45 ACP Crimp

[Jonnin]

I checked mine. The bullet seated area of the case is .47 the area below that is narrower at .4675 roughly (this varied a little while the .47 area was firm for all cases). Also, I had a couple of "oops" rounds (mostly, no primer... duh...) and I tried to push the bullet in deeper against my concrete floor with as much power as my hands could stand, and it did not budge.

For whatever that is worth to you.

[tnhawk]

I checked WWB - .4520, Golden Sabre - .4521, and my Hornady reloads- .4522 at the case mouth

[Guest nicemac]

OK, I found my problem–I was definitely flaring the case mouth too much before seating the bullet. I was flaring .010". The bullets would flop right in. It took almost no effort to seat (couldn't feel it in the press at all). With the brass worked that much, no amount of crimp would hold the bullet in place. Even with .008" crimp, I could push the bullet back into the case with my hand.

I re-adjusted my expander die to only flare the case mouth about .003". At that point, the bullet would just start into the case but no more. While seating the bullet, I could actually feel the press pushing the bullet in (paying careful attention). At that point, I could not really push the bullet back into the case with my hand at all, even before a crimp was applied. I then crimped to .469" (about .002" crimp).

The finished round is now very solid. These bullets will not push back into the case due to the forces applied on the nose by the ramp while feeding.

Dimensions at mouth of case:

Sized case: .4685"

Flared size: .472" (only about the first 1/8" at mouth)

Crimped size: .469"

[Backon4]

Glad you got it figured out. Just out of curiosity what press are you using?

[Guest nicemac]

Glad you got it figured out. Just out of curiosity what press are you using?

Hornady Lock N Load AP.