.45 Colt Jumpin' Crimp

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I've got myself a dandy little NOE hollow point mould (drops 230 with HP pins). The bullets are a bit long. They fit with room to spare in my Redhawk and Blackhawk, but just barely fit in my little titanium snubie Taurus.

They work fine in my hawks but jump out just a tad in the Taurus, enough to lock it up tight.

The bullet I like to use is 100% pure lead that has been powder coated.

I see a few things I could try.

1. Crimp it more. I think this may not work simply because they are so soft.
2. Switch to a harder alloy.
3. Switch to another bullet design that gives me more room in the cylinder.
4. Switch to a lighter bullet.
5. Back off on the powder charge. Currently it's a max charge with HS6 for a standard pressure load.

What would you guys try first?

[sigep1764]

Start with the two easiest first. Adjust the crimp on ten rounds and check for leading or more crimp jumping. If that doesn't work, drop the charge a grain. If still no joy, then work on the more complicated stuff like adjusting your alloy. It's prolly the fact that it's a lighter weight revolver than the other two.

[truckboss]

I would adjust crimp first.Next measure your case after expanding,if to big reduce expander about .001 and try again.About .002 of interference should work.YMMV

[BK7saum]

Are you using a Lee factory crimp die? If so, you may be sizing the boolits inside the case and this is causing your problem.

Brad

[Airman Basic]

I've noticed some brass in 45 Colt is not sized enough to securely hold 452 boolits. You might try sizing down to boolit depth with a 45 ACP sizer. Bet that solves your problem. Did mine, anyway.

[StrawHat]

Getting a crimp is only part of the process. The shell case needs to be the correct size to hold the bullet. I think your sizing die is not doing the correct job.

Kevin

[44man]

Boolits too soft for case tension so if you expand less you will just size the boolit. More crimp just scrapes the boolit too when it tries to open the crimp.
The light gun boolit pull shows up faster but I bet there is some movement in the others that you don't notice, bad for accuracy!
If shooting for fun or paper, there is no need for soft lead. Until you get tension you are beating a dead dog.

[w5pv]

I agree with Kevin,I have made the mistake of not sizing new brass.

[saleen322]

I just got a NOE 265 GC mold. It has a good crimping groove and seems very secure. I bought the mold for my 460 but I just loaded some in 45 Colt and they shot great with no movement.

[mdi]

My thinking is with such a light revolver and near max loads you can do two things; reduce the recoil and/or increase the tension on the bullet. Personally, I'd reduce the load a bit (a max. load for a light CC gun ain't really necessary).

[Mk42gunner]

230 grains is kind of light for the .45 Colt, in my mind anyway, what is the diameter of the boolit and your neck expander? I don't think a heavier crimp will help; but more neck tension will, if the boolit is hard enough not to size down when seated.

Robert

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I'm using Starline brass, each one has been shot about 4 or five times. My dies are Hornady with a seating/roll crimp die.

Bullets are sized .452.

The HS6 loads kick pretty hard. My standard target load is just a dash of tightgroup, but I don't have much of that powder left.

The soft bullet at high speeds was my attempt at reliable expansion for self-defense.

I'm not sure what size expander I have. I'll have to get my calipers on it.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I don't have any data on my Taurus 450 yet, but from my 3.75" Vaquero I have a few records.

250 LRNFP 10.4 HS6 864fps
210 LRNFP 7.0 Tightgroup 828fps
260 Keith 6.0 Tightgroup 738fps
255 LRN Winchester Factory 738fps
255 LRNFP 5.4 Tightgroup 638fps

None of these are the current load in question, and the Taurus has a shorter barrel that is ported so I'd expect speeds to be less.

So how much speed do you think I'd need with a pure lead bullet with a generous HP?

[whisler]

You already have a .45, how much expansion do you need?

[cajun shooter]

You provided the loading information but not your equipment which is the most important factor in trying to help you with your problem.
What dies are you using, How much are you opening the case mouth ? If using new brass, what brand of brass are you using? Are you sizing the new brass before loading? What are your case dimensions on the finished ammo? How much are you belling the case mouth?
The answer to your problem lies in these questions.
I would also not worry about trying to get a bullet to expand when hitting a human target. The US Armed Forces have used the 45 ACP for over 100 years with a 230 grain copper clad bullet at around 850 FPS with about a 100% kill factor. Later David

[DLCTEX]

An alloy of 50/50 lead/ww will give plenty of expansion with your velocity and will be hard enough to hold a crimp.imho

[NVScouter]

230 grains is kind of light for the .45 Colt, in my mind anyway, what is the diameter of the boolit and your neck expander? I don't think a heavier crimp will help; but more neck tension will, if the boolit is hard enough not to size down when seated.

Robert

But thats as a HP. I'm guessing its the same profile as a 250g boolit so will be fine. Not sure why they are "a bit long" for Rugers my 2 Blackhawks chamber about anything but my Redhawk gets issues with huge metplat 300s. The tapered 340g cast nose of the LEE 340 however fits with room to spare. Cant comment on anything Braztech makes.

[Harter66]

I'm going to go with a powder change and an alloy change for the Taurus.

Here's my why it's a light gun and you have a dead soft bullet. I doubt you can get enough crimp to stop the walk . So a slightly harder boolit in this case about 25% WW and heat treat (water dropping will do probably) . This will make the hard enough to resist the jump but still soft enough to expand. I o ly used a little bit of HS6 in a 9mm it seems like a good closed breach powder. The trick with powders is to choose 1 that is low pressure but will burn up mostly in the bbl. At this point it looks like you have a 2 1/2 bbl 45 Colts that's going to be rough to find .

Just thinking out loud here for the snubbie maybe a Schofield loading and case would be better suited. 1st you get a tenth of an inch or so for jump to beat the tie-up. 2nd you can still hit ACP performance, which is about all you will get anyway . 3rd it will burn less powder to do it. Just thinking a little.