Lee 6 cavity mold TL452-200-SWC

[GMW]

I am at the end of my rope with this mold. I water quenched my boolits and tumble lubed them. I have been doing this method with the 230 grainers only with the truncated and round nose boolits, with no problems. I thought I could economize and get the 200 grain mold. Well, after much reading and makeing the loaded boolits shorter, longer, light crimp and not so light crimp, this mold will be going on the auction block. I have about 1500 unloaded boolits that will go back into the pot.
Is there anything else that I could try to make these loaded boolits chamber? My pistols are Les Baer TRS, Colt Commander,
Sig Scorpion, RIA compact, and Colt WW1 Re-issue. My trusty ole' Ruger P90 will chamber just about anything but my 1911's are the pistols that I shoot the most. Help?

[btroj]

Are you sizing them? If not, how big are they?

Too many possible variables to know for sure without having a bullet, loaded round, and pistol in hand.

[GMW]

No, I never sized a TL boolit. I have a Lee .451 sizer, do you think that would be too small?

[captaint]

If it'll chamber - I'd rather see you size them .452. That what seems to work for nearly everyone. Your choice. Mike

[Idz]

Jerry Kuhnhausen's "The U.S. M1911/M1911A1 Pistols" gunsmithing book pg.26 describes modifications to 1911's to get reliable SWC operation. They include modifying magazine lips, barrel feed ramp, extractor, recoil spring, etc. It seems like a lot of expense to 'save money'. The 1911's were optimized for 230 gr ball ammo.

good luck

[Potsy]

Are they jamming up on the way to the chamber or are they not chambering completely?
I've got the 2-cavity single lube groove version of that boolit and they drop around .454 (I'm guessing). I sized to .452, then heat treated with a toaster oven and mop bucket, then lubed and never had a single issue in my Kimber. Shot great too!
Only problem I had was that *^$% bevel base!

[Airman Basic]

GMW, got the same mold you have. Shoot them in a Sig P220. Have tried them sized and unsized, both chamber fine. Got an old Colt Combat Commander that I haven't tried with the SWC. I'll try to get out this week and see how it does. Don't give up yet.

[Larry Gibson]

No, I never sized a TL boolit. I have a Lee .451 sizer, do you think that would be too small?

Lube them, size them, then lube again just as per Lee's instructions; you might be surprised at the results.

Larry Gibson

[btroj]

I read the OP as being an issue with chambering a loaded round, not accuracy or leading.

A bullet that is too large could lead to problems with chambering. Did you measure the mouth diameter on a loaded round? Does a loaded round easily drop fully into the chamber when barrel is removed from the gun?

Again, more info is required. Might try sizing a bullet .451, loading in empty, sized case, and seeing if it chambers.

[2wheelDuke]

Do you have a micrometer? I haven't tried that style unsized. I have a 2 hole mold, and I size them to .452. I only have issues with that boolit in subcompact .45's like the Glock 30, but that pistol just won't take SWC's.

If you only have a .451 die, you could hone it out with some sandpaper and some lapping compound. I used that technique to turn a commonly available .358 sizing die into a .365 for 9x18 boolits.

[freebullet]

For what its worth-of the loaded 45 rounds I find on the range after competitions 9 out of 10 are swc. I went with the 6cav 200 flat nose sized .452 with no regrets. I'm sure someone here will help you get it working, if you get too frustrated try the 200 fn.

[GMW]

I sized them to .451 and the problem went away. I shoulda, coulda, woulda used some common sense and checked the diameter of the boolits as they dropped from the mold. My laziness came from useing a Lee 230 grain mold both with truncated and round nose boolits with zero problems. The boolits hit POA at 12 yards with 4.8 grains of ZIP. I noticed that some shell casings were blackened on one side, so I will have to open up my sizer to .452. This will be a first for me and hopefully I won't go too far. THANK YOU ALL for your quick responses to my self imposed problem.

[markinalpine]

Another trick with 1911s is to make up dummy rounds in all the variations you are having chambering problems with, remove the recoil spring from the pistol, and hand cycle the pistol. I had an intermittent problem with some magazines that I caught this way, and help my LEO nephew discover why his service 45 was sometimes hanging up. It was a sharp edge on the extractor. His PD is for a very small rural town, they don't have a trained gunsmith, and nobody there was able to figure this one out.
Mark :coffeecom

[kartooo]

had a problem chambering with my sig TTT. the boolets i made with one mold dropping at .451 and just passing through my .452 sizer were just fine. now the boolets dropping outta of another mold at .454 and sizng to .452 would not chamber very well at all. i am using hornady dies with the seating /crimp in the same die. the seating/crimp die is a comprimise too made to fit a few calibers.....
i bought a separate hornady crimp die just for .45 acp and they just fall in and out of the chamber now !!!

it drove me nuts trying less belling, more belling, less crimp, more crimp. nothing would work for the .452 boolits.
that separate .45acp crimp die works like a charm