Need a little help with a reloading problem, guys

[Going Postal]

They do look a little too deep to me. The crimp looks OK on both of them, at least to me they do, the left one is not all that clear, though.

Back out on the bullet seating "plug" just a tiny bit. DO NOT back out the whole die, that would change the crimp. I just ordered a LEE factory Crimp Die for my .45 ACP, just got it this morning.


EDIT: I don't see any deforming of the brass as chuckdog says may be happening.

 

[drjterrell]

But what I am not understanding is, the length is 1.180 and the manual says it should be even a little less: 1.176!

 

[Chuckdog]

Are you sure that you're not looking at the minimum overall length?

 

[Going Postal]

The maximum OAL should be somewhere around 1.270. This is from memory though, I do not have access to a manual right now. I have to leave for a while (got to go back to work). I am sure chuckdog can straighten it all out!!

 

[Wrencher]

The 200gr is shorter and you're wanting to keep case space similar so you will need to have a shorter OAL. I reload with 200 gr RNFP and have to go down to 1.17 to keep them from hitting the lands. Maybe compare a 230 and a 200, see what the length difference is and adjust OAL by that amount.

 

[Chuckdog]

Normally I wouldn't make any statement like this. The manual's misleading you in some way here. Those are seated too deep. You're beyond the ogive (The wide spot that make first contact with the lands) of this bullet. You'll have all kinds of frustration with it this deep. With round nose bullets, make sure they're deep enough too fit and feed up through your magazine reliably. Make sure they're deep enough for a solid reliable hold of the bullet in the brass. Make sure the slide closes with ease.

I've rarely had any round nose pistol round that would fit and feed from a mag be too long to come to battery. They may be too long for good performance, but the pistol should go in battery. I still think it's the case.

 

[Going Postal]

I'm baaaaccccckkkk!

Measure the length of the brass. In the picture, the brass looks too long to me. It could be the angle of the camera or something like that, but they just look too long!! How do the rounds chamber?

 

[drjterrell]

Hmm. I need to go back and review everything again. I'm doing something wrong--GIGO! Thanks again y'all.
Jeff

 

[RamRoddoc]

Yea, they definitely don't look too long.

Roger that!

Your crimp is where the bullet ogive has begun (the curve). Back off a bit and you should be fine. For 230 grain FMJ's 1.26" OAL is commonly understood as the "sweet spot" but YMMV. For other bullets, if I have a factory round that works well then I attempt to copy its OAL for seating a like bullet. It has saved me some work since many of the factorys often have done their homework on what works best for the masses.

Another thing I found for loading cast SWC, I found that moving the shoulder of the bullet just up a bit around 1/32" of an inch allowed a bit of cushion and if the round hung a bit during feeding the lead would deform slightly but due to its location to the brass would more likely allow it to feed properly.

 

[fuelman1]

They do look a little too deep to me. The crimp looks OK on both of them, at least to me they do, the left one is not all that clear, though.

Back out on the bullet seating "plug" just a tiny bit. DO NOT back out the whole die, that would change the crimp. I just ordered a LEE factory Crimp Die for my .45 ACP, just got it this morning.


EDIT: I don't see any deforming of the brass as chuckdog says may be happening.

That factory crimp die is great. It resizes the loaded round so if there is any bulge it will take care of that. It's an extra step but well worth it in my opinion.