.45 Auto Semi-wadcutter problem

I just started loading .45 Auto on my Dillon 550 and am having a minor problem. When I bought the reloading setup, the previous owner gave me about a thousand 200 gr lead semi-wadcutter bullets. However, I wanted to try a load which I thought would be easier to feed in the semi-auto, so I bought a box of 230 gr. lead round nose bullets. My first run of .45 Auto was the 230 gr LRN over 6 gr of Red Dot and set to a COL of 1.240 inches. I've run a couple hundred through my Kimber Stainless II without a single hiccup. So, then I moved on to the SWC bullets. I didn't change the setup, other than to adjust for the different bullet length which came out to a COL of 1.235 inches. When I took the SWC rounds to the range, I had about 4 shots (out of the box of 50) where the slide didn't fully return to battery. In all but one case, it just took a light press on the back of the slide with my thumb to have the slide fully return to battery. In one case, it took a more firm press to get the slide to fully return. At first, I thought it might have been that the gun was getting dirty and hanging up on chambering the rounds. To test that idea, I ran a box of the round-nose bullets without cleaning the pistol. Again, it worked without a hitch. I also checked Brian's suggestion on setting the crimp and both typs are set similarly. So I'm looking for suggestions. Has anyone encountered this problem before? Any thoughts on what could be causing it...and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance for your time,

Joe

The Kimbers can be a little finnicky with wadcutters, XTPs and some HP. I had to experiment with OAL until I found one that would feed. IIRC I set them to about 1.250

First, an oops. I composed my message last night from memory. When I checked my notebook this morning, I found that I had used 4.0 grains of Red Dot...not 6.0... in both the LRN and SWC loads. Sorry about that...I should have checked before I posted.

Your OAL finding surprises me. I would think that it would drag less with a shorter round and therefore would feed more reliably. I'll definitely give the ~1.250 OAL a try when I load up my next batch of SWC. In the mean-time, I'll use up the shorter rounds as plinking stuff.

Joe

No guarantee, but try this, adjust your bullet seater with a factory 230 g FMJ as a guide, typically 1.260". Then seat your SWC's using this setting. If your Kimber prefers the 1.240 round nose, then use that as your setup. Works for me.

Make sure trbon8tr see this. That's a similar load to what he uses and he also has a Dillon.

JoeRinMD said:

First, an oops. I composed my message last night from memory. When I checked my notebook this morning, I found that I had used 4.0 grains of Red Dot...not 6.0... in both the LRN and SWC loads. Sorry about that...I should have checked before I posted.

Your OAL finding surprises me. I would think that it would drag less with a shorter round and therefore would feed more reliably. I'll definitely give the ~1.250 OAL a try when I load up my next batch of SWC. In the mean-time, I'll use up the shorter rounds as plinking stuff.

Joe

Click to expand...

sometimes the longer OAL helps guide the round into the chamber, and keeps it from hanging up between the top of the chamber, and feed ramp. Mine is so picky, I normally load 25 at a time, that gives 3 8rd mags to try, if it works, then I load 100, if that works, it's mass production.

I use the Missouri Bullet Company 200 gr. semi-wadcutters, and seat to an OAL of approximately 1.265. Your seating depth sounds like it may be a bit shallow, but I'm not sure that is what is causing your problem. I would experiment with your crimp. Try adjusting for a little more crimp and see if that improves things. Remember that after the case is resized, you are belling the case mouth out for the bullet seating operation. You may not be resizing back to proper dimensions quite enough.

Also, remember that cast lead bullets are usually sized to .452, versus jacketed bullets that are sized to .451. It's a minor difference, but between your case dimensions and bullet diameter you might be seeing a little bit of tolerance stacking. Let us know how it works out.

Those sound like good suggestions. I think I'll make up a hundred rounds working the two variables, OAL and amount of crimp. Maybe one set at 1.240" OAL (since that's what works in the LRN) and another set at 1.250. Then another set with the crimp tightened up just a couple more thousandths.

Out of curiosity, what dies do you have on the press?

