What am I doing wrong?

Cornhusker77 said:
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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Yeah, I believe the Lyman gauges are cut to SAAMI maximum specs. I forget which brand is cut to minimum specs but I know some here have both.

If it plunks in your barrel but won’t feed from the magazine then you have a feed issue. You *could* try to fix that but it would entail modifying the feed ramp and magazines and much evil follows. Many horror stories here.
Better to just accept that your pistol doesn’t like fp/swc ammo. This is not unusual for 1911’s.

If you want to fix it the best bet is to take it to a real gunsmith that likes 1911’s.
 
All I shoot is SWC in my 45acp 1911's. I did shoot the Berry's when I shot at an indoor range. If I recall I had to load them a little shorter than you. Also remember if using mix brass you may find the problem related to 1 mfg. This is probably due to a thicker wall. In some cases over sized bullets and heavy wall thickness brass makes combo that does not work in some guns.
 
Berry's are PLATED BULLETS.

I'm not gonna cast an indictment against Berry's. But I can say I've had my share of problems with Berry's. I think I found a way to "make them work" in my application.

What I will say is, if you switch from non-plated bullets to Berry's plated bullets, expect to have to make some significant changes in how you set everything up.

You wouldn't think that small amount of addedd thickness from the plating would cause so much disturbance.

But it sure does.

I don't think Berry's bullets are for everyone.
 
BBarn said:
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.
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I went through this exact same issue with a Tanfoglio Witness 45ACP. Would chamber factory perfectly fine. I then on suggestion from the CZ forum to try the Lee FCD and that fixed it. Then I started loading with R-P brass and that fixed it w/o the crimp die. From there I started casting my own lead bullets and sized them to .451". I now have zero chambering problems with that pistol.
 
Milt1 said:
Cornhusker77, you mentioned Berry's but have you tried other manufacturer's bullets and did they work in all of your pistols?
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I've used other bullets including round nosed Berry's.
Not saying the others worked in all my guns, but they worked in the guns I used.
It's just the dang flat nosed things giving me fits.
If I have time when I get home, I'll make up a few shorter and see what happens.
If nothing else, I can use them up in .45 Colt?
 
The only reason that I have the .45 bullets that I have is because I bought a guy out that was getting out reloading . He was selling 900 Xtreme bullets for $70 dollars and 637 Acme .452 lipstick bullets for $637 dollars . I had never tried them before and this was my first time loading .45 acp . and the price was right . I will also try them in my .45 Colt .
 
Anytime someone deviates from standard 230 ball there is a potential for problems. I do shoot 200 gr SWC and RMR Nukes in all my 1911's but it wasn't always plug and play. I had to de some experimenting with the COAL for reliable feeding.

I got into a bullet pulling mess a couple of years ago. I hate pulling bullets. Through trial and error I know if the rounds pass my case gauges they will plunk in all my barrels. I spot gauge while reloading gauge every round before they go into an ammo box.
 
I think Atavar may have been right when he stated you may have a feed problem. There should be a straight path from the bullet in your clip feeding into the chamber so check each weapon to see if it looks like the ramp is feeding the bullet directly in or if it looks like the ramp is feeding the bullet in at an elevated angle. The position of the ramp may not cause a problem with ball ammo but deviate from that and you may have problems.
 
CQB45ACP said:
Gauges aren't barrels...my tale of the Acmes above occurred despite passing three different brand gauges.
Click to expand...

Unless your gauge is a barrel, as mine is.

I am with those who won't load 185 gr. SWCs, my dad had nothing but trouble with them in his autos, we shot them up out of his S&W Model of 1989.
 
Milt1 said:
I think Atavar may have been right when he stated you may have a feed problem. There should be a straight path from the bullet in your clip feeding into the chamber so check each weapon to see if it looks like the ramp is feeding the bullet directly in or if it looks like the ramp is feeding the bullet in at an elevated angle. The position of the ramp may not cause a problem with ball ammo but deviate from that and you may have problems.
Click to expand...
I wondered about that, so I tried just dropping them in the barrel from my Shield, and the round wouldn't go all the way in.
I had to push the round out with a pencil.
 
Here is what you do. Make a couple dummy rounds with no primer and no powder. Use A Win. or Federal case and just keep seating the bullet deeper until it will drop into the barrel chamber all the way and drop out when you turn it upside down. Then do the same thing with a R-P case. I say this because the R-P cases have about the thinnest case walls on the market.

On a very tight chambered barrel like my Witness all it takes is to be oversized by .0005" and it will have serious trouble chambering and feeding. This is first hand real world experience. Try it you have nothing to loose. And No I am not sending this barrel out to be reamed just to fit troublesome reloads.
 
Drop and spin it . Some may drop and still not spin . Mine did that at 1.19” . It also would not just fall right back out at that length , I sometimes had to shake it lightly .
 
Well, I pushed the bullet in almost to the shoulder, 1.11 or thereabouts.
Still no plunk or spin. (In the Shield barrel)
I crimped it until it hurt, and still no plunk and spin.
Dug out my dad's old Llama and tried one that was set to spec.
*PLUNK*
I had 9 rounds ready to go and they all fed and fired fine.
I guess I'll just have to be mindful of what gun I use them in.
I will probably use most in .45 Colt loads.
You can bet I'm not buying these again.
Thanks for all the input, it's much appreciated.

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