Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading

Reloading problems

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Kendahl:

--- Quote from: SemperFiGuy on July 26, 2016, 03:21:58 PM ---……but you may wish to check the cat litter bag to ensure that it’s actually walnut or corncob litter and isn’t clay cat litter.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the warning. The stuff we buy is clay. I needed an excuse to drop by Guns Unlimited anyway.

I insert primers by hand with a Lee Auto-Prime. I doubt that I can exert enough force with it to set one off. My reloading is small scale, 50 or 100 rounds in a batch. I use a single stage RCBS press and have to switch dies between stages. The closest I get to "automation" is a powder measure instead of weighing each charge. Even then, I check every tenth charge to verify that the powder measure hasn't changed.

As far as the 1700 rounds go, I already have so much empty .45 brass that it doesn't bother me to lose some at the range. In addition, I have been looking at 9 mm pistols for several months and am close to buying a Browning Hi Power. Steel construction so it's heavy enough to cut down on recoil. Fits my hand as well or better than anything else. Good trigger even with the magazine disconnect. Then, I can begin to accumulate 9 mm brass.

JTH:

--- Quote from: Kendahl on July 25, 2016, 07:47:26 PM ---The new bullets are Hornady 200 grain LSWCs. They often fail to feed with the action closing on a cartridge sitting nose up at a 45 degree angle. I noticed that the new bullets are stubbier than the old ones. Changing the seating depth hasn't helped. Cabela's stocks Berry's Preferred Plated Pistol Bullets, anything from 185 to 230 grains in various shapes. They aren't quite as cheap as the LSWCs but the round nosed ones should feed more reliably.
--- End quote ---

Have you checked your magazine springs?  More importantly, have you ever replaced your magazine springs?  (And your recoil spring, as someone else said?) 

Without seeing the issue, it SOUNDS like a combination of mag spring not pushing the top bullet into the right position in time for the slide, AND the slide not having enough umph to drive it forward anyway.  (Which, I'll note, is a perennial problem with many 1911s.  Finding magazines that are reliable with a particular firearm is....an issue.  And then keeping them running is another issue.)

When the bullet is stopped, is the case contacting the throat?  Or the bullet itself?

(How much crimp are you putting on the case at the end?  Is it still flared slightly?)

Note:  Some 1911s just don't like some bullet shapes, and won't feed them.  It really might just be that.  But...springs are often the culprit for many issues.


--- Quote ---Are there any problems with plated bullets? I have been told by one person that the plating comes off and fouls the barrel. Note that I load to around 800 fps to minimize recoil. I don't know what his velocities were.
--- End quote ---

As SFG said, you have to be driving plated bullets pretty briskly to have issues with the plating, and in .45, you simply aren't going to see it at all.  No problems there.


--- Quote ---My other problem is a frequent failure to ignite with the new Winchester primers. They are not hangfires that go off if I wait a bit. So far I have been able to get all the failures to fire after a second or third strike. Because of these problems I have been using factory 230 grain round nose FMJ ammunition in matches. With that ammunition, every cartridge fires on the first strike. Since the problem appeared when I began using the new primers, I am inclined to blame them rather than the gun especially since it is reliable with factory ammuntion. I wonder if Winchester primers are harder now than they were thirty years ago. Would it help to switch to a different brand of primer? If so, which one?
--- End quote ---

I use Winchester primers pretty much exclusively.  It would surprise me extremely to find that they are harder to ignite and would cause this sort of problem.  Sure, it might be from a bad lot, but...since you are only having problems with your reloads, and not factory ammunition with the same primers, my guess would be something about the primer depth is an issue---particularly since you can get them to light on the second strike.  First strike is light due to high primers, but it drives the primer down a bit, second strike lights them off just fine....this is pretty common.

Doesn't mean that IS the problem, but I'd certainly check that out. 

Federal primers are pretty much the softest out there, if you need to switch.   

