45 ACP boolit questions

[altitude_19]

I just finished casting and lube/sizing some 228 RN boolits and had a couple quick questions:
1.) The top punch (Lymand 374, I believe) seems to leave a mark where its radius contacts the boolit. Anybody else have this happen? It doesn't seem severe enough to cause feeding problems, and is just barely perceptible by touch.
2.) I'm running a .452 RCBS sizing/lubing die in a Lyman 450. The boolits seem to be sizing to .453 (down from .456). Does that sound ok to shoot?

[Bob Krack]

What alloy and what firearm? .453 should be okay but my personal choice in my Colt MKIV and my Hipoint JH both like the .452, a few others here like .451 but I still think you will probably be alright.

The top punch mark should cause no problem at all unless it impacts the feeding/chambering process (like on my clunk Hipoint). My Colt will feed and chamber adobe bricks.

Stay tuned for many more answers.

Bob

[Grandpas50AE]

I used to get those too when I cast 225 gr. RN's years ago, and they never gave any noticable problems. Shot thousands of them. Started using 200 gr. SWC about 10 years ago, and that is all I load any more for .45ACP in cast since they shoot so darn well in all my Kimbers (have 4 of them in .45ACP). My sizer is marked .451 and the boolits out of it mic at a diameter of .4515". Your .453 may be a bit on the large side, but only your gun can tell you that.

[altitude_19]

They're pure wheel weights and I'll be firing them through a Springfield XD45.

[btroj]

Tha marks from the top punch are very common. There are ways to prevent it but I never worry as they are cosmetic.
.453 will probably be fine. Does a loaded roud drop freely into the chamber of the barrel with the barrel out of the gun? If they do then all should be fine.

Ultimate test if to go and shoot some. The gun is the ultimate judge. The gun is also pretty good at letting us know quickly what it doesn't like.

[Shiloh]

All of my round nose boolits have a sizing ring on the nose. Not an issue.
You could mold one with JB Weld for a perfect fit, but it's not really necessary for performance.

Shiloh

[geargnasher]

The dumpy Lee 228-grain boolit has a different nose radius than the Lyman 452374, which is the boolit your punch is designed to fit. Don't worry about the ring unless it bothers you or the gun.

Like Btroj said, if they chamber freely shoot them at .453". They are probably springing back a thousandth if the castings are dropping .456". I suspect either your mould isn't closing all the way, or your measuring tools/methods aren't up to the task of exactness, because I own two of those moulds and they both drop .4525" with straight wheel weights. When measuring, check them on either side of the parting lines as close as you can get to the seam without getting a bogus measurement from the seam itself, an then measure 90 degrees to the parting line. This will tell you the true measurements, and if the boolit is out of round. The measurements on either side of the parting line should be identical, if not, the blocks are shifted against each other, and if the measurement perpendicular to the parting line is larger, the mould isn't closing right and you should check the mould faces for lead trash (flashing), and the alignment points for burrs.

Gear

[runfiverun]

i'd be more surprised if you didn't get one sizing down .003
i hope you aren't squeezing the nose bigger in the die that could cause feeding/chambering issues.
you [after looking at what gear said] could possibly get away with using some soft lead in the alloy to get them a bit smaller.
and possibly waterdrop them to get the hardness back if you need it.
i'd shoot a few first though, no sense changing something that works.

[Joe216]

I have an xdm 45acp and also have the same ring around my boolits, I've shot plenty with no problem.

Also, my sizer seems to end up at. 453, however I haven't had any leading.

That's just my 2 cents.

-Joe

[MtGun44]

Too big doesn't cause leading, too small does, so you are in good shape. Most
round nosed boolit wind up with a ring to some extent, the more you size and the
softer the alloy, the more the marking. Not too big of a deal unless it gets TOO
unsightly.

Bill

[thx997303]

I've shot cast in my XD45 and my XDm45.

My experience with both has been this.

Chambering was iffy with boolits larger than .453" With mixed headstamp brass, I would get a round every few that would absolutely not chamber.

Sizing to .452" has completely relieved any chambering problems.

On my XD45 the ejecting cartridge would often impact the top round in the magazine causing a dent in the boolit, and sometimes cause the round to nosedive in the magazine.

This is due to tolerance stacking, the original design of the XD was for a 9mm, so when they merely scaled up the works, they ran into this issue. Of course not on every pistol.

The XDm45 doesn't have this issue, they changed a few things on it to fix it.

[altitude_19]

Yeah, my uncle sent me some cast lead ammo. His wadcutters would NOT run reliably. Never had issues with his round nose boolits, though.

[drg560]

I'm new to this site, I was directed here from the Faloholic's forum. I have a Colt 45 ACP which was leading really bad. I was told to slug the barrel which I did and the bullet measured .449, pure lead. The bullet in the picture were lose in the case so I crimped them just a bit. I wanted to check the measurement of a shot bullet, so I figured out how to catch one. It measured .439 at the widest and .434 where the crimp came into play. So they were undersized from the start. I was wondering if the case would expand before the bullet came out and it did not.

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb350/drg560/DSC_0001.jpg

The bullet in the picture is one with a mixture of lead and tin but I can't remember what the ratio was. I bought it off of eBay. What my question is, is what temp. should the lead be to cast and how do you check the temp? I know the leading problem is the bullet being to small. I use a Lee mould at .452 I load 4.0 grains of Bullseye powder and a 230 grain bullet. I know that I'm asking alot for just getting on this site but I'm at my wits end to try and get this problem fixed. I didn't know that a mould would make undersized bullets. Didn't think to check the size. So that said you can tell that I'm just learning.

[Charlie in Co]

I'm a little confused with your post. Are you saying that your barrel is .439 on a 45 ACP? I think something is wrong with your measurement.

[WD2A7X3]

I'm new to this site, I was directed here from the Faloholic's forum. I have a Colt 45 ACP which was leading really bad. I was told to slug the barrel which I did and the bullet measured .449, pure lead. The bullet in the picture were lose in the case so I crimped them just a bit. I wanted to check the measurement of a shot bullet, so I figured out how to catch one. It measured .439 at the widest and .434 where the crimp came into play. So they were undersized from the start. I was wondering if the case would expand before the bullet came out and it did not.

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb350/drg560/DSC_0001.jpg

The bullet in the picture is one with a mixture of lead and tin but I can't remember what the ratio was. I bought it off of eBay. What my question is, is what temp. should the lead be to cast and how do you check the temp? I know the leading problem is the bullet being to small. I use a Lee mould at .452 I load 4.0 grains of Bullseye powder and a 230 grain bullet. I know that I'm asking alot for just getting on this site but I'm at my wits end to try and get this problem fixed. I didn't know that a mould would make undersized bullets. Didn't think to check the size. So that said you can tell that I'm just learning.

Are you using any bullet lube? I know it could have burned off it just dose't look like there's even residue on the picture. Also there's a lack of grooves, what do the bullets measure before firing?

[drg560]

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that my bullets are undersized and I want to know how to make them right. My mould is .452 but they are putting out bullets that are any where from .439 to .449. I use Lee alox lube, but I was thinking that it was gumming up the barrel, so I ran them through my case tumbler.