How many to load for the first time?

[SigMatt]

Ok all, reloading virgin here about to have his first live experience with the press. I've been going through the motions, up and down, in and out, with the press to learn how to do everything right. I've had several dry runs and now I want to do it for real.

I'm loading .45ACP to start. I've got my dies set. Sizing looks good, expansion is ok and seating/crimping is fine. Dummy rounds drop cleanly into my barrel to headspace correctly. So everything looks good with the empties.

Now to move on to the real thing.

I'm loading 230gr round nose. Seating at 1.260". Factory is showing 1.255" to 1.262" on the same weight so I think I'm good there. I want to stay under 1.275". I'm loading once-fired Independence cases with Unique powder. How many rounds should I load as a first time to prove I'm doing it right? I'm thinking 20-30 rounds to start, go to the range and make sure my gun doesn't do anything bad.

Advice?

Matt

 

[Infantry23]

Ok... I am getting into reloading too and I am NOT an expert. However, I have a local point of contact that reloads .45acp amongst many other calibers and he suggested 5-10 rds just to see how they work.

 

[amoebicmagician]

as long as you're withing .005 either way on COAL, you're fine. You're not going to win any accuracy competitions, but it's safe. I tell you this because when you pump out a bunch of rounds, primers do not always seat the same depth, and you're going to go crazy trying to cull all the ones that are more than .002 +/-

That said, load as many as you have components for unless you're trying to come up with a starting load with new powder for a specific purpose. If you're following set loading data, just load a bunch, then have fun shooting them!

 

[amoebicmagician]

oh. and keep away from soft lead in polygonal barrels, I made that mistake with my glock and was lucky to realize the incredible amount of leading before it was too late.

 

[amoebicmagician]

generally hard-cast is fine though, at least in H&K polygonal barrels I've had very good results with harder lead alloys.

 

[Wheaton Hills Sportsman]

If everything is sized right I still wouldn't load more than 50 for the first time, that is a nice range session, and it will let you see how your pistol likes the load. I always use data from a load book for pistol rounds but there is a lot of gun specific variation, so with a new powder I would load 10 rounds from the low end of the load chart, 30 from the middle, and 10 from the top; some people load 10 of each weight on the chart in the Sierra manual. See what shoots best from your pistol before loading 500 rounds.

 

[SigMatt]

Thanks. I'm loading 230gr Remington FMJ round nose bullets for a Sig P220. I'll load up 20 or 30 on a starting load from the Sierra manual and give those a try.

Matt

 

[lx1x]

oh. and keep away from soft lead in polygonal barrels, I made that mistake with my glock and was lucky to realize the incredible amount of leading before it was too late.

is copper plated fine?

just got a g34 and been reloading copper plated ammo for old handguns.

 

[yotaboy24]

I'm wanting to get into reloading, but have no idea where to start. I plan on buying a single stage lee.

 

[Justler]

I'd load 20 of different powder charges and see which loads you like the best. Maybe load 4 different charge levels. When you go to the range and try them out, remember/write down which ones you like best.

It's possible a lower charge may not cycle your gun or be as accurate, or a load could be too strong for what you want to shoot all the time.

I shoot a ton of 357 and 44 mag and load them with 231/HP38 so I can shoot a couple hundred rounds each time I go out... I can't do that w/ full power loads... Uses less powder as well. 7-7.5gr of 231/38 vs. 14+ of 2400.

 

[byf43]

I'm loading .45ACP to start. I've got my dies set. Sizing looks good, expansion is ok and seating/crimping is fine. Dummy rounds drop cleanly into my barrel to headspace correctly. So everything looks good with the empties.

Matt

One question. . . .

You are TAPER crimping, right!?!?!?!!?

(.45 acp headspaces on the casemouth.)

 

[HarCo2ANewb]

is copper plated fine?

just got a g34 and been reloading copper plated ammo for old handguns.

I used Berrys in my G19 w/o problems

 

[dist1646]

When I read up and down, in and out, i thought you might want to consult Dr. Ruth.

 

[Uncle Duke]

I'm wanting to get into reloading, but have no idea where to start. I plan on buying a single stage lee.

Pick up a copy of "The ABC's of Reloading". Read that before you buy anything. It will provide some answers to questions you may have. It will also assist you in formulating questions that you haven't thought about yet. I think you'll be glad to have had this overview before you start making buying decisions.

 

[lx1x]

I used Berrys in my G19 w/o problems

cool thanks..

 

[SigMatt]

One question. . . .

You are TAPER crimping, right!?!?!?!!?

(.45 acp headspaces on the casemouth.)

Yes. I have a taper crimping carbide die and it is set at an 1/8th of a turn downward per RCBS instructions. As I've read and learned, "taper crimping" is a bit of a misnomer. It is more of "removing the bell you added at expansion time to ensure the case headspaces correctly".

I tightened the taper die down with the seating plug turned out until it was finger tight and had tight resistance, backed the case out, turned the die down another 1/8th to a 1/4 turn, set the lock ring and proceeded to set the seating depth appropriately. Per the instructions, this is performing the crucial taper crimp. Cartridges seat fine in my P220 barrel. This procedure agrees with three different sources I've referenced included the ABCs, the RCBS reloading guide and online sources.

Please tell me if I'm doing it wrong before I put powder in these cartridges.