Do you check for high primers at the end of the reloading process?  How deeply do you seat your primers?

Kendahl:
All the springs are ancient. I bought two new magazines last year. Their springs are noticeably stronger. I wondered if springs could be the problem but the gun still functions reliably with Winchester factory ammunition -- both 230 and 185 grain FMJ. My problems began when I ran out of 30-year-old bullets and primers.

The new bullets are Hornady part number 12108. They are shorter and fatter than the old ones. Hornady also makes 12208 which looks more like the old ones. Unfortunately, all I can find locally is 12108. Cabela's claims to stock round nose 230 and 185 grain Berry's bullets. Because of their shape I have high hopes that they will feed reliably.

The ignition problems began when I began using the new primers. This evening, I found a partial box of the old ones. I will test them for reliability.

I use a Lee AutoPrime to insert primers and squeeze the handle until the primer bottoms out in the case. Seating depth could be an issue if deposits in the primer pocket keep the primer from going in all the way. So far, the tumbler is all I have been using to clean cases. That appears to be sufficient with once- or twice-fired cases. Many of mine have been reloaded several times. With my light loads, they last almost indefinitely. I need to buy a primer pocket cleaning tool.

Today, I bought a jug of walnut shell tumbling medium. The old medium appears to have been the problem since the cases are coming out bright and shiny again. The instructions on the jug say that the medium itself never wears out but that it's necessary to add brass polish from time to time.

shooter:

--- Quote from: Kendahl on August 02, 2016, 11:53:38 PM ---The new bullets are Hornady part number 12108. They are shorter and fatter than the old ones
--- End quote ---

  they cant be fatter. they have to be from .451 to .452,  if there fatter, there is your problem,

    but I think you need to respring your pistol,

noylj:
0.454" bullets work just fine in all my .45 Autos. For reference, SAAMI spec for .45 Auto Match loads with SWC bullets shows 0.452" for jacketed and 0.453" for lead, and those are specified not for YOUR gun, but to work in ALL guns. The reloader just has to be sure it works in a particular gun.
Do you check that all primers are seated just below flush by running a finger over them? "Proud" primers are often just seated by the firing pin and a second strike will ignite them. This sounds like your problem.
If you forget about shiny, which doesn't do you any good other than look pretty, you would just use 20/40 corn.
Red "stuff" often indicates the media has jeweler's rouge in it to further polish the cases. So, unless you really want to run abrasive (which is a LOT harder than brass) through your chamber, it needs to be wiped off.

>The new bullets are Hornady 200 grain LSWCs. They often fail to feed with the action closing on a cartridge sitting nose up at a 45 degree angle. I noticed that the new bullets are stubbier than the old ones.

Well, having the rounds sitting nose up when fed is almost always a sign that the COL is too short. If they jammed against the feed ramp, that is almost always a sign the COL is too long.
So, first thing is to load a couple of inert dummy rounds with a longer COL and see if they feed and chamber.
Since you imply you have tried this already, the magazine(s) may not be releasing the short rounds soon enough to feed well. In general, for SWCs, you need the magazine lips to be fully open before the cartridge has traveled horizontally half the way down the magazine when feeding.
I find that all my 1911s feed empty cases just fine. All L-SWCs are loaded to the same shoulder-to-case head dimension so the shoulder just barely misses the lede/rifling (0.925-0.930" shoulder-to-case head). In the case of the Hornady L-C/T bullet, this represents a COL of 1.205".
Did you establish the COL by loading a couple of inert dummy rounds (no  primers or powder at the press) and adjust COL in increments until the round(s) all fed from the magazine and chambered? If not, start doing so and ignore any COL in a manual. Your gun (and, generally, your bullets either) are not the same as the manual.
Plated: just my experience, but if you don't mind increasing the group size at 25 yards by 1.5-2", they work fine. I can say that plated SWCs gave me 5-12" groups at 25 yards, so I still have a bunch that I use as weights to keep my tumbler from moving.

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