. BHN 12-14 maybe?

I use the pencil test, there is a lengthy sticky about this, good stuffs..

[ole_270]

calculator shows 10.1, out of COWW or I could test it.

[Whitespider]

That's so close to 50/50 it ain't funny, and should be excellent air dropped for 1911. BHN 12-14 maybe?
Hmmmm.... that can't be correct, straight COWW (air cooled) is only 12 BHN at best (at least that's my understanding).
I've never seen a need for testing hardness; normally, in pistols and revolvers, if it leads I go softer... in rifles I go harder. However, I just melted down a bunch of range pick-ups (from my range) and I have no idea what it is as far as hardness... everything from shotgun slugs to commercial hard-cast and anything in between including jacketed stuff. It's the first time I've really found a use for the hardness tester I don't have.
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[DougGuy]

I was under the impression that coww was 15 or so? Maybe I was thinking of #2.

[Whitespider]

Thanks for the help guys, I'm not normally this much of a pain.
I missed this statement the first time through...
You ain't a pain... the only dumb question is the question not asked.
However, that don't mean the answer(s) you receive are automatically correct for your application... and yes, that includes my answers.
*

[Whitespider]

I was under the impression that coww was 15 or so? Maybe I was thinking of #2.
Yes... I believe Lyman #2 runs about 15 BHN (again, my understanding).
*

[ole_270]

Update:
I sent the barrel to Doug and just got a message from him. Turns out the chamber and throat were eccentric to the bore as well as the chamber being slightly short. From the sound of it the throat was really off. He said it took some time, but he got it fixed. He says the dimensions are fairly tight and I need to stay at or under .452 for my cast rounds which brings up the next problem. My new H&I die as well as a NOE size bushing are both stamped .452 but size at .4525-.453. I checked with two different 0-1 mics. Dusty sent me a spare .451 H&I die to try out so I'm good there except for those loads already loaded. Guess I'll have to pull those. I'll get a .451 bushing coming from Al be on pins an needles waiting for the mailman next week.
Thanks to Doug, Dusty and all who offered help on this problem. Doug says it should be a sweet shooter now.

[DougGuy]

I will add to the update.

Pics of eccentric chamber and throat:

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Cylinder%20Services/ThroatPasted768-3_zpsoskpkyjo.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Cylinder%20Services/ThroatPasted768-3_zpsoskpkyjo.jpg.html)

One can easily see that there is no freebore at all, and the side of the barrel that appears to have a slight bit of a throat cut into it is just beveled on the same angle as the leade ins to the rifling. The other side of the barrel has no throat at all, and very abrupt rifling. Apparently the throat was cut at the same time the chamber was finished as it aligns with the chamber and both are eccentric to the bore. The "target" model Sig barrel is cut to very minimal dimensions in every way possible, making this barrel nearly impossible to get good results from cast boolits without proper throating to accept said boolits at the specified COA for the load.

Here is the finished throat, you can't see the chamber was recut but it was recut piloted off the lands and that allowed the chamber to be re-aligned concentric with the bore as it was recut.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Cylinder%20Services/ThroatPasted768-2_zps0y4hray0.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Cylinder%20Services/ThroatPasted768-2_zps0y4hray0.jpg.html)

The crown was also recut on 20 degrees, and the feed ramp was polished and a very tiny radius broke at the top of the ramp, right in the center where it needs to be to prevent 3 point jams with SWC boolits. (red arrow).

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Cylinder%20Services/CrownRampPasted768_zpsg4ilqrxi.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Cylinder%20Services/CrownRampPasted768_zpsg4ilqrxi.jpg.html)

Range reports from the owner are MUCH better than before, if the slide to frame fit and other parts of this Sig Sauer 1911 Target Model are held as minimal tolerance as the barrel, now that the barrel is fixed it should be a great shooter and last a lifetime!

[ole_270]

After successfully casting and loading for rifles for over 30 years, I was beginning to think I'd lost my touch when I couldn't get this one to work. Those pictures show what I'd missed seeing.
Thanks Doug

[RedJackson]

I've been using WW in a bunch of 1911s and 1917s forever. Never had any leading problems.

[BD]

I would first try sizing them to .451. If that doesn't cure it, send it to Doug.

[sutherpride59]

Have you pulled a bullet from an assembled round to measure diameter of the loaded bullet? The bullet has to be being swedged undersize somewhere for a 45 to lead like that. Also check that the lube/pc is not being scraped off either during loading or on a sharp barrel lead in the chamber.

I agree with this try reloading with no crimp and see what happens, I messed up a couple of months ago and over crimped some resulting in some nasty leading.

[PBaholic]

Soften your lead a little. No need for BHN 13 in a PC'd 45, shoot for BHN 10 or even less.

1# of BHN 5 lead and 1# of your BHN 13 mix (5+13 = 18 / 2 = BHN 9)

[Eddie17]

Just have to say, like the explanation an pictures!
Regarding to post#42.