trying to load 380acp

[hmeric7@hotmail.con]

Hows it going guys. Ive been a long time viewer on here but this is first time i havent been able to find the info im looking for therefore my first post. I bought my wife a walther pk380 and decided i would begin casting 9mm and 380 so i purchased the lee 102gn lrn single grove mold. I am using wheel wieghts to do my casting and have casted a 100 slugs so far. I coated them in alox and ran them through my bullet sizer which is .356 i also mic my barrel and its right on. So i loaded a couple dummy rounds up at .985 cartdige overall length and i loaded the mag and racked the slide back and the shell got jammed in the chamber basically causing it to be very difficult to get slide to release to get shell back out. I am wondering if ajyone else has ran into a similar issue. Im assuming i may need to seat bullet back further in the case. Does anyone have the minimum lenth for that style bullet meaning the lead round nosem im planning on usuong tightgroup powder but havent got that far yet. The rounds will fit in my dads walther ppk but thats not the weapon im in need of rounds for lol. Any help greatly appreciated

[Bonz]

the maximum depth that you can 'safely' seat a bullet depends on both the length of the bullet and the specific smokeless powder you are using

[MtGun44]

If your groove diam is .356 and you sized to .356 you are not "right on" you are too small.

You should be .001 to .002 over groove diameter, at least, to get good results in most pistols.

This may be of help - strongly recommend spending time reading the stickies, there is a lot of
free learning out there.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?121737-Setting-up-for-boolits-in-a-new-9mm

Bill

[Eddie2002]

I've been loading cast for my Ruger .380 LCP using 115 grain store bought .356 WW boolits and 92 grain boolits from a home made mold. The learning curve was as follows, make sure the case is just a little flared to keep from shaving the boolit. Too much flare and the case will stick in the throat of the barrel or you will crush a case while seating if not flared enough. You don't need to crimp f the boolit fits the case, the fit needs to be tight past the flare. Shorter COAL works better, my little Ruger would jamb while feeding from the mag untill I shortened it by about 30 thousands. I'm not hot loading any of my rounds so there is plenty of room in the case on top of the powder. After loading a round check to see if the case has been expanded by the boolit, it doesn't take much to stick in the throat or not chamber right. Figure out why the rounds are sticking, are the boolits too big for the chamber or is the COAL too long. You have probably heard this all before but I had to deal with everything I've listed before I got a cast load to work in my Ruger.
A trick I discovered to resize a boolit down another couple of thousands is to take the boolit and roll it between two hard surfaces, I use the top of a table saw and a flat piece of metal. It is a quick way to reduce the diameter of a boolit just to see if taking it down a few thousands will help and you don't need to invest in a new resizing die. Hope this helps, each pistol takes some work to get a load right.

[w5pv]

.980 Overal length,102 grain lRN,over 2.0 to 2,3 grains of titegroup feeds good through my KelTec 380,Since this is my carry gun I didn't check any barrel measurments.I figure that that if I use it will be a stick it in the gut situation at ten feet or less.I have shot a lot of rounds through it with no malfunctions to speak of, Mostly stove piping on the last round fired.I look at this as a way to know when the last round was fired.It drops when I remove the empty mag and pull the slide back.Good luck I gave a friend some of the ammo that I use and it fed good through his Ruger 390,I forget the model number but you can put it and the Keltec side by side and there is little difference as far as the size and looks.

[Ed_Shot]

The Lyman 4th Ed calls for an OAL of .960 for the .380 ACP with the Lee 356-102-1R. I load for a PPK, LCP, Bersa and Colt and I stick with the .960 OAL for all using this boolit because the Colt Mustang's chamber won't stand a longer OAL with this boolit. They all shoot boolits sized to .358 just fine. I like the 356-102-1R over Unique 3.0 gr.

What reloading manual are you using?