barrel measures .4518, sizer drops .4518..now what?

[guy_with_boolits]

1911 5"

I can measure the groove diameter on the exit side of the barrel to tenths, accurately, and its coming out as .4518"

I cant measure the chamber side as accurately, but it appears to definitely be smaller than 0.452"

Should I try honing out my sizer until it drops .4535 with this alloy? Its for hollow points from an MP-452-200.

I have an extra sizer plug and ring for 0.451 which I will probably never need and it wasn't that expensive. Wouldnt mind trying it if it seems like I should increase the boolit diameter to 1 or 2 thou over barrel size right?

[Winger Ed.]

If you're not going to ever use the .451--- yeah, I'd polish it out to .452 try it, and go from there.

I'm not sure what they're shooting them in, but sizing to .453 is not unheard of.

[DougGuy]

Wouldnt mind trying it if it seems like I should increase the boolit diameter to 1 or 2 thou over barrel size right?

Back to the first couple of replies to your posts from me. You STILL need them to fit in the throat or the gun won't go into battery.

You can have the barrel throated which will let you use your 453"ish boolits seated out long enough to not create 3 point jams, or you can fight them and be forced to seat them deeper in order to get the gun to cycle. Going bigger with the boolit is the proper thing to do for good fitment in the bore, for a good seal, accurate, no leading, but you are standing on your own feet trying to do it with the factory throat. If there is any.

[shootinfox2]

Powder coat as cast and shoot them.

[tomme boy]

If you are powder coating Don't worry about it. Oversized is not needed. Being oversized with powder coating actually can give less accuracy. Especially on slick sided bullets.

[guy_with_boolits]

Okay I honed it out. I'm not even going to post pictures of the process. I just wrapped a piece of stiff (dry) wet and dry 500 grit into a tube and twisted it in there for several minutes, measuring every 30 seconds or so. Note that you do need a way to measure ID in tenths I think to do this right..unless you only want .0005" precision

Now it drops .4525 boolits...this should be interesting

For me PC vs ALOX is not a binary choice. I want to get shooting a lead boolit with alox under my belt, so I know whats going on.

[guy_with_boolits]

Okay I sized a boolit to .4525 and then loaded it into a sized but unexpanded case (just flared)..it seated. Then I pushed it out (I had drilled a hole in the primer pocket) and it seems to have survived without a reduction in diamter. We are in business

I actually think I should hone it out a little further..to .4535. But I suppose it would be prudent to sneak up on this.

[guy_with_boolits]

I'm stupid my sizer might be dropping .4518 but my mold seems to be dropping .4535....basically perfect for what I need. I'm going to try and shoot them unsized and aloxed and see what happens.

[Dusty Bannister]

When you go to a larger diameter bullet, there is a good chance you will have to seat the bullet deeper in the case for it to chamber. But you might also find that it will not chamber because the cartridge is too large in diameter. So try using the cleaning rod method of determining the cartridge OAL before you waste the time and effort of expecting an excessively large cartridge to chamber in a tight chamber.

[guy_with_boolits]

So just loaded 40 rounds...only to find out the die I got to do taper crimping separate from bullet seating was a tight fit and crushing my .4535 boolits down to .4515 again as it passed into it...it looks like a very old LEE seating die..its much shorter than my new dies and has a hex nut. So all that ammo is now basically trash and there is almost no reason to shoot it besides getting the cases back.

I have a FCD on order however now I worry it will have the same problem, because I've read of people saying it has some kind of carbide ring that can crush everything. I just want to get rid of the flare, thats all, without touching the case and in fact being at least several thou away from touching the case (besides the mouth)

[bruce381]

FYI in some brass like russian maxtech the case walls are thick a FCD WILL reduce a .452 bullet to .449 or so not good.

I do not use a FCD cause when it works it reduces bullet diameter maybe OK if you load .451 jacketed but not .452 cast.

I think lee makes a tapper crimp die thats what you need.

[onelight]

FYI in some brass like russian maxtech the case walls are thick a FCD WILL reduce a .452 bullet to .449 or so not good.