Right now the only thing I reload for .45 ACP is a lead 200 gr SWC using 4.7 gr of Bullseye. This has proven to be a very accurate, reliable load for my .45. I've purchased bullets from two different commercial casters but they all appear to be the H&G/Saeco 68 design with the bevel base, and I don't have any issues with those. I don't seat the bullet to a specific spec either - I just seat it until the shoulder is just out of the brass, which makes the loaded round ever so slightly shorter than normal RN Ball ammo. For the shooting I do, it's just not critical to spec the bullet seating depth - I eyeball it to about 1/32" and leave it at that. (as a side note, I do check with calipers to make sure that the round is no longer than a factory loaded 230 gr RN cartridge, but I don't actually measure - I just spec the factory round and check to make sure my reloads will also fit in the gap.)

But, I also use the Lee Deluxe Carbide 4-die set, which includes the Factory Crimp Die. This die will actually slightly compress the lead during the crimp operation if the diameter is too larger, with the purpose that it will then feed into just about any gun.

But to add to this, I don't think that my .45 is quite as finicky about what it gets fed as most Kimbers are - to the contrary, I find that standard Ball-type loads don't tend to function as well as my reloads.

I agree with what others say... check the taper crimp. I set mine to .470 - .471 for 200 LSWC. You could also try a heavier recoil spring. A newer recoil spring may have the force needed to bring that slide back into battery without your assistance.

To answer TrickG's question, the die set is the standard Dillon 3-die carbide set. Basically, you described exactly the way I set up the seating die. I started with the OAL value listed in the reloading guide for the SWC. However, that set the bullet below the case mouth, which didn't make any sense to me! So, I did just what you said...backing off the seating die until it allowed just a touch of the bullet shoulder/driving band to protrude above the case mouth (maybe 1/32"). When I measured that length, it came in at 1.235 inches. Time for more experimentation.

Mike, I don't have the crimp data here at the office, but I think it was .472" (from a .452 inch bullet plus twice the case wall thickness of .01 inches). I'll check it tonight and let you know what value I used. I'll probably do some experimentation with the crimp setting as well. Another suggestion I saw on a different BBS suggested disassembling the pistol so that I can use the barrel to see what level of bullet protrusion and crimp allow the round to drop freely into the chamber up to the headspace ring. I'm going to try that tonight on both batches to see if the LRNs act differently than the SWCs.

Thanks again for the help,

Joe

FWIW, I eyeball my crimp too. It's actually a little odd that my .45 ACP prefers my lead, SWC reloads to Ball ammo - it could also be that my springs are better set for the loading I'm using than what I'm getting from the Ball type ammo I have - no doubt they have different charges and chamber pressures.

It appears to me that you are being much more specific about your reloading than I am - I eyeball everything and adjust my dies based on how Lee says to adjust them.

Something you might try is to acquire a Lee Factory Crimp Die and see if that helps any. I've read a lot of posts on other forums from guys who won't reload without them, and some of them only use the Lee Factory Crimp die for the crimp while other dies are of various other makes such as RCBS and Redding.

Thanks for all the information and suggestions. I field stripped my Kimber a couple of nights ago to clean the pistol and then used the bare barrel to see how the rounds would chamber. I put about 25 rounds into it and all of them dropped right in up to the top shroud. So, I don't think it's an oversized case mouth that's hanging things up. I'll make up another batch where I'll seat the bullets to a longer OAL. On another forum, it suggested that I seat the bullets so that the shoulder protrudes to about the thickness of a dime. Right now, I'm sure that I don't have much protruding above the case mouth. The next step will be to load up some rounds with a higher powder charge. The current Alliant Powder Reloading Guide has a maximum load of 4.5 grains of Red Dot for a 200 gr LSWC. I think I'll up the powder level from 4.0 up to maybe 4.3 gr.

I would at least go somewhere in the middle of the lowest to higest load. I am not sure what your recoil spring is rated at but you need the oomph to rack the slide completely. They are correct in seating of the shoulder of a wadcutter. That is where I have been doing it for 25 years both in my Gold cup Para Ordinance and CZ45.