1st Reloading Question

[crackers]

"I didn’t realize that the COL could be less than 1.660 ..."

Do understand that the reason for stipulating a COL is it's influence on pressure. Progressive powder burns faster as the pressure increases. In the confines of smaller pistol cases, pressure can rise rapidly when the overall length is arbitrarily shortened, causing more bullet to intrude in the case.

[lar45]

Lead-2 Welcome to the forum.
The 45 Colt is one of my absolute favorites.
I don't think that we've heard which gun you are shooting them out of.
Pics are always appreciated

[Taterhead]

"I didn’t realize that the COL could be less than 1.660 ..."

Do understand that the reason for stipulating a COL is it's influence on pressure. Progressive powder burns faster as the pressure increases. In the confines of smaller pistol cases, pressure can rise rapidly when the overall length is arbitrarily shortened, causing more bullet to intrude in the case.

That's right. What gets lost sometimes is that the depth of the heel is what is important in terms of volume underneath the bullet. Different profiles of a similar weight will locate the heel at different depths inside the case, keeping COL constant.

That is why COL is not plug-and-play, and load data is a guide and not absolute gospel.

[tankgunner59]

Lead-2, first please let me say I'm terribly sorry to hear of the loss of your Dad. My Dad passed in 2009 and I understand where you are with it. I myself have and use a Lee FCD with all the calibers I reload and it takes some learning by trial and error at first. When crimping with the LFCD, you should feel just a bit of resistance at the very end of the stroke of the press handle, especially on cast boolits. Heavy crimp can cause dangerous pressures in you firearm. If you're feeling a lot of resistance you definitely need to back the die off some.
COL is actually more relative to the boolit profile rather than the boolit weight. When reading the load data in the manual for your boolit weight, try to match the profile of yours to one in your manual. I personally suggest you acquire a copy of Lymans Cast Bullet Handbook. It has a more extensive selection of bullet profiles, and it's all for cast bullets only.

[nccaster77]

Seat and crimp in two separate steps. Flare just enough to get the boolit into the case without shaving lead.

And be sure your boolit is sized correctly .452 for the awesome .45 Colt You’ve basically crimped before it was seated and that caused your case to bulge. easy peasy

[John Boy]

Lead, the SAMMI listing for COL MAXIMUM length is 1.60 not 1.660. And 45 Colt reloads can be as short as 1.50. This is the length I use in my Lightning pump rifle for them to chamber properly

[Pb Burner]

Welcome to the forum Lead-2. Sorry about the loss of your father. I'd been following this thread and was happy to see you got it figured out. I, as others did, saw the problem from your pictures, but others had already replied. There is definitely a lot of good people and help here.
It sounds like you have a good basic understanding of the process.
Also, you might have someone on here close to your location that would be willing to help you with other issues that might come up, or to just show you some good reloading safety practices. There are some long standing members in Ohio. I live on the eastern Ohio border, not sure where your at in Ohio. I have been reloading for around 45 yrs, and have learned some things the hard way, no mentor back then...
Feel free to PM me if your interested and somewhere near east central Ohio.