Sad...PCed boolits won't chamber! Please help

[theTastyCat]

Hey all - I'm trying to load up some .45 ACP 200-gr. HPs from a MiHec mold. I've PCed them, THEN sized them to .452. Sadly, in my Springfield 1911, the first one chambers all the way, though it makes that kinda funny hollow thunk like it didn't quite chamber all the way; it fires fine, then it stops out of battery on the next round. Here's what that second round looks like:

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad145/thetastycat/IMG_20150908_140439181_zpsfunctwet.jpg (http://s930.photobucket.com/user/thetastycat/media/IMG_20150908_140439181_zpsfunctwet.jpg.html)

They were about 1.23 OAL. so I knocked them down to 1.21 (min 1.91 according to my Lee manual.) Anybody have any ideas? I have shot this boolit quite a bit without PCing - just put it through my lube-a-matic I. I'm confused since I sized it *after* PCing - perhaps I just need to size even smaller? .451?

Many thanks for the help!

[sigep1764]

So my thinking is that when you powder coated the boolit, you added to the width of the boolit. Not just around the base, but over the nose of the boolit as well. You might have a short lead to the rifling. Make a dummy round and keep seating it deeper til it chambers properly. Then carefully work your load up from where you feel comfortable. Be sure to hand cycle the slide rapidly with a few dummy rounds once you've set the oal to check for function.

[lobowolf761]

Try sizing to .451. I found that diameter worked better for me when loading cast bullets in 45acp.

[theTastyCat]

Hmm...so thought. Since they *do* come out the right size in my lube-a-matic, could I run a PCed boolit through it?? Without getting a sticky, lubed mess as a result?? Not sure how...it really somewhat defeats the purpose of PCing to get them covered in lube again!

[theTastyCat]

Aha! Replies. Great - I'll gradually seat it deeper and deeper until I get to 1.91, and if even that fails, I'll just size to .451.

Thanks all!

[Love Life]

Fattened ogive/transition to bearing surface. Hitting throat. Throat the gun or load to a shorter OAl.

[high standard 40]

I agree with Love Life, I would seat a little deeper and possibly reduce the power charge slightly because of the decreased powder space. To arrive at the ideal OAL, remove the barrel and seat the bullets till they headspace correctly based on your chamber.

[petroid]

^^^^^this
Use the Plunk Test! Seat progressively deeper until you can drop a dummy round into your chamber(removed from the gun) and it will plunk right into place via gravity alone. Then rework up the load starting at a low charge.

[dondiego]

If you are getting a "sticky, lubed mess" you are using way too much lube!

[Love Life]

A ways back on the Simple HI-TEK coating thread I did a back to back 200 rd each (400 rds total) shoot out between coated bullets and the exact same bullets lubed with speed green. Shot from the same gun on the same day.

Reliability was the same, the butt funk from the lube on the pistol was very noticeable. It was a stainless gun...

Sorry for the thrift, but relevant.

[pretzelxx]

I too have the same issue. I'm going to try some swc type boolits as not to overkill the diameter. And because I'm too cheap to buy a second sizing die...

[Freightman]

Easy fix had the problem with my 500 gr boolit in my 45/70. So i took the mold and cleaned it good with acetone and taped off the bottom of the mold, then got some 1500 deg. paint and painted the nose section let dry for 24 hrs. Then cast the nose will be the coat of paint smaller then when you PC it will be normal.

[Love Life]

Very neat idea!

[bangerjim]

The minute I read the title.......I just knew you were messing with 45ACP's! That boolit seems to cause problems and "HELP ME.....HELP ME!!!!" threads on here than any other boolit.

I had a horrible time! Size to 451 and FCD solved all my problems. It's not the OAL and seating, it's the size.....at least for my 1911's.

Take my (and other's) word and buy a 451 die. Very cheap try/fix for a very frustrating problem.

Also consider the Lee FCD.

Those 2 things now allow 100% of my ACP loads to load, chamber, fire, and cycle with absolutely no problems.

Good luck finding your solutions.

And buy a "max" gauge for 45ACP. I have one for every cal I load for.

banger

[Love Life]

It's the short and sharp throat. The 45 acp is incredibly easy to load for.

[theTastyCat]

I love this forum. I LOVE THIS FORUM!!!!! Love. This forum.

Seated them deeper, and at 1.195 they cycled flawlessly by hand and when fired. Here's what round #2 looks like now - is this OK? Doesn't impede feeding or cycling at all, just want to be sure it's OK from a coating/lube POV.

