What am I doing wrong?

Cornhusker77

Cornhusker77

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2008
Messages
632
I'm not an expert reloader, but I'm not a complete rookie either.
I picked up some Berry's .45 185 grain flat point bullets awhile back and have had nothing but problems with them.
The current problem is they will work in one pistol but not others.
They won't go into the chamber far enough to go into battery on most of my .45 ACP guns.
I've tried them in my Kimber Custom II, Kimber Ultra Carry II and Shield so far and the Ultra Carry is the only one that will go into battery.
I think the crimp is plenty tight, but I need to keep crimping it tighter until they chamber?
Can I get the crimp too tight?
I'm about to throw them away or give them to my nephew to play with.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
 
Soonerpesek said:
Might have to play with the OAL until they “plunk”…..
What is your current OAL…?
…and yes, you can crimp too tight, or not enough to remove the flare…
But, work on one thing at a time…
Click to expand...
I have the OAL at 1.194. Berry's recommends 1.197 on their website.
 
I have sometimes walked away from a bullet for a while. Back the dies all the way out, and start new again a bit later. Doesn't always help, but sometimes it has for me.

That said, after horrible luck with SWC's in 45acp I have sworn that bullet off. My Brother LOVES those but he shoots highly modified bullseye guns. So, he's going to get 1000's of them from me as I am not messing with them more.

I'm done with anything in 45 aside from ball. Life is too short for me to be messing with other things there. I know they run for a lot of people, but not my thing.
 
Some chambers ate tighter than others. I have a Glock 30 which will chamber anything without complaint, even my homebrew .45 shotshells, and a couple of Ruger .45 convertibles that I have to push SWC shoulders almost to the case mouth to chamber, I think factory stuff is a bit undersized, as nearly always the rounds headspace (is that the right term?) on the extractor, except of course for the revolvers. An older Gold Cup does not have that issue, but brand new brass, which has not begun to shrink, is extremely tight fit. I've used Berry's in other guns and have no complaints. Might get some .45 and give it a try.
 
Cornhusker77 said:
I've tried them in my Kimber Custom II, Kimber Ultra Carry II and Shield so far and the Ultra Carry is the only one that will go into battery.
Click to expand...

I have 3 Kimbers, including a Custom II. I have had bullets (cartridges) not chamber in it, when they would chamber in both my 4" Eclipse and ProCarry... and the only assumption I have is the rifling leade is shorter, or it's just a short chamber or something.

I would start with reducing the crimp to just knocking the case bell in... and starting the plunk test. If they don't plunk, you may have to dink with bullet seating depth, first, and then revisit the crimp.

Like Ohen, I've sort of sworn off SWC's... and particularly light (185grn) SWC's... in the .45's. I prefer ball or TC type bullets.
 
Cornhusker77 said:
They won't go into the chamber far enough to go into battery on most of my .45 ACP guns.
I've tried them in my Kimber Custom II, Kimber Ultra Carry II and Shield so far and the Ultra Carry is the only one that will go into battery.
Click to expand...
I have a Kimber Ultra in 45acp, and I crimp at .468" or .4685". If I crimp at .469" they may or may not chamber.
Ohen Cepel said:
That said, after horrible luck with SWC's in 45acp I have sworn that bullet off.
Click to expand...
Most of what I shoot in 45acp is 185gr swc's. My Ultra is very accurate with them. 230gr fmj, not so much. What OAL are you using for the swc's?

chris
 
I am working with a Xtreme 200gr fn bullet right now and have a thread about it . IMO they aren’t seated deep enough . My bullet would plunk at 1.19 and function , but I couldn’t spin it in the barrel after I plunked it . Yours bullet isn’t the same as mine but I would try plunking and spinning it in all of the pistols that you are going to use it in and let the shortest OAL be your load . I would also try pulling one of your rounds and see if you are crushing them with your crimp .
 
Here is what I recommend to customers that have chambering issues. Take a black or blue sharpie marker and paint the entire round with it. Then try to chamber the round. When you pull the round back out of the chamber the marker should be rubbed off where the casing or bullet is contacting the chamber. That will tell you if the issue you are having is bullet/seating depth related or if its a casing/sizing issue. If the marker is rubbed off all around the bullet then you know you need to seat deeper. If its rubbed off the nose or only one side of the bullet you may not have seated the bullet straight. Usually this shows up in the casing though as you will see a bulge on one side of the casing. Anyway, trying this trick will tell you exactly what is keeping it from chambering. That said, many people have feeding issues with flat nose bullets in .45. Are you having chambering issues or feeding issues?
 
Yep the first thing I do with my dummy round that I make when setting things up is to plunk test it in all firearms I plan on using them in. Then I see if they will feed manually as well. When the rounds fit the mag and chamber of the titest one that's when I start my load development. I feel it saves me time in the long run.
 
More than enough guidance already provided but that won't stop me--

Have you measured the Berry's? Could be they are a tad over their advertised .452" or whatever else you have been using is a tad under. Stranger things have happened. I had precisely that problem and once I figured it out my problem was solved.

But again, try one thing at a time.
 
OAL length is often the issue. But I've also had chambering issues with .452" diameter bullets in the 45 Auto that were NOT due to OAL.

.452" diameter bullets can cause excessive case bulge, especially if not perfectly centered during seating. And it's often more of an issue with certain brass that is slightly thicker. When using .452" bullets in the 45 Auto, I sometimes need to juggle cases and pistols to get a reliable combination that runs well.
 
Charlie98 said:
I was thinking about that when you posted that. I have seen that as well... although I don't remember the specific brand.
Click to expand...
For me it's various brand 45acp 230gr RN, plated and coated--Berry's, Extreme, and Acme.

All advertised at .452" but they certainly have different personalities. Might even be possessed.

Using only Winchester cases, I can seat an Extreme plated .452" at 1.260" without expanding and of course no crimping necessary. So I don't and they perform flawlessly in four 1911 pistols using 14 magazines.

But, for the Berry's although still plated .452", I must expand (M-type) the Winchester cases just a bit. Still seat at 1.260" and mostly still don't need to crimp. They too perform flawlessly in same pistols and magazines.

But, But, But, the .452" coated Acmes won't work at all at any length except in just one pistol. Must expand and crimp but still won't work at any length. So, I must resize to .451" and expand then seat to 1.250" and slightly crimp. Then they work in all pistols and magazines.

I don't like the flat nosed bullet because Ive always found them finicky.
 
Atavar said:
But do they plunk and spin in your pistols. I am sure 1.195 is perfect for Berry’s pistol.
Click to expand...
They plunk in the one gun, but I didn't try to spin it.
I have one of those Lyman cartridge gauges and it plunks right into that.
 
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