45 ACP feeding problems

[seagiant]

Hi,
When I was a young man I actually shot in some local IPSC matches in my loal Gun Club. I had not been reloading long and I was having function problems for no apparent reason?

One of the match directors who also happened to own a Gun Shop asked me if I was taper crimping as a 4th operation in the reload process? I said no I had a 3 die set. He told me to try a dedicated taper crimp die which I did and never looked back.

I have used Bill Wilson's specs on reloading the 45 ACP and have not had a problem since! As some here can get good ammo with a 3 die set maybe at the time being a new reloader I wasn't adjusting the seater/crimp die correctly?

What I do know is the dedicated taper crimp die solved my problem and has been working great ever since!

[Char-Gar]

Seagiant... I have noticed that the younger generations who grew up in the digital age, avoid if at all possible, doing things that require more than the bare minimum of time, energy and steps. This includes using the least amount of reloading dies, in the least amount of steps with the least expenditure of time and effort.

Although I don't like it, I am reconciled that the world is being turned over to people in search of a short cut. Sadly this isn't just about reloading, but about everything in life.

Now I suppose some folks will take umbrage at this point of view, but I knew the old and know the new and have been paying attention as I went along this path of live in America.

[Love Life]

Your loaded rounds should have a taper crimp like this:

[tomme boy]

Them look just like my 45's that I load with a 3 die set up. The problem is when the barrel is not throated right to begin with.

[Love Life]

Them look just like my 45's that I load with a 3 die set up. The problem is when the barrel is not throated right to begin with.

These are loaded with a 4 die set. I want to say a set of Dillon dies. I also use a RCBS 4 die set with taper crimp die for my single stage load development.

Now, I have used a 3 die set with the seat/crimp happening on the same step. As long as I trimmed all my brass to a uniform length I had no issues.

[MtGun44]

"Trimming .45 ACP brass to a uniform overall length". . . . . . Wow. There is a man
dedicated to reloading and with plenty of spare time. Or maybe reloading 50 rds
at a batch rather than the 400 per hour and several thousand a month that I was
loading when I was competing.

Bill

[Love Life]

Every piece of pistol brass I get is sized and trimmed to length. I hooked up a drill to my RCBS trimmer and it makes chewing through a 1,000 or so pieces of brass an afternoon affair.

I load on a Dillon RL550B. If I trim brass for an our a night all week I usually run out of brass by the weekend. I only trim it once.

Last batch of 45 acp I sized and trimmed was 3,000 pieces. Took me right at 7 days in between other stuff I do.

I shoot and load a lot, but I also take the time to trim my brass to ensure a uniform crimp.

[Char-Gar]

My name is Charles and I am a brass trimmer! It is sort of embarrassing to admit, in these days and times, but I actually do trim brass for a uniform crimp, either taper or roll. To make things worse, I still use and old hand cranked Wilson and punch the cases in an out of the case holder with an arbor press.

Many of these are loaded with a Lyman/Ideal 310 tool. If I want to step up to high tech a Pacific C press. If time and production is an issue a go full out with a Redding turret press.

I contracted this abhorrent behavior many years ago from people who were dedicated to precision handloading. A pox on their houses for flinging this curse on me.

[Groo]

Groo here
As was told to me [by an "old smith and shooter] so I tell to you.
Forget, trimming, bullet size,or crimp measurements.
One # make a dummy and set the boolet to the max length of your smallest mag. [ usually a 1911]
Do not crimp but make mouth of case smooth.
Pull barrels and do a chamber test,[or take the shortest one]
Set boolet to chamber flush in shortest chamber[ if the dummy fits all ready your done]
Set dies to the dummy , add a tamper crimp [ LCD die if you have match or tight chamber]
Make 50 and shoot. [ mid range load of Unique ets is fine]
If all guns feed ,done if not , seat boolet deeper until they do.
Feeeze and enjoy.
PS I have loaded auto shells this way for years and once the correct length is found for the boolet, most any
pistol will feed well.
There are a "Few" problem children but in general guns all feed the same .

[Char-Gar]

Groo here
As was told to me [by an "old smith and shooter] so I tell to you.
Forget, trimming, bullet size,or crimp measurements.
One # make a dummy and set the boolet to the max length of your smallest mag. [ usually a 1911]
Do not crimp but make mouth of case smooth.
Pull barrels and do a chamber test,[or take the shortest one]
Set boolet to chamber flush in shortest chamber[ if the dummy fits all ready your done]
Set dies to the dummy , add a tamper crimp [ LCD die if you have match or tight chamber]
Make 50 and shoot. [ mid range load of Unique ets is fine]
If all guns feed ,done if not , seat boolet deeper until they do.
Feeeze and enjoy.
PS I have loaded auto shells this way for years and once the correct length is found for the boolet, most any
pistol will feed well.
There are a "Few" problem children but in general guns all feed the same .

I agree that is a good approach and about what I do. I do trim cases though to a uniform length. It you are shooting for the X-Ring anything you can do to make your rounds uniform is worth the effort. I always use a taper crimp on all autopistol rounds.

[enfieldphile]

]+1 on a little shoulder exposed and the crimp die[/B]. Often when they are flush, the case mouth gets hung up.

+2! A 1/16 of exposed shoulder and a taper crimp die are the ticket.

[MtGun44]

God bless you brass trimmers, but I do not have the time or inclination
for "ordinary loads". I do it for all my ammo in rifles and probably should
do some testing in .45 ACP to see if it makes a detectable difference in true
target match ammo (as opposed to IPSC match ammo - and entirely different
animal!). For that matter, I guess trying it in .38 Spl and such wouldn't hurt -
darnit Char-Gar --- you just made a bunch of added work for me.

Seagiant - that is the role I had for a few decades in our IPSC club, and I had
a lot of new folks that had not TCed their .45 ACP ammo and it cured their
issues, too. It was THE #1 problem with new reloaders in that cartridge.

I try to explain it, but many folks don't seem to get it.

Bill