Observation About Resizing Brass Twice

I frequent the range - maybe going two to three times a month. I pick up much of the brass I see. I'll never pass over the chance to get 45 Auto brass. I have been collecting it for at least 13 years.

So, of course, I have quite a variety of 45 Auto fired from a variety of firearms. This past year I got into the affordable Tisas 1911's, picking up fou, each in 45 Auto.

Experimenting with this range pickup brass I'd have an occasional hiccup with my new firearms. A failure to feed here, a dented case mouth there. I was feeling the 1911 is a picky weapon. Then, a couple months ago, I reloaded a box of 100 rounds. I thought the brass was already sized, but was not 100% certain, so I full length sized the brass again just in case. They did not require much force on my press so I became certain I sized them twice. No harm, no foul.

I shot that box of reloads and they worked perfect! It was a treat taking out a couple firearms and having no issues during a range trip. Preparing for the next range trip, I full length sized each 45 Auto case twice again. And again, I got excellent performance in several firearms. So, for the past couple months I have sized my brass for for my semi-autos twice and all my weapons have run fantastic. This is using brass that is mismatched, and probably been fired by me a mix of half a dozen times to a dozen times. (I used to have an SR45 in 45 Auto)

Anyway, has anyone else had a similar experience?

I've been buying and scrounging .45 brass since the late 1980s.
It's a mix of everything, and I don't sort or trim any of it.
Some is once or twice fired, some has been loaded until it splits.

I use the new series of Hornady carbide dies for my .45ACP, and never had that happen.
I've also have used their older generation carbide dies but let them go when I thought I was done reloading.

As a prep: I wash 'em in soap & water, dry, tumble in corncob media with a bump of car cleaner wax,
then to remove any abrasives that might be left, I rinse them in gasoline.
I let them dry on a towel for a day or until I get around to loading them.

Just curious, but what brand of dies are ya using?
I've used RCBS, Lyman, and Redding too, but never had a problem except with a couple of Lee Sizers.
One for .308, and one for .44Mag.

With the Lee .308 sizer- I took it out of the package, set it up, and sized 1,000 7.62NATOs.
The first 4-5 I loaded, I checked them in my (rack grade) M1A for fit. I found it makes a great case checker.
The bolt wouldn't close............ That's when I went, "Oh noooo,,,,".

At the next opportunity, I bought a set of standard RCBS ones, resized all of them, and lived happily ever after.

It's entirely possible some of your brass has been work hardened which could easily explain what you've been experiencing.

Agree with Hannibal.

My dies are Lee, probably at least 10 years old. If I have out of spec dies, that could explain it. Good thought!

I guess work hardening would impact spring back, or the ability of the brass to take shape.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Four-Sixty

I frequent the range - maybe going two to three times a month. I pick up much of the brass I see. I'll never pass over the chance to get 45 Auto brass. I have been collecting it for at least 13 years.

So, of course, I have quite a variety of 45 Auto fired from a variety of firearms. This past year I got into the affordable Tisas 1911's, picking up fou, each in 45 Auto.

Experimenting with this range pickup brass I'd have an occasional hiccup with my new firearms. A failure to feed here, a dented case mouth there. I was feeling the 1911 is a picky weapon. Then, a couple months ago, I reloaded a box of 100 rounds. I thought the brass was already sized, but was not 100% certain, so I full length sized the brass again just in case. They did not require much force on my press so I became certain I sized them twice. No harm, no foul.

I shot that box of reloads and they worked perfect! It was a treat taking out a couple firearms and having no issues during a range trip. Preparing for the next range trip, I full length sized each 45 Auto case twice again. And again, I got excellent performance in several firearms. So, for the past couple months I have sized my brass for for my semi-autos twice and all my weapons have run fantastic. This is using brass that is mismatched, and probably been fired by me a mix of half a dozen times to a dozen times. (I used to have an SR45 in 45 Auto)

Anyway, has anyone else had a similar experience?

---

I would lean more to the NEW 1911's experiencing break in issues. That is not uncommon. They tend to run better after a couple of hundred rounds.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by M-Tecs

I would lean more to the NEW 1911's experiencing break in issues. That is not uncommon. They tend to run better after a couple of hundred rounds.

---

How do you explain the perfect performance of the twice sized brass then? Coincidence?

Things happen for a reason. I do not rely on the theory of spontaneous serendipity.

Just throwing this into the mix. Perhaps some of what you had trouble with had been fired in Glocks and had the famous Glock bulge. Another thing you can try that might cut your time down to one resizing is a small base die.

DG

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by der gebirgsjager

just throwing this into the mix. Perhaps some of what you had trouble with had been fired in glocks and had the famous glock bulge. Another thing you can try that might cut your time down to one resizing is a small base die.

Dg

---

yes; yes; yes

May I suggest that you take a few random pieces of fired and cleaned brass, measure the outside diameter after sizing once and then again after sizing twice.

BTW, don’t know why I also have a thing for 45acp brass, can’t pass it up. A few years ago I was giving it away by the 5gal bucketful, now I’m building up again.

I use a lee bulge buster to resize the base and rim of loads that wont drop into my wilson case checker. I have a couple of 45acp PCCs that are hard on brass.

For pistol class cartridges at least, I’m a strong believer in using the case checking tools made by Dillon, Midway, and most recently, Lyman. These are also available for rifle calibers as well and are much more convenient than juggling an actual rifle. I do use the barrel (disassembled from the rifle) of my repro 1st Model Maynard that uses a proprietary cartridge for which no cartridge checker is available, but that’s my one major exception.
Froggie

Sounds like a perfect excuse to buy another, more expressive 1911 and see if you get the same results.