45ACP brass length

[Wayne Smith]

For the first time in my life I am beginning to load for the ACP. I am loading the Miha 200gr boolit with the hp pin, and find that, if I load to the recommended OAL the case mouth is just at the top edge of the lube groove. I measured my "once fired" brass, all Win cases, and found that the longest I have is .892" while the standard is .898".

I am anticipating, as my brother will be sending me my pistol as soon as my shop sends him their updated FFL. May be done already. I know - don't load them until I have a barrel in which to check the load length. None the less, I wonder if my brass is exceptionally short or if this is a common problem?

I imagine I will have problems putting a taper crimp into the lube groove! Asking as one with no experience with this round, how short can I make it (deep can I seat the boolit) without screwing with accuracy or pressure? I am currently loading 6.0gr BE under the `185gr boolit. I'd guess I'm talking a couple hundred's of an inch more and I'll be back on the lead.

[35remington]

Having a case that's shorter than the maximum OAL allowed is very common in 45 ACP. I've never measured a case that approached the limit much closer than yours, for the most part. Your cases are well within the length I find with my brass.

Shoot them, they shorten. Squeeze them in a carbide sizing die, they lengthen. You'll never have to trim them.

Don't worry if a lube groove or any other depression is present adjacent to where you will taper crimp. Simply crimp to around .470" and don't worry about it, as it will headspace on the case mouth (if it's not on the bullet) either way. If you want a crimp to hold the bullet in place, this only works with a lot more crimp, as in the .462-.465" vicinity, and only on lead bullets.

So then it would matter if a lube groove was present, but since taper crimping is a functionality aid rather than a bullet retention feature for the most part, seat to correct OAL that functions in your gun and pay attention to crimp diameter. The rest will take care of itself.

OAL depends upon chamber, rifling, gun and magazine. Can't say for certain or any absolutes, except deeper seating raises pressure. How much depends upon how deep. Given any halfway normal throating, or a not too abrupt start to the leade, usually what your chamber accepts will wind up in a workable overall length.

If using a roundnose bullet of proper radius, approximating the 230 ball contour (not overall length, but rather similarity in ogive location) is a good place to start, and will keep you well out of any trouble.

You may be over thinking it a little.

[Alan]

I like to put ~ half the case thickness into the boolit to prevent collapses back into the case. I would seat it deep enough to get the taper crimp into the driving band. On my Ruger Blackhawks the throat is very tight, and a .452" bullet has to have the front driving band almost in the case to chamber.

Alan

[wv109323]

Seat the base of the bullet down in the brass to where there is 1/32" of the bullet body out of the end of the brass. Taper crimp to .468 to .470". Don't worry about length of brass or COL on straight wall pistol cases/ammo.
The ammo will feed best with 1/32" of the lead base exposed.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

This was a major subject written on by Dean Grennell. He had a great deal of difficulty finding cases that were of the proper length and correspondingly could not get uniform accuracy out of them. He wound up designing a jig that held 308 cases so that he could cut them on a table saw and he made 45ACP cases that could be trimmed to the proper length. They performed more consistently. He also indicated that cases became shorter with repeated firings. My own experience with this frustrating situation bears out the same findings and results. I did not cut down 308 cases. I continue nevertheless to load 45ACP with moderate success, trying to use the longest cases that I can measure and cull them, use four different molds for four different guns. I use only a taper crimp of .471 with one roundnose to duplicate GI ball and 3 SWC's. I have no leading or feeding issues with 2 revolvers and two semi-autos. It would be nice if brass manufacturers made brass .898 or .900 to start with so that we had some wiggle room and the problem would be minimized LLS

[Alan]

If you have ONE gun you are loading for, and the boolit is slightly oversized for the throat, you can headspace on the boolit instead of the case. If the OAL will allow it, this works like a champ, and really tightens groups.

Alan

[Wayne Smith]

One gun, Alan. Yes, 35, I probably overthink everything! Thanks, guys.

[bobthenailer]

Just a though you should measure the cases oal after sizing as it will normaly grow a few thousands of a inch .

[Wayne Smith]

These are sized, primed and either ready to load or loaded already.

[MtGun44]

Never measured a single .45 ACP case after my first discovery that NONE were anywhere
near the max length. I have loaded hundreds of thousands in the last 32 yrs and worring
about case length is like worrying about the depth of the Atlantic. Not useful.

If a .45 ACP case were to seat with the primer 1/4" from the breech face - the firing pin
would still EASILY reach it in a 1911, so who cares about whether there is a .020 gap
or something like that? Not relevant to any thing that we care about, like function
and reliability. Push a 1911 firing pin in with a small rod or drill and see how far it will
protrude from the breech - you'll be surprised.

Set LOA to fit mags and avoid jamming the boolit into the throat enough to cause a failure
to close. Make sure you Taper Crimp.

Inadequate or no TC has been THE MOST consistent problem that I have seen in newbies
to the .45 ACP over the last 30+ yrs of shooting IPSC and helping new reloaders. Lack
of or insufficient TC has been about 80+% of the failure to function problem for thier
handloaded ammo.

Bill

[pdawg_shooter]

No idea how many tons of 45ACP brass I have been through since the mid 60s. Never have checked the length of one. Not a bullseye shooter so it just dont matter to me. Seat all my bullets so it headspaces on the bullet and go a shooten!

[nicholst55]

Make sure you Taper Crimp.

Inadequate or no TC has been THE MOST consistent problem that I have seen in newbies
to the .45 ACP over the last 30+ yrs of shooting IPSC and helping new reloaders. Lack
of or insufficient TC has been about 80+% of the failure to function problem for thier
handloaded ammo.

Bill

Absolutely agree! Frankly, I don't know how the old timers got such good results back in the days before taper crimp dies!

To illustrate, I once knew a guy who was a commercial reloader. I was visiting one day and saw a small bin full of .45 ACP ammo lying off to one side, so I asked about it. He said that he was trying a new bullet supplier and that this ammo wouldn't work in any of the guns he had tried it in. I examined a few rounds, and they looked good - except they obviously were not taper crimped.

Long story short, I bought the entire bin for the cost of components, taper crimped, and shot it all up without any problems! I told the guy about it, and by the next week, you'd have thought that he invented the taper crimp die, to hear him talk!

To date myself somewhat, my .45 ACP dies (RCBS) have an add-on carbide sizer, and an add-on taper crimp die! Seems like the decapping pin is in the expander die, too.

[wildphilhickup]

I have never measured the case length on a 45 in the 30 years I have been reloading it. I load to an OAL and that's it!