thunderbyrd
Member
i committed my first act of loading today! i have no primers or powder, but i have bullets and brass, so i decided i would try loading a dummy round and see how hard it would be to get the length right.
so, the 49th lyman says the correct overall length of a roundnose 230 grain 45 acp is 1.275. i got out a box of Armscore and measured 7 rounds. i measured from about 1.266 up to 1.275. this told me that there is some leeway here. good to know. i also must admit i might not be the most adroit operator of a caliper, beings as i've never used one.
i deprimed a couple of cases just for the sake of trying it, but i have a pile of unprimed brass. all my work on this was simply sizing the cases and seating the bullet. i forgot to lube the first case so i couldn't pound it very far into the die. i realized my error and threw that one away and tried another, with lube. it didn't get any farther into the die than the first one. so i threw it away and tried another with more lube. this one went into the die pretty well - but it stopped about a fingernail's width from going all the way down. i don't know if that's acceptable or not.
seating the bullet was no trouble at all. i adjusted the bullet seater twice. when i quit, i measured it and got 1.276. i took the round and cycled it through my RIA. it worked perfect.
i have been reading various comments here and there about how engrossing and enjoyable this reloading business is - i see what you mean! it was definitely a good feeling to see this perfect looking bullet appear. yes indeedy!
and a question: the bullets i have are coated - powdercoated i assume - so should i consider this a jacketed bullet or lead? i don't find and entry for powdercoated in the manual.
so, the 49th lyman says the correct overall length of a roundnose 230 grain 45 acp is 1.275. i got out a box of Armscore and measured 7 rounds. i measured from about 1.266 up to 1.275. this told me that there is some leeway here. good to know. i also must admit i might not be the most adroit operator of a caliper, beings as i've never used one.
i deprimed a couple of cases just for the sake of trying it, but i have a pile of unprimed brass. all my work on this was simply sizing the cases and seating the bullet. i forgot to lube the first case so i couldn't pound it very far into the die. i realized my error and threw that one away and tried another, with lube. it didn't get any farther into the die than the first one. so i threw it away and tried another with more lube. this one went into the die pretty well - but it stopped about a fingernail's width from going all the way down. i don't know if that's acceptable or not.
seating the bullet was no trouble at all. i adjusted the bullet seater twice. when i quit, i measured it and got 1.276. i took the round and cycled it through my RIA. it worked perfect.
i have been reading various comments here and there about how engrossing and enjoyable this reloading business is - i see what you mean! it was definitely a good feeling to see this perfect looking bullet appear. yes indeedy!
and a question: the bullets i have are coated - powdercoated i assume - so should i consider this a jacketed bullet or lead? i don't find and entry for powdercoated in the manual.