Looking at my load log, I've only loaded a total of 19 rounds of 45 ACP in the last 10 years.
Got the LNL AP set up this morning to start decapping/resizing some brass and came across something that raised my eyebrow.
Some of the brass had already been deprimed (and possibly resized). I grabbed my Lyman case gauge and, the ones that are decapped fell right in. So did the ones that aren't decapped.
I grabbed a box of factory ammo and dropped a round in the case gauge. Plunked right in there, but I decided to try to give it a wiggle to see if maybe the gauge is "generous". It did wiggle, quite a bit.
Next thing I did was grab my XD and pull the barrel. Dropped the factory round in there, plunk, lots of wiggle. Grabbed a piece of the unsized brass, plunked right into the barrel, as did the next 10 pieces I tried. They all went in fairly easy, except one that I easily pushed in and pushed right back out.
I don't remember where I got this brass, it's all nickel. Probably from Gun Broker.
So what's the deal with 45 ACP? Why so much play/slop in both the gauge and my pistol's chamber with resized brass and factory ammo? I assume that has to be normal, and by design?