.45 Feeding issues

[HvBikeWlTravel]

I'm having a harder time producing reliable ammo. Outside case diameter seems to be too large in about 20% of my reloads. Noticed it first in 230 gr RN lead reloads. Thought I'd run a batch of jacketed 187's to help the situation. Still getting tight to too tight chambering. I am using wide variety of cases from military to FC to WW. And many of these cases have been reloaded no telling how many times. I bought a Lyman Case Gauge to 100% the produced batch. About 5 outta 25. And the cases are WCC, WRA, WW, and military.

Same Lee carbide dies I've used for 30 years.

Edited July 19, 2014 by HvBikeWlTravel

[expendable]

I'm not sure the cases are your problem, I load all different head stamps and I load them until the case cracks then through them out.

What is your crimp die set to, I usually crimp to .469 -.470.

Kurt

[Lumber_Jack]

Yep, I'd say you need to turn your crimp down and it'll solve your issue. I had the same problem before. Belled the case to get the bullet in, didn't crimp enough to get the bell out.

[Raoul]

Yep, I'd say you need to turn your crimp down and it'll solve your issue. I had the same problem before. Belled the case to get the bullet in, didn't crimp enough to get the bell out.

Yep. This ^

[Lumber_Jack]

I'd take a round that won't chamber, measure the case mouth with calipers. If it's larger than .470, as Kurt said, run it through your crimp with about 1/8th more turn. Repeat until round chambers. Then your crimp die should be set If you've only got problems with 5 out if 25, you probably aren't too far off Edited July 19, 2014 by Lumber_Jack

[Dolomite_supafly]

And make sure to not apply too much crimp because the bullet headspaces on the case mouth. If you crimp too much the bullet may fall to far down into the chamber to fire or if it does it will cause excessive pressures.

 

Can you post a picture of a bad round? We can probably look and ID the problem.

[tnhawk]

I had a similar problem when reloading lead RN several years ago.  I resolved it as Lumber_Jack described above.  I haven't had this happen after I finished that box of lead.

[HvBikeWlTravel]

I turned my seater/crimp die down to where it was not allowing the ram and case to reach it's peak. Seems like I might need a new crimp die.

[HvBikeWlTravel]

Can you post a picture of a bad round? We can probably look and ID the problem.

That would be difficult to impossible for me. Old Canon Powershot does not do Macro. No i-Phones either. Some rounds will enter gauge and then get tight 1/4" from full chamber. And yes I am full-length sizing. But I may just need a new set of dies. Maybe those $150 bench rest dies will do the trick.

[Raoul]

You did say they were 30 years old. It's probably time.

[HvBikeWlTravel]

You did say they were 30 years old. It's probably time.

Yep.....they may be a little worn.

[musicman]

Lee Factory Crimp Die, anyone? Are you running them through one of these as your final step? As long as the die is in spec, there should be no problem chambering, even if the other crimp die is a little out of spec.

[Lumber_Jack]

I would just buy a separate crimp die as music man states. I seat and crimp in separate steps

[Patton]

Lee Factory Crimp Die, anyone? Are you running them through one of these as your final step? As long as the die is in spec, there should be no problem chambering, even if the other crimp die is a little out of spec.

This^

Is this in a Kahr by any chance?

[HvBikeWlTravel]

This^

Is this in a Kahr by any chance?

Kahr and old Sig P220.

[Patton]

Kahr and old Sig P220.

The Sig is a suprise but I am not surprised to hear that the Kahr is ammo finicky and not liking reloads. I sold mine because of it not liking reloads. The factory crimp die did not work for me. Edited July 23, 2014 by Patton

[Luke E.]

Lee Factory Crimp Die, anyone? Are you running them through one of these as your final step? As long as the die is in spec, there should be no problem chambering, even if the other crimp die is a little out of spec.

 

 For those that don't know or have only used Lee's factory crimp die for rifle applications (I was part of the latter until not to long ago) the Lee Factory crimp dies for straight wall pistol calibers are different that their bottleneck counterparts. The pistol dies are actually a combination die in that they full length sized as well as crimp. My point is that since this is the last step in loading, the ammo, it should always be within SAAMI specs so long as you don't get an out of spec over sized die somehow. These things work great, especially with cast lead bullets. My mold drops at the perfect size therefor there is no need to size the bullets and can load them as cast. The only "problem" is that from time to time it will drop one bigger than the rest and that's where the carbide factory crimp die comes in handy because if the bullet happens to be a little to large and stretches the case out enough that it wouldn't chamber, the die actually sizes/swages the bullet in the case and every round is the exact same diameter. Do you have a buddy or a forum member close by that is set up to load .45? if so if might be worth loading some with their equipment so that you can rule out equipment issues. I'd offer but I doubt you'd wanna make that drive.

[HvBikeWlTravel]

Bought Lee Factory Crimp Die today. Probably this weekend before I'll have time to try it.

[dcloudy777]

Another vote for the Lee FCD.

 

I'm not a big fan of Lee stuff, but the Factory Crimp Die is awesome.

[HvBikeWlTravel]

Another vote for the Lee FCD.

 

 the Factory Crimp Die is awesome.

I'm gonna havta go ahead and agree with ya. Used it this morning and all produced ammo slides right into gauge.

                                                                         Problem solved!

                                                                 Thanks to all for the info.

[musicman]

Sweet! Glad the issue is resolved!

[HvBikeWlTravel]

Me too! I guess the Kahr has a bit tighter chamber which brought the issue to the forefront.

[Luke E.]

I'm glad that got you back going again but I am still curious as to why it was happening in the first place I find it odd that Kahr would be using a different size reamer for their .45 chambers than anyone else would be but the fact that this seems to not be an isolated incident with them it kinda makes me wonder.

[HvBikeWlTravel]

It might be a combination of very minute differences. The Sigs chamber seems to allow the offending round to slide just a little further forward and perhaps that allowed the slide to jam the case into battery. Also the fact that the Lee sizing die may be gradually wearing could have been the cocktail for eventual failure. New Gun/chamber + old dies = problem. Lee Carbide Crimp Die = solution.