I do not use a FCD cause when it works it reduces bullet diameter maybe OK if you load .451 jacketed but not .452 cast.

I think lee makes a tapper crimp die thats what you need.
I have loaded thousands of cast with a carbide factory crimp die in 9mm 40s&w and 45 acp , 6 different 45 autos so they do work fine in some of them.

[Forrest r]

Before you get too involved you might consider measuring a fired case and the walls of that fired case to find out the "max" bullet diameter you can use in your chamber to get a clean release of the bullet from the case.

Other then that I wouldn't worry too much about using a .4515" cast bullet in a .4515" bbl as long the cast bullet wasn't cast with an extremely hard alloy. All I use for my 45acp casting alloy is 8/9bhn range scrap, have so for 3+ decades in 10+ different firearms chambered in 45acp.

[robg]

dont size them unless they wont chamber.

[onelight]

If you want to see if that size bullet will plunk in your barrel . just seat the bullet then back out the seating stem and adjust to put the amount of crimp you want on them.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Maybe I'm missing something?
you said "sizer drops .4518"
Did you load any?
How did they shoot?

As to measuring...I push a soft lead slug through the barrel and measure that with a Mic (not a Caliper).
also, same with sizer die (or insert), measure slug, not the insert.

That's my 2¢

[onelight]

I'm stupid my sizer might be dropping .4518 but my mold seems to be dropping .4535....basically perfect for what I need. I'm going to try and shoot them unsized and aloxed and see what happens.
If your bullet has no lube grooves I am not sure how well that is going to work with just Alox and no PC I haven't tried that .
Perhaps someone else here has tried it and will chime in.

[onelight]

Guy with boolits you can do what you want and there are a bunch of folks here that know more than I do . That said. If I was where you are I would go back to basics , learn to load successfully basic ammunition with harder bullets than you need for a HP to work at 850 FPS . You have a mold designed to use a coating , coat it . Or go back to your tl 200 grain bullet I have that mold and it is not my favorite but when loaded correctly i don't even size it .I have had success in at least 10 different 45s my guess is that IF everything else is correct you can find a load in your gun with no leading that will feed. Follow the directions in a good manual and the directions that come with your dies and equipment . If you have lead in your barrel get it out , if you don't you are compounding issues and have no idea what is wrong .load the lightest load that will fully cycle your pistol . Don't take shortcuts the most important thing is safety , then reliability then performance . Follow a Lyman or Lee manual on loading cast and shoot a few thousand successfully , then go to soft HP or hot loads or whatever rings your bell. I consider 45acp the easiest auto pistol to load for but it still has to fit very tight parameters compared to loading for revolvers.
Start over and follow directions from Lee or Lyman , the problem with advice from a lot of us is a lot of the things that you are fighting we leaned so long ago we do them without even thinking , OR explaining to someone that is just starting .
Hang in there.

[Larry Gibson]

Maybe I'm missing something?
you said "sizer drops .4518"
Did you load any?
How did they shoot?

As to measuring...I push a soft lead slug through the barrel and measure that with a Mic (not a Caliper).
also, same with sizer die (or insert), measure slug, not the insert.

That's my 2¢

My suggestion is to just shoot them as is. I've shot a lot of .451 sized cast through numerous 45 ACPs w/o any problems. Haven't slugged a 45 ACP barrel in so long I can't say when was the last time. We've made "fit" the king here but many pay so much homage it becomes the "court jester' instead......

[guy_with_boolits]

Okay this morning I shot them all. No choice really. I have no way or desire to pull 50 boolits anyways. Nothing special to report they seemed maybe slightly more accurate than the last batch but not by much. Seemed like slightly less leading.

Anyways, now I need a way to produce 0.453 boolits....I guess the only way I can do it is doing a two-step seating + crimp but with the same die..sigh. What I need is another LEE seating/crimp die, but not an old one like the one I got, I need one just like the one I currently have (2019 vintage) that doesn't get close to the case except the case mouth.