New to reloading but bought one of those simple classic lee loader kits for my 45 ACP to try it out (uses the dies, rods, and hammer, not a press), had good reviews, even some simple demos on youtube...Got mine in and did plenty of research and went ahead and tried loading some no powder/primer rounds just to check the cycle and if they maintained their OAL...my book had a min OAL of 1.26" for the powder charge i was using and i made about 10 dummy rnds at that length...noticed right away 7/10 i could push the bullet so deep into the case with just my hands (and not a lot of force) the OAL went all the down to 1.15"-1.17" consistently...after double checking the 3 that remained the correct OAL I went ahead and shot them with no issues of any kind and good accuracy at 10 yds...went back to the bench and had about 50 casings left...sized, chauffeured, and seated everyone of them with only bullets with OAL ranging from 1.24-1.275 (SAAMI max OAL) and out of those 50 only 9 could i not seat farther in the case with just my hands (once again i pushed them all to around 1.17, some were as low as 1.08)...the majority were so loose in the case i could push them back out by hand with a small punch thru the primer hole. I have ass. brass...win, RP (heard this was crap), speer, PPU, and federal...some are even the nickel plated. Of those 9 i couldnt hand push, the bullet seated to a OAL below 1.200" after being cycled thru my 1911 twice...my 1911 is a remington r1 and i have about 500 rnds thru it with only one time a casing didnt eject and it was the day i bought it before i took it apart and cleaned it, other than that, never a problem...anyone have any info that may be helpful? is my kits sizing die not shrinking my casings enough? ive re-watched the vids and checked the instructions over and over, the kit is pretty simple... the diameter of the 230 gr. winchester FMJ bullets is .451"-.454 and when the casing is sized the I.D. measured at .448" also it specifically says no crimp is needed on the 45 ACP in the kit instructions (and on demo vids)...i even tried the crimp side of my die just to check and it didnt hold the bullet much tighter, says crimping with this die could cause head space issues...any ideas?
Reloading 45 ACP with Classic Lee Loader...bullets never tight problem??
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I use a regular reloading rig (progressive press) to load .45 ACP, and I would take issue with that statement. Go read Richard Lee's excellent instructions in the front of the Lee loading manual and see what he says about crimping. FWIW, the .45 ACP uses a taper crimp (vs. a roll crimp which is commonly used for revolver cartridges) to allow the cartridge to headspace (register its position axially in the chamber) on the mouth of the cartridge. If you can move the bullet by hand in a loaded case, there is clearly not enough of a crimp.
Fortunately, the .45 ACP is a low-pressure round so even the 1.200" OAL that you report won't generate high enough pressures to blow things up, but a big variation will make a difference in pressure. Also, 1.200" OAL is on the short side to feed reliably in a 1911 unless yours has been tuned to do so. I aim for 1.250" with a generous tolerance of +/- 0.010".
I'm not sure what the crimping process is for your simple setup, but I'd say you're not out of the woods yet.
i have found many references that say to crimp but with this kit it says "do not crimp 45 acp..." in bolded print...the only way to crimp with this kit is to turn the sizing die over and drive it onto the loaded round...i have tried that with no luck either...this youtube vid is exactly what i have and the guy does not crimp as well...i have a lee turret press on the way which i will try with these same casings but i would like to get this handy little kit to work as well... Making bullets with the Lee Classic Loader in .45 ACP - YouTube ...thanks for the feedback
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I crimp my bullets in everything,the problem is you bell the case mouth to accept the bullet,if you dont force that opening back to grab the bullet and hold it in place to keep it from setting back when it hits the feed ramp you can cause an over pressure in the case,45 tends to have quite a bit of room in the case,but 9mm or 40 can cause a KABOOM.
You said you Chamfer? the cases,why? The only time a case needs to be chamfered is Rifle cases after trimming OAL,Ive never trimmed a pistol case
You said you Chamfer? the cases,why? The only time a case needs to be chamfered is Rifle cases after trimming OAL,Ive never trimmed a pistol case
sorry duck, i meant i deburr the inside and outside of the case, mistyped...i understand what you are saying but with this kit, when u force the case into the sizing die i cant see anything that would bell the end...its just a straight thru tube...i believe with sizing dies on presses, after being sized the bullet kind of sits inside the case slightly before being seated