Ive been reloading..

[jwomack]

So ive atarted reloading 45 acp.

Im using once fired brass. Large and small primer. I've got 230 grain lead round nosed bullets. And im loading it with 5.4 grains (.5cc) tightgroup powder. So far im at 200 loaded. It has takin me some time to get them right in the fact of seating depth and rather to crimp or not. But here is the finished rounds.

from the dirty place.....deep in my mind!!!!

 

[Dawico]

Very nice. Shot any yet (of this batch or previous batches)?

 

[Vaquero]

Ditto.
If you haven't test fired any of these, I'd not load anymore till you do fire some.
Do they load fine in the magazine? Seating looks just a tad shallow on the close-up.

 

[jwomack]

I have shot 100 rounds. They all fire fine. It cycles fine and all. They are the same specs acording to my micrometor to factory UMC rounds.

from the dirty place.....deep in my mind!!!!

 

[Dawico]

I have shot 100 rounds. They all fire fine. It cycles fine and all. They are the same specs acording to my micrometor to factory UMC rounds.

from the dirty place.....deep in my mind!!!!

Good deal. Load away then.

 

[Vaquero]

Then ya done good.
My first dip into loading for semi-auto wasn't too smooth. : )

 

[fgarcia3441]

How the barrel look? any sign of leading

 

[jwomack]

How the barrel look? any sign of leading

Nope none. I have a 1911, so I am shoting a full steel barrel. And from what ive read that is not so much of a issue with a full steel barrel.

from the dirty place.....deep in my mind!!!!

 

[Dred]

Looking good. And good luck.

I would be remiss if I didn't suggest you inspect those rounds carefully. Unless the camera has me confused, ther are several rounds in that block with marginally seated primers (some look perfect, but you have a few shallow seats and a few cocked seats). I'd pull those that aren't perfect.

Are you hand priming or priming on the press? If you aren't hand priming, you might consider getting a handheld priming tool - ~$50, but you get to feel when it's right.

Also regarding crimping ... I don't see that you have a choice in 45 - particularly given you are loading lead. You must expand the case mouths to seat without shaving lead from bullets, so you must put the case mouth back where it was. .45 crimp is a taper crimp, but it is best considered as removing the flair which you created to properly seat the bullets. Over crimping or shaving bullets will result in poor performance.

 

[ROGER4314]

I have been sorting brass since the 60's by brand and now by large and small primer in .45acp. I do NOT mix them as I load 45 on the Dillon RL550 and primer variations simply won't work on that press. Internal case volume varies per brand and even between different lots of cases so I minimize variation by sorting them. You may wish to do that or not. I do. It costs you absolutely nothing to sort cases.

Internal case capacity has, in my experimentation, been more significant to consistency than minor powder charge variations.

I get baking pans at the local 99 cent store and can sort through 1000 cases in record time. I'm like a "white tornado" in sorting cases! I store the sorted rounds in zip lock bags and shoot them together as a group.

In the past, I discarded small primer .45 brass but now, with the current shortage, I keep all of them.

Sorting cases may not be of interest to you but when I saw the mixture of large and small primers, I gulped. Attention to details like that ensures consistency in your reloads. In chronographing a batch of my .308 rifle loads, there was only 15 feet/second maximum velocity variation in my loads! That is really tight quality control that factory rounds won't duplicate! Attention to small details is what gets you there.

Flash

 

[jwomack]

I am using a lee hand primer.

As far as sorting I had them all sorted but my wife came behind me and mixed them all up once I got them all primed. So now I dont.

I was taking the pics with my phone so that may be some of it.

from the dirty place.....deep in my mind!!!!

 

[Shorts]

I am using a lee hand primer.

As far as sorting I had them all sorted but my wife came behind me and mixed them all up once I got them all primed. So now I dont.

I was taking the pics with my phone so that may be some of it.

That right there is a huge red flag, not just that load session but for all future sessions. No one should ever touch anything one is working on, much less items on a reloading table. Go ahead and go through that batch with a fine tooth cob. If you are uncomfortable, pull them out. It's much easier redoing some rounds than living with one less hand.

 

[jwomack]

That right there is a huge red flag, not just that load session but for all future sessions. No one should ever touch anything one is working on, much less items on a reloading table. Go ahead and go through that batch with a fine tooth cob. If you are uncomfortable, pull them out. It's much easier redoing some rounds than living with one less hand.

I looked at every one. They all look fine and they all weigh out the same!

from the dirty place.....deep in my mind!!!!

 

[Dred]

Ok, I've highlighted some of the primer seats, that concern me. They concern me 'cause some of the primers appear perfectly seated, while the highlighted rounds appear to be seated one side deep and one side high. Your finger or straight edge is superior to my eye, but you'll want to be certain. FWIW, I did examine a tray of primed brass at as close to this angle as I could duplicate - they appeared uniform. Anyway, I was looking at these:

 

[fgarcia3441]

I think the different brand of brass makes them not look uniform. What brand of primers are you using?

 

[jwomack]

I think the different brand of brass makes them not look uniform. What brand of primers are you using?

I am using all CCI primers.

from the dirty place.....deep in my mind!!!!

 

[Shorts]

I looked at every one. They all look fine and they all weigh out the same!

If you are confident in them then that's what counts.

 

[OLDVET]

Be careful reloading your small primer brass. There is not much information available for reloading this brass. I made a mistake a couple of years ago and bought a case of Federal .45 ACP with the small (cleaner) primers from Cabela's. I called Hogdon Powders and discussed reloading this brass. The guy at Hogdon was hesitatant to discuss the specifics, but he said you can use some powders associated with the .45 caliber, but not all. I told him I reloaded with Winchester 231 and he said it would be fine. The small primered reloads actually seemed to have a more linear felt recoil to me, which I liked. That said, I pitch all small primer brass in the recycle bin these days.

 

[deemus]

Then ya done good.
My first dip into loading for semi-auto wasn't too smooth. : )

Same here. I banged that damn puller on the garage floor for what seemed like an hour.

 

[barhob]

hi jwomack,
if you plan to shoot a lot of lead, go to the Brownells catalog and purchase a ''Lewis lead remover''. I have been shooting lead in 45 since 1980. all barrels will lead up. even hard cast will lead eventually. And, speaking from a lot of experience (with mistakes), do not load ammo with company or speaking with anyone. Eventually you will find and shoot your mistakes. it is not fun. Careful on the ''Titegroup'' powder loads. 5.4 grains is a lot.
best to you.