185gr LSWC-FB for .45

[CommsNBombs]

Got in all sorts of shipments today - guess my 24hr CQ shift is a blessing in disguise so I can setup my Dillon SDB and "Lord of War" some ammo.

I decided to get 1K Hi-Tek coated 185gr SWC bullets from Missouri Bullet Co. - lighter and cheaper than 230gr XTPs and they take less powder.

So I had a few questions before I tear open my boxes...

I never handled a SWC bullet before - nor a coated/lead bullet, any steps I should take on loading these on a progressive press? Will these LSWCs get mangled at all if I am too vigorous?

Ill be shooting from a P345D, SR1911 and Glock 30 - is there a happy medium for OAL? My 230gr loads are pretty short IIRC (1.090? Ill have to check) should I keep that length? Or go shorter/longer?

The data I found online and from books all suggest 3.9-4.1gr of Bullseye, didnt vary much more from that - does that sound good? Or should I go with 800X/Unique? I am not looking for nuclear loads - just a nice shooting range round.

Any other precaution I should take? As far as case belling/crimps?

Im probably over thinking this lol.

Thanks in advance TGO for saving my misinformed ass once again.

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[CommsNBombs]

So I went ahead and loaded 5 of these on Saturday morning on my SDB - could not do too much as I am still waiting on replacement parts from Dillon for my primer feed assembly, the OAL came a little shorter than what I load my 230gr XTP (RN) at - my XTPs are at an OAL of 1.260 and my SWC at at 1.209.

 

They were able to slide into the gauge no problem, however they would not fully chamber in my SR1911 or P345D, the slide would go forward but would be about 1/4" from fully locking up, I had to put serious elbow grease into it to extract the rounds. Even manually seating them into the barrel it would do that. My Glock 30 did not have a problem at all. I even tried chambering them with brand new brass - still the same problem.

 

The original idea of 4.1gr of Bullseye was scrapped - they would fire low on my Glock and did not provide enough power to cycle the slide. I upped the charge to 5.5 instead, that cycle a bit better. I churned out about 450 of them yesterday - looks like I'll only be shooting them out of my Glock (time to find a Glock 21SF).

 

Any solutions to this? Should I go for a better crimp? Shorter OAL?

[Raoul]

Sounds like you don't quite have the seating die right. Still a little too much mouth bell is my guess.

[Westwindmike]

Get a Lee Factory Crimp Die and solve all your crimp problems.

[Jct1911]

Get a Lee Factory Crimp Die and solve all your crimp problems.

Don't do this. It is a band aid. Proper load technique trumps the need for the pistol FCD. Standard taper crimp die was working 50yrs+ before Lee existed.

Op,
The problem is too much full diameter bullet above your case mouth. Your shoving it into the lands upon chambering. The plunk test is the only true way to load for "your" gun.

[Jct1911]

The plunk test. Also taper crimp at the mouth should be about .471 max, I go .469.



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[CommsNBombs]

Okay I went back and crimped them further.

No dice.

Seated them further, then crimped again - no dice. Glock barrel was fine as per the usual.

I never loaded with SWC's - so should I seat them all the way down so only the tip shows above the "meaty" part?


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[Jct1911]

Further. The old timers will tell you,"about a fingernail's width". That's above the case mouth. If you need a measurement, that's about .030. Pic below:

As you can see, that's a 225grn h&g 34 and a 210grn h&g 68, the 68 is made to mimic GI ball but with reduced weight. These are loaded at same OAL. Pay close attention to the SWC, that is loaded to the lands and then seated deeper until it drops out of the barrel with gravity alone.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Jct1911

[CommsNBombs]

Ahh appreciate that brother. At least they will feed in the Glock still, next round will be seated and crimped properly.

Didnt expect LSWCs to kick my rear end this bad

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[Dolomite_supafly]

When I first started I used factory loaded ammunition to set up my dies. I would loosen the bullet seater stem and back it out. I would also loosen the die itself. Then I put a factory loaded round into the shell holder and slowly tighten down the die until it hits a hard stop then I lock it down. Next I screw the seater in until it hard stops then lock it down. This should at least produce SAAMI spec ammunition. You might need to adjust the seater but the die itself should be good.

 

Some chambers do not have the proper throat and because of this you might need to seat bullets deeper. Do not worry too much about OAL, either long or short, as long as it will feed. With SWC bullets you might have to go deeper than expected because of the throat issue.

[Dave Keenom]

I put a factory loaded round (185GR FED Match) in the shell holder and bottomed out the seating die on it. I then set the factory crimp die to give it a good
snug crimp.

My loading expert tells me that I should have a seating die for each bullet. In my case the 185 JHPs and 185 Wadcutters.

The glock chamber is not as tight as most. While in my learning stages my glock would rounds that did not want to chamber in my 1911s.

4.5 gr of bullseye works for all of mine. I use 4.0 of Titegroup for 45 these days.