Lee 200 Grain SWC Loads?

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

I received in the mail today my new mold, a Lee two cavity 200 grain SWC style.

It casts nice!

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Guns/reloading/swc.jpg

However, it has one small flaw, or maybe I should say the data does. On the Hodgdon website, it lists a 200 grain SWC at 1.25" COAL. Now, I thought it looked funny when I made a dummy load that long, and it didn't chamber smoothly. There was a distinct "ker-chunk" when that length load actually loaded.

As well, I'm getting excessive denting of the nose. I at first thought lead was shaving, but there was no lead inside the pistol. Looks instead like it's hitting the feed ramp a bit hard; it's not releasing soon enough from the Kimber mag I was using.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Guns/reloading/shavingordenting.jpg

As you can see, it shoved back to where it wanted to be. This is about where I want it to be as well. I am used to loading semi-wadcutters to about 1.19" COAL, with the shoulder sticking out about the thickness of my thumbnail.

I measured the length of those micro-bands but, as I sit here typing this, I find myself forgetting it! Something in the realm of 0.330".

I have W231 on hand and am picking up Federal primers tomorrow. (How I let myself run out of large pistol primers I'll never know... except maybe I did it intentionally as I have a lot of .45acp loaded up and started loading rifle and didn't want to get the two primers mixed up. Anyhow...)

Can someone help me with the loads for this? I'd like to work up to 5.2 to 5.6 grains of W231, but pressures might be high there.

This is going to be the new critter getter load for coyote on down but used mainly for raccoon control. I'd like around 850fps.

Any help will be appreciated!

Regards,

Josh

[tomme boy]

Looks like it still needs to be deeper. Also, it looks like it needs to be crimped more. I like to set mine at 0.472" This works in my 45. You want to measure it right at the edge of the brass. I also like to set my depth with the TL grove bullets with about 1/2 of the last ring out of the case. If you get too much out of the case, it will head space on the bullet instead of the case.

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

We're on the same page.

However, the data is telling me that it needs to be out so that the second groove is showing. That doesn't seem right, and is just given as a load for a generic LSW. I'm guessing it has a longer nose, but if it doesn't, I don't want to get the pressures too high.

I doubt it would, but do I need to reduce some since I'll be setting it back about 0.06"?

Thanks,

Josh

[Ford SD]

When I set up a dummy round for a new semi auto I always remove the barrel and use it to set up the new round

(Clean Barrel)
I set it up so the round is flush or a hair below the hood on the barrel, with out having to resort to any finger pressure to get it there

Each gun/chamber will be a bit different

I have 2 1911 and one has to be .030 shorter than the other. so i load for the short one.

I hope you get your problems solved

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

Thanks.

Do I need to reduce the starting load to compensate for the additional setback?

What does the Lee manual list as the COAL and starting load? I have a Lyman CB manual (which I cannot locate at the moment) and a Speer #10. Need to update I guess.

Thanks,

Josh

[Josh Smith]

P.S. You all are right, by the way, about the crimp. I hadn't set the crimp yet and was just testing for length. The crimp was loose.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Guns/reloading/crimped.jpg

Optimally, I'd like the round to look like that. (It looks like there's a gap in the crimp on the right hand side of the picture; that's a shadow due to the flash.)

I just need to figure out how much powder to put in it since I've shortened it from its original 1.25" COAL to 1.19" or so COAL.

Regards,

Josh

[Larry Gibson]

You want the case mouth to cover 1/2 of the front driving band and use a light taper crimp. Many cast bullets, unless cast very hard, get that scuff on them from hitting the feed ramp. As long as it's not worse than that, feeding is 100% and doesn't shave the lead off you probably won't notice any difference down range.

With 231 powder under a 200 gr cast 6 gr is considered max. 5.2 gr should be a good load. I use 5 gr Bullseye under 200 gr cast and they run 880 fps +/- out of numerous 5" M1911s. Makes for a good general purpose load.

Larry Gibson