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad145/thetastycat/IMG_20150908_145316911_zpstysioeyk.jpg (http://s930.photobucket.com/user/thetastycat/media/IMG_20150908_145316911_zpstysioeyk.jpg.html)

And I'm keeping that "plunk" test - that is a real winner!!

Many, many thanks, all.

[Love Life]

No, that is not OK. Check barrel for leading.

[HATCH]

I would also verify the tapper crimp. that brass case looks like it might need a little crimp

[theTastyCat]

Would you believe I actually do FCD all these? Still didn't fix it. At least what I've loaded now will fire. I do think I will order the .451 just to ensure reliability and the integrity of the PC across a range of guns.

[bangerjim]

Glad you are on you way! I have read as many fixes to 45ACP problems as there are makers of that 1911 model.....and more!

What I do works perfectly for me. What others advise and do works for them. Now YOU know what works for YOU!!!!!!!!!

banger

[MT Chambers]

looks like you have shaving when seating and def. not a proper taper crimp.

[Love Life]

Where is the Dougguy bat symbol?

[Bzcraig]

Where is the Dougguy bat symbol?

Yes, he IS the throat master. That doesn't sound very good does it?

[bangerjim]

Sounds like the name of an actor at the 2014 AV awards!

(not that I have ever watched any!) [smilie=1: [smilie=1: [smilie=1:

[woodbutcher]

[smilie=1: Rightttttttttttttttttttttttttt.And the sun rises in the West.;-)
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Forrest r]

I have the same mold and pc the boolits also. I run them 1.180" to 1.187" max with a .468/.469 crimp in a springfield ro.

Anything over 1.187" and I will start to have ftf's, not many but imho, 1 is too many. Anything over 1.190" it gets bad, real bad. So I setup the die to run @ 1.183", that leaves a couple 1/1000th's of play and I've ran countless 1000's of them down the tube now without a single issue.

[pretzelxx]

Bahahaha. That cracks me up. Sorry.

I was running my 228 grain at 1.22, if you're loading at 1.187... That's a lot! I need to try short instead of a lighter round haha. Hopefully I find time this weekend... Ha. Ha. Ha I wish

And I'll try a .451 as well as more crimp. ;_; so much to test not enough time! Why can't this be part of my school work yet.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Looks like there is a step in the chamber instead of a leade at the beginning of the rifling.
Can you post pics of the chamber?
My 1911 was like that too. Reaming solved the issue. Also my gun like bullets at 1.190" overall. They feed slick through every 45 I've put them through.

Compared to a normal RN profile the bullet is very short and should have a respective OAL.

[jcren]

Contact Dougguy. The sharp transition from chamber to lead is gouging your bullets. This isn't a problem with undersized jacketed bullets and manufacturers stopped taking that extra step. Doug will give you a smooth transition from chamber to rifling and solve this problem as well as improve accuracy. I have 2 380's. One with a square transition and one with a nice tapered lead. The one with more lead will feed 125 grain swc seated as long as the mag will hold. The other one requires short seating a 95 grain round nose.

[xacex]

looks like you have shaving when seating and def. not a proper taper crimp.
Need to bell the mouth more for seating, and crimp it to get rid of the bell with a proper crimp. I load that boolit powder coated, I size .452 and down to a 1.180" min COAL. The lee manual should be regarded as a starting point for round nose boolits, this one is shorter because of the hollow point. If that is HF flat black I did some testing with that boolit and that powder and found it performed worse than other powders as far as accuracy. Best groups were 1.180" to 1.185" COAL gloss red HF pc, or gloss black from another vendor,Winchester WLP primer, and 6 grains of Universal. Do not use a magnum primer, and work up the load.

[xacex]

This load has worked well in several 1911's and glocks. Eye candy? Make sure you are using a soft alloy that wont harden to much over time. I have some loaded from a couple years ago, 2012 that will no longer expand due to hardness. Work with the simplest solution first. Most likely your barrel is fine...Get your dummy rounds right before you move on.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=71431&d=1403158907&thumb=1

[bruce381]

what is was your crimp dia? did you mesure it? think you need a little tigher crimp like .469-.472

[xacex]

what is was your crimp dia? did you mesure it? think you need a little tigher crimp like .469-.472
That is about where mine land as well. Usually .470-.472.

[Moonie]

Be sure you are seating and crimping in 2 separate steps, otherwise it can and will raise up a lead sliver that will cause you chambering issues.

[tja6435]

Dougguy throated the barrel of my SR1911 and it corrected that exact problem. I could seat way deep and the gun would run, but once the throat was fixed, I could seat out where it should be for correct oal. Saved me a ton of headache

[Forrest r]

Interesting comments about the bbl's throat/throating.

I tend to try to load any bullet with around 20/1000th's of the shoulder of the bullet (shoulder ='s where the body of the bullet meets the nose of the bullet/usually there's a line there) sticking above the case.

The mihec 200gr hp are no different. Some as cast mihec 200gr hp's for the 45acp.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/mp-200hps_zpsd6a81485.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/mp-200hps_zpsd6a81485.jpg.html)

The same bullets loaded in cases that are 1.80 with the bullets shoulder sticking around 20/1000th's above the rim of the case.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/200grhpplinkers_zps734f60e2.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/200grhpplinkers_zps734f60e2.jpg.html)

I also load h&g #68's, the common 1.250" oal in perfect for my 1911 bbl. It also has around 20/1000th's on the bullets shoulder sticking above the rim. Countless 1,000,000's of reloaders have used the same oal for this bullet.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/hpsp1250.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/hpsp1250.jpg.html)

The only reason I did my 1st test loads long 1.195" was because this bullet reminded me of the lee 200gr rnfp bullet. They were a tight fit in the bbl I was testing them in, a contender 45acp bbl. I brought a 1911 along to try a couple in and to run some steel. They didn't work in the 1911 and made the contender hard closing. So I kept working the oal down for the contender and kept bringing the 1911 along to run a couple rounds down the tube. It turned out that both the 1911 bbl and the contender bbl had a max oal of 1.187" with this bullet. Anything over that the contender got hard to close and the 1911 started to struggle bringing the slide home.

I find it interesting that with one bullet the shoulder of the bullet sticks out 20/1000th's above the rim and countless 1,000,000's of shooters have used that oal for decades. But with another bullet the same 20/1000th's sticking above the rim is considered too short.

Bullet body ='s .452
Bullet shoulder ='s where the bullet body (.452) meets the bullet's nose
The .452 body is ok sticking 20/100th's above the rim with one bullet but the .452 bullet body needs to be 35/1000th's above the rim with another bullet in the same bbl?????

[gray wolf]

Easy things first, save the tools and money until last.

I load the same bullet without the crimp groove to 1.187 and size to .452By all means use the plunk test.
Also if there is a crimp on those bullets I can't see it.
I have nothing against powder coating, but you sure don't need it for a 45 ACP.148626148627148628148629

[NavyVet1959]

I have nothing against powder coating, but you sure don't need it for a 45 ACP.


If you are shooting at a range that does not allow exposed lead bullets, you might. :(

I've encountered a range like that.

They were concerned that the exposed lead in contact with powder burn would put lead in the air and they would not be able to meet the legal air quality mandates. I tried to explain to them that even with jacketed bullets, you don't know for for certain that the base of the bullet is jacketed, but it didn't do any good. Neither did trying to explain that a person could have a lead bullet and a gas check that would prevent the exposed lead from contacting the powder burn. I didn't even bother to try to explain that the bullet was unlikely to be exposed to the burn long enough to vaporize the lead.

[NavyVet1959]

I try to load my rounds to the SAAMI max OAL for the caliber if at all possible. Unfortunately, with some nose profiles, that will not work for all of my guns. I have a M1911 that can feed an empty piece of brass without a problem, one that hates SWCs (regardless of OAL), and ones in between.

I've been playing around with ASBB and dry tumble powdercoating with Harbor Freight flat black powder (the worst for dry tumble coating supposedly) lately for bullets cast with the Lee 358-105-SWC mold for a couple of 9mm handguns that I have.

This is what the bullets look with 2 coats of powder on them and whatever size they came out of the mold:

https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/lee-358-105-swc-hf-flat-black-320w.jpg

And this is what they look like resized to 0.356" and loaded:
https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B8A9o0AImjXHfmlSQWdFVFRfSmd6d19mTG1jVXUzRWhrZk1KQ WFvdjJidlFtUERRcXh3M1k/2015-09-06--loaded-pc-bullet-lee-358-105-swc.jpg

Looks to be loaded a bit long, right? Well, that is below the SAAMI max OAL and this bullet will feed & chamber just fine in a Taurus PT-92, but it will not chamber in a CZ-75B Compact. For this bullet to chamber in my CZ-75, the bullet needs to be seated nearly all the way to where the shoulder is at the mouth of the brass.

I've had the same sort of experience with loading SWCs in .45ACP.

[Garyshome]

Is that a bit of lead sticking up around the case mouth? Like maybe it got shaved & pushed up when seating the boolit?