Matt

 

[Winterborn]

Yes. I have a taper crimping carbide die and it is set at an 1/8th of a turn downward per RCBS instructions. As I've read and learned, "taper crimping" is a bit of a misnomer. It is more of "removing the bell you added at expansion time to ensure the case headspaces correctly".

I tightened the taper die down with the seating plug turned out until it was finger tight and had tight resistance, backed the case out, turned the die down another 1/8th to a 1/4 turn, set the lock ring and proceeded to set the seating depth appropriately. Per the instructions, this is performing the crucial taper crimp. Cartridges seat fine in my P220 barrel. This procedure agrees with three different sources I've referenced included the ABCs, the RCBS reloading guide and online sources.

Please tell me if I'm doing it wrong before I put powder in these cartridges.

Matt

As long as they are surviving the "plunk test" in the gun you are planning to shoot, it sounds like you will be fine. Most of the time with .45 the cartridges are a bit easier to chamber if you are using plated bullets.

Cast lead bullets tend to be a bit larger than plated and thus they have a bit larger "bell" on the cartridge mouth than plated bullets. Sometimes if you do not adjust your crimp, it does not fully erase this bulge and you can have chambering issues.

One piece that I use when making pistol bullets is the Lee Factory Crimp die as a seperate step (I do not use the crimping function of the seating die). Some people love it, some people hate it.

I use it on every caliber I own and I have never had trouble chambering any of my reloads in either of my .45s (an HK USP 45 and a Ruger SR1911).

If yours are working with your setup, by all means continue doing so. The FCD is kind of an insurance policy that makes me feel a bit better about my rounds.

 

[byf43]

The reason I asked -
My old RCBS .45 acp dies were offered as roll crimp or taper crimp.
(I did buy a taper crimp die set.)

I don't seat/crimp in one operation, since getting the RL-550B.
I taper crimp w/ a Dillon Taper Crimp Die. (I like it, a LOT!)

 

[trickg]

I'm wanting to get into reloading, but have no idea where to start. I plan on buying a single stage lee.

Pick up a copy of "The ABC's of Reloading". Read that before you buy anything. It will provide some answers to questions you may have. It will also assist you in formulating questions that you haven't thought about yet. I think you'll be glad to have had this overview before you start making buying decisions.

A lot of people really fret about getting everything perfect when they first get into reloading. I don't know if I'm just stupid, or if I am just used to the whole thing from growing up with a father who was an avid handloader, but I don't sweat things too much when putting together middle-of-the-road range loads

For instance, when considering the .45 ACP as a reloadable cartridge, there is really quite a lot of variation you can go through and still get workable loads. As an example, I load 200 gr lead semi-wadcutters, and I've loaded in the 4.7 gr to 4.2 gr range with Bullseye. 4.7 is on the high side, but it's still well within safe pressure levels for a standard 1911 pistol - you'd have to double charge before you really started pushing things to unsafe levels, and even then the gun can probably handle one of those. Now, to the low side, I've heard of guys loading in the mid 3s with the same 200 gr lead semi-wadcutter, but they shoot them in guns with lighter springs so that the slide will function properly. In any case, that's a full grain or more of variance with the same bullet.

Regarding overall case length, unless you are really packing a full-length bullet down too far, case length can be shorter, but not longer. Going back to that 200 gr LSWC bullet I mentioned above, this one can pretty much be eyeballed - seat the bullet to where there is about a 32nd of an inch of the bullet rim remaining outside of the case. (Comparing this to a 230 gr RB ball, it's a good bit shorter) As for crimping, if you've got the Lee Factory Crimp die, it's pretty hard to mess up.

As far as gear goes, Lee stuff is inexpensive, sometimes cheap, but pretty much always gets the job done as well as it's more expensive counterparts. I saw a post on another forum where this guy was all enraged because his Lee Challenger press had a part break after (*gasp*) 5+ years of regular reloading. Okaaay. So basically he's mad because a part on a $45 press broke after a decent period of steady use. Well, no one ever said the Lee Challenger press was indestructable, but considering the price, I don't know what he's complaining about - he probably spends more money than that on soda or beer over the course of a month, so I just didn't see the big deal. If it was me, I'd simply contact Lee and get the part replaced (either on my dime or theirs) and if I was feeling really randy, I'd just replace the whole press - like I said, I spend more money than that frivolous crap in a month.

So, going back to how many to load for the first batch, I'd do 50 and go from there.

A lot of people really like to get into the nitty gritty of reloading, and that's fine - especially where rifle reloading is concerned, as well as loading hot or top end handgun loads. Having said that, for basic run of the mill range fodder ammo, as long as you are keeping things middle of the road, that level of scrutiny isn't required. This isn't to say that you shouldn't stay on top of what you are doing by being careful and checking your process multiple times (when it comes to powder charges, I check, double check and then triple check to make sure that I'm where I want to be) but I don't get out the calipers. I eyeball my .45 ACP loads with LSWC and I seat to the crimp groove or cannelure for my revolver loads.

 

[SigMatt]

I'm weighing the charge out of the measure on two scales (5-0-5 and a Frankford digital), weighing the primed case before charging and after. Once the weight is confirmed, I move the charged case to my loading block. I use two blocks. One for sizing and priming sans powder and one with. The charged cases then move to the press for bullets and go from there into the box.

Matt