question about .45 LC reloading

[45sixgun]

I have a question about reloading for .45 Long Colt. While the throats are properly sized, there seems to be a lot of extra space in the rest of the cylinder chamber. The rounds seem to have a lot of rattle room in there. Not sure if that's a concern or not. In the interest of minimizing this extra space and prolonging the life of my brass, would it be ok to skip resizing the used cases when depriming? Or at least not resizing every time? Would this create pressure inconsistencies, or prevent the boolits from seating tightly and consistently? I should add that I'm after good, consistent target accuracy with this gun (Ruger BH).

[zxcvbob]

What I've done before when I had some undersized plated bullets was "neck size" .45 Colt brass using a .30-06 die raised up really high. They ended up looking like .44-40's. You could do the same thing to a lessor degree by raising you .45 Colt sizing die up a half inch or so. If you don't size at all, the neck tension will be lousy.

I've also thought about using my unused Lee Factory Crimp die as a sizing die for .45 Colts, to size them a little large, but I haven't tried that yet.

[pipehand]

You can neck size them if you want. I have used a 45-70 die to deprime, and a 45acp carbide die to size only as much of the neck as will hold the boolit. The original chamber and cartridge was slightly tapered, but using carbide dies makes the round undersized and cylindrical. Redding just came out with a die for the 45 Colt that has 2 carbide rings- one for the neck and another for the base. I read the review in Handloader magazine- checking the price @ Midway however discouraged me from purchasing. RCBS does make a steel sizer that works the brass less, and conforms the chamber better, but then you have to lube cases. You would think that they could tighten up the chamber drawings from 140 years ago!

[geargnasher]

My first question on seeing the title was if it was a Ruger, I see that it was. I've been doing what zxcvbob does for years, helps a little, but depending on the range you shoot may not be worth the trouble. Many .45 Colt chambers are ridiculously huge, not just Ruger, it's a common problem with this cartridge, but not a safety issue really. It does overwork the brass pretty badly, though, even if you just "neck size" because the front of the chamber is still oversized.

If you really want to improve your accuracy, neck size and apply cellophane tape around where the boolit seats until the cartridge just barely slip-fits into the chamber. You'll have to re-do it every firing, but it will open your eyes to some things.

Gear

[starmac]

Gear, are you talking about wrapping the outside of the brass, before you seat the boolit?

[runfiverun]

after, to fit the chamber.
you need the neck tension to hold the boolit properly.
celo tape is about .002-.0025 thick.
you could also trim back some casull cases to fit the chamber better.
ruger usually cut's them about half way between a 45 colt and a 454 casull case in length.
ths gets you some thicker cases to work with too.

[leftiye]

Open up a non carbide sizer die so that when you fl size, the neck gets sized just enough for a -.002 thou grip, and the rest of the case gets sized as little as possible without bulges at the case head in front of the rim. .45Colt chambers are typically about .486 and the modern cases end up about .472 to .474.

[45sixgun]

Thanks for all the replies. This gives something to work with, and some options to try.

[Moonie]

I have only recently started loading 45 Colt for my new NMBH but I've been neck sizing and it seems to work perfectly.

[pbcaster45]

I had a similar problem with my Uberti 1873 Levergun. I don't know if modern steel sizer dies have the same dimensions as the ones I picked in 1985 but here's the thread.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?170781-Have-Uberti-1973-Need-Load&p=1926721#post1926721

[45sixgun]

Thanks, pbcaster. I'm using Lee dies. I'll have to check to see what's available from them.

Moonie, any luck getting those .45 cylinders reamed? I neck sized the latest batch of reloads, and it seemed to work perfectly.

[Moonie]

Yes, I go them reamed and I need to send back the reamer and the t-handle. Thanks.