Reloading for Les Baer .45

[GuyG]

I am loading 200 gr. cast bullets for my buddy's Baer .45 and have had a few problems with the loaded cartridges chambering. I have RCBS dies - a FL sizer, a die that flares the case mouth and deprines, and 2 taper crimpers. There is a noticable bulge where the bullet fits into the mouth of the case. Many years ago, I loaded for my .45 a Colt gov. model - no problems. Is there anything I need to do differrent for the Les Baer - special die or technique? I have been loading for 40 yrs. shotgun, handgun and rifle. Thanks for your time.

[Trey45]

Did the empty brass happen to come out of a Glock?

[fredj338]

Check to make sure the bullets are 0.452". If they are larger, this can be causing a bulge at the base of the bullet. Did you apply a good taper crimp? If your die is the old RCBS set, it deprimes & bells in one die. The newer sets size & deprime, bell is separate. Measure the exander & see that it is 0.450" or smaller.

[GuyG]

My buddy bought 1500 mixed cases - do not know which guns they came from.

Bullets at widdest measure .453 and expander measures .450. The dies are old.
One die deprimes and flares case mouth. One die FL sizes and I have 2 taper crimp dies.

[jsizemore]

Next thing to check is if the boolit is concentric with the case. If your expander is .450 then your brass is actually springing back to .448-.449. When you stick a boolit in there that's .453 and your case walls are not uniform, and they never are, then that boolit may seat not concentric. So the solution is to flare the case mouth more or get a larger diameter expander plug.

Try segregating your brass by manufacturer and see if that makes a difference.

Change your casting alloy, casting temp,or air cool your boolits instead of water quench. Your shooting a 1911 and your boolits don't need to be more than 12 BHN. Read a little Glen Fryxell (hope I spelled that right).

And like everybody else said, try taper crimping a little more. Since you have 2 seater dies, 1 is probably set up for seating and the other for crimping.

[bruce381]

I talked to Les about 15 years ago when I bought a Premier II.

He said to load a 200 gr SWC type to max of 1.250 OAL and to use a taper crimp with case mouth crimped to .468-.470, I did and NEVER since have I had any troubles. I even have some cases that have a "bulge" or belt where the bullet is but no problems, He also said that if I continued to have problems to send back and he would open chamber a bit.

bruce

[Kraschenbirn]

A shooting buddy had a similar difficulty with an early match-grade Les Baer .45 shooting "soft-ball" 185 gr SWCs using mixed military and commercial brass. (Same loads he'd been using in a reworked Series 70 Colt without any problems.)

One day at the range, he was cussin' the gun somethin' fierce so I handed him a couple of my loaded mags. Same boolit, same OAL, BUT loaded in nickle Fed Match brass. ZAPPO! No more failures-to-chamber!

Bill

[Murphy]

GuyG,

Forgive my asking, but you did not mention if you had pulled the barrel from the slide and checked to see if it's the actual round or not.

If you have and the problem is still there, then it's the load more than likely. If you haven't removed the barrel to check a loaded round? There may be one of several problems that could be causing the round not to chamber, such as the extractor.

Let us know what you discover,

Thanks,

Murphy

[eka]

A Lee Factory Crimp Die will most likely solve all of your problems.

Keith

[captaint]

I've been loading for my LB Prem for a while and no problems at all. Using Lee dies and don't even use the fact crimp die anymore. Rem brass & boolits sized in the push thru to 452. Been using the H&G 200 gr 68 and loading OAL to 1.250. Keep us posted. Enjoy Mike

[KYCaster]

My buddy bought 1500 mixed cases - do not know which guns they came from.

Bullets at widdest measure .453 and expander measures .450. The dies are old.
One die deprimes and flares case mouth. One die FL sizes and I have 2 taper crimp dies.


You'll occasionally find a barrel that won't reliably chamber a .452 boolit, so your .453 may be the problem.

Varying thickness of mixed brass would explain why some work and some don't.

If you know someone who casts have them size some of your boolits to .452 to see if that helps.

You can also size the boolit smaller in a loaded round with the taper crimp die. Like Murphy said, remove the barrel and chamber check the rounds to find the ones that won't chamber. You can then adjust your taper crimp and resize those till they will chamber. I wouldn't depend on that for a normal loading practice, but it may give you a clue to solving your problem.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Jerry

[anachronism]

Do we even know that the cartridge won't chamber? One other thing, those old-style bullet seating dies often seated the bullets slightly off-center. You might also look to see if the bullet base ridge goes completely around the case or if it only shows on one side. This would indicate that the bullet is not seated squarely in the case.

[243winxb]

There is a noticable bulge where the bullet fits into the mouth of the case. Your bullet is oversize, you need .451" diameter. Bell the case mouth more. Adjust the bell on the shortest case. Some dies (RCBS) will start taper crimping way to early because its undersize. (i have one) Using the bullet seater die, turn down the seating stem as far as it will go to seat the bullet. This keeps the case for entering the die fully. Then taper crimp in a seperate operation. Or you can modify the bullets seating die by taking some metal out. And buy some new brass, it last forever. If this bulge is where the base of the bullet ends, not a problem if the round chambers.

[kamikaze1a]

As mentioned, factory crimp die will bring it back to specs...but I would try backing off on the crimp die. Possibility that the crimp is too tight and too much crimp b4 the boo done seating...

Try backing off the crimper, seating the boo with no crimping to desired OAL and inspecting case. If okay, back off seater plug and gradually screw in the crimper. Once the crimp is set, throw the lever fully and screw down the seater to set the seat depth...

[Dale53]

Remove your barrel. Use it for a case gauge. The loaded round should drop in the chamber (holding the barrel vertical with chamber up). The base of the cartridge should be even with the barrel hood. Seat the bullet out until it is. This headspaces on the bullet giving perfect ignition.

Taper crimp to .470". I use the Lee Factory Crimp die but for years used a separate taper crimp die in the fourth station with NO problems. The Lee FCD acts as a case gauge and will iron out any unevenness - it is definitely worthwhile.

Dale53