45 ACP Loading Question

[nitesite]

Tagged for educational reasons

I'm tagging this because I'm seeing more and more reloaders with similar problems lately particularly with 1911s and this is a great thread to point them toward.

 

[ngaither]

Hornady is putting a 45ish degree crimp ledge in all their sleeves. Revolver dies, auto dies, doesn't matter. It roll crimps pretty well. (I call it a modified roll crimp when I log the load.) It does not, however, work worth a flip for proper taper crimping.

Hornady is doing reloaders a disservice by taking this shortcut IMHO.

Pick up a taper crimp only die like this Lee or this Redding, and crimp in a second step.

The finished round should look something like this.

That was what I need to know. I should of mentioned that it was a hornady die that I was using. I'm going to get a different die today.

 

[brickeyee]

My 1911 requires a crimp of .471 or less. I try for .4695 to account for powder fouling. It cuts into the bullets, so I have to seat and crimp in separate steps (which sux if you have a progressive press).

Only if you do not have enough die stations.

 

[James2]

The OAL was 1.270

OK, there is the problem. Seat them deeper.

 

[mdi]

roll crimp? Not good for 45acp. Are you sure? Roll crimp dies have a little ledge int the die. Taper crimp dies are smooth walls all the way up.

getting the (taper) crimp right is the hardest part of pistol reloading. Tolerance is 2 thousndths. Too big and they won't chamber, to small and you're shaving. If you're not plunking *and* shaving then you'll need to seat and crimp in different steps, which I now have to do with my 1911 because my chamber is too tight and the only affordable bullets are .452.

edfardos

I used a roll crimp die with 45 ACP before I could afford a good taper crimp die. The reason it worked is because 45 ACP ammo should not be "crimped". A crimp die is used to remove any flare in the case mouth, and If you are careful, a roll crimp die works well as you just want to straighten out the case mouth, not "crimp" the case into the bullet. For some reason, this is hard for new reloaders to understand...

 

[Krogen]

Back "in the day" there was no such thing as a taper crimp. We all used a roll crimp die -carefully- on cartridges like .45 ACP and 9mm. As mdi says above, they work well if done correctly. Unlike a taper crimp, with a roll crimp it's a fine line between no crimp and too much. I recall when taper crimp dies hit the market. Except for revolver cartridges, I abandoned roll crimp dies in short order. Slicker than deer guts on a doorknob!

 

[ngaither]

I just wanted to give an update on this problem that I was having. I went yestarday and bought a Lee 4 die 45ACP set and reloaded 50 new rounds last night. I have to say that I really don't like the Lee dies that much but the crimp die did the trick. I have never used a stand alone crimp die before and I was surpised to find that it did a slight resize of the case and a crimped in one. This is a much better way to crimp because the resize supports the case as you crimp which helps in keeping the case from deforming during the process. This was a very good lesson in crimping that I needed to learn.

Thank for all the great information!!!

 

[furfinsandfeathers]

You could check out this video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kjTqhZPaDk&list=FLYDhJfM1OYgCDcp9aF0YKjg ....Or go to Youtube and type in reloading & shooting Colt 45 Auto (ACP) f Accuracy Go to 11min. 30sec for seeing a plunk test. It's a good video

 

[DC Plumber]

I've used 230g LRN and 200g LSWC for my 1911s.

I read here once that about a thickness of a thumbnail is the amount of lead that you want sticking above the case for a loaded round, that is, the larger diameter of the bullet where it engages with the rifling. I ignore OAL with lead rounds, as I'm never shooting a max charge anyways. That said, I always do the plunk test too, just to be sure.