Its been a while since Ive shot or reloaded. Today i took my 1911 to the range with some 230 gr lrn catridges i made up. I kept getting failure to feed issues. The catridge would hang up on the case mouth at the feed ramp. Im 99% sure this is due to me undercrimping. What do yall think? Here is a picture of 2 catridges my gun chewed up.
.45 acp feed issues
- Thread starter Okcafe86
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WrongHanded
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I would agree. Doesn't seem like enough crimp.
If you have any left over, you could always increase the crimp and see how they run then.
If you have any left over, you could always increase the crimp and see how they run then.
All the crimp needs to do is fully remove the bell, or a hair more.
Does the gun run fine with factory ammo?
If someone did an aggressive "ramp job" on it the case mouth could be catching on the start of the barrel ramp leading into the chamber. The frame ramp should not line up with the barrel ramp, the beginning of the barrel ramp should be about 1/32" in front of the end of the frame ramp.
Does the gun run fine with factory ammo?
If someone did an aggressive "ramp job" on it the case mouth could be catching on the start of the barrel ramp leading into the chamber. The frame ramp should not line up with the barrel ramp, the beginning of the barrel ramp should be about 1/32" in front of the end of the frame ramp.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
I also agree, remove the bell completely.
Did you do the "plunk" test? I'm fairly sure the plunk test would have caught the case mouth being flared.
You will get it fixed in short order, I'm sure.
Did you do the "plunk" test? I'm fairly sure the plunk test would have caught the case mouth being flared.
You will get it fixed in short order, I'm sure.
rskent
Member
Can we assume that your rounds OAL matches that buttery factory ammo?
Yes actually
I had about 70% reliability. I did not plunk test every cartridge, but the few I did passed.
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GooseGestapo
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I don’t think it’s the crimp.
Looks like it’s catching on the bottom of feed ramp on the barrel.
Did you leave your magazine loaded for a long period of time? Most issues with 1911’s are magazine issues.
Also, your OAL seems to be a bit short.
BTW, my two 1911’s will feed empty cases. Too much bell, not enough crimp will only prevent full chambering. Not the hang up your seeing. Seat bullets to 1.20”-1.275”.
Looks like it’s catching on the bottom of feed ramp on the barrel.
Did you leave your magazine loaded for a long period of time? Most issues with 1911’s are magazine issues.
Also, your OAL seems to be a bit short.
BTW, my two 1911’s will feed empty cases. Too much bell, not enough crimp will only prevent full chambering. Not the hang up your seeing. Seat bullets to 1.20”-1.275”.
Bandit67
Member
I have found that I must "plunk test" every round. Because I don't ever trim my .45 auto cases the lengths do vary therefore the crimp may also vary. I also got tired of disassembling my gun every time I load so I bought a Hornady case gauge. I verified that if it passes the gauge it also passes the plunk.
Another thing I do is crimp in a seperate step using a Lee FCD. Some guys hate them and will say you are an incompetent reloader if you use one but it works for me.
Another thing I do is crimp in a seperate step using a Lee FCD. Some guys hate them and will say you are an incompetent reloader if you use one but it works for me.
LiveLife
Member
If factory ammo fed well, we could rule out magazine issue.
Charlie98
Member
Here's something interesting... buddy of mine bought a 4" Kimber CDP recently and has feeding problems. I have 2 other 4" Kimbers... so I took them all out to the range for a test drive. Using the same ammo, both factory and handloads, and the same magazines, Chip PowerMags, I had failures with only the CDP, usually just the first or second rounds, but once in a while further into the mag.
After getting them home, I broke them down and started looking at things. What it boiled down too was the clearance between the bolt cutouts in the bolt face. I'm guessing the coating on the CDP make the clearances juuuuuust a bit tighter... the cartridges would not slip freely between the bolt recess into the bolt face like they did with my two (uncoated) slides. I swapped extractors out between pistols to rule that out.
OP, I would pull your pistol apart and using your fingers slide a cartridge up into the bolt face... seeing if it's hanging up on the bolt clearances somewhere. Different brass has different case rim dimensions, etc. The 1911 can bugger up the rim a bit, maybe the brass is catching on a burr or something on the rim.
After getting them home, I broke them down and started looking at things. What it boiled down too was the clearance between the bolt cutouts in the bolt face. I'm guessing the coating on the CDP make the clearances juuuuuust a bit tighter... the cartridges would not slip freely between the bolt recess into the bolt face like they did with my two (uncoated) slides. I swapped extractors out between pistols to rule that out.
OP, I would pull your pistol apart and using your fingers slide a cartridge up into the bolt face... seeing if it's hanging up on the bolt clearances somewhere. Different brass has different case rim dimensions, etc. The 1911 can bugger up the rim a bit, maybe the brass is catching on a burr or something on the rim.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
Normally it is not necessary to check every round in your barrel. If you check the first few after setting up your dies and the pass 100% and you check a few here and there after that and they all pass you are good. However, you are telling up your ammo only passed 70% of the ammo. Once you find even one bad round you should stop and find out why. Three out of the railing is a big red flag, even three out of 100 tells you something is wrong.
Take a look at the picture above that Walkalong posted and check your ammo accordingly. Use a caliper to check the diameter at the mouth of the case after crimping. If the case is correct then you can look at COAL, but not until you do the rest.
Everyone speculating it's magazines or something in the gun itself, did you miss the part about his gun being 10 years old and over all that time factory ammo has fired 100% reliability?
Toprudder
Member
If anything, I would try seating longer. From your photo, it looks like the ogive is recessed inside the case mouth slightly. Just because it matches a factory round does not mean it is right, as the factory round probably uses a completely different bullet with a completely different profile. Just make sure that if you seat them longer that they will still plunk in the actual chamber (not a case gauge).
1MoreFord
Member
Per the first quote you wrote that factory runs great but now you think your problems are gun and magazine related?
Hondo 60
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LiveLife
Member
Looking at the picture of nose profile, I think bullet is seated too deep and you may need to go longer. I think due to nose profile, case mouth is not being supported by the bullet nose and hanging/catching as the round is fed/chambered.
I would first determine the max OAL using the barrel - Start long with bullet base above the case mouth and incrementally decrease the length until the round drop in the barrel freely with a "plonk" and spin without hitting the rifling. And then determine the working OAL by feeding the max OAL dummy rounds (no powder, no primer) from the magazine and incrementally decrease the length until they feed reliably.
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