ballman6711
Member
A couple of weeks ago I loaded fifty rounds of 45acp. 185gr coated swc with 5.4gr of W231. Went pretty smooth, everything looked good, no bullet shavings. As a final check I plunk and twist in my barrel before boxing and labeling.
To my surprise only ten plunked (and mostly twisted), twelve wouldn't plunk at all (stood proud of the hood), and the rest kind of plunked (but wouldn't really twist much if at all).
So I started from scratch making a dummy round in order to find (and fix) the problem. Turns out I was over flaring just a bit, and that was making the case bulge just enough to cause a problem. I'm not sure if the crimp die was not quite removing all the crimp, or if the case was just starting to buckle, but I got the problem fixed. I then made two more dummy rounds (which plunked and twisted) and then two live rounds (which also passed the plunk and twist test).
Funny thing is I've loaded these bullets before, from the same box, and never had a problem. In fact I'm quite happy with them in my 3" 1911. It seems that the week before I had loaded some 185gr plated bullets and for whatever reason had set my die to flare just a bit more. Those bullets plunked and twisted fine. The only difference between the coated and plated bullets is .001" diameter. Just enough to make a difference.
I always check my finished rounds before boxing, using a gauge for rifle and the barrel or cylinder for pistol and revolver. Better to find it at home rather than at the range and ruining a trip.
chris
To my surprise only ten plunked (and mostly twisted), twelve wouldn't plunk at all (stood proud of the hood), and the rest kind of plunked (but wouldn't really twist much if at all).
So I started from scratch making a dummy round in order to find (and fix) the problem. Turns out I was over flaring just a bit, and that was making the case bulge just enough to cause a problem. I'm not sure if the crimp die was not quite removing all the crimp, or if the case was just starting to buckle, but I got the problem fixed. I then made two more dummy rounds (which plunked and twisted) and then two live rounds (which also passed the plunk and twist test).
Funny thing is I've loaded these bullets before, from the same box, and never had a problem. In fact I'm quite happy with them in my 3" 1911. It seems that the week before I had loaded some 185gr plated bullets and for whatever reason had set my die to flare just a bit more. Those bullets plunked and twisted fine. The only difference between the coated and plated bullets is .001" diameter. Just enough to make a difference.
I always check my finished rounds before boxing, using a gauge for rifle and the barrel or cylinder for pistol and revolver. Better to find it at home rather than at the range and ruining a trip.
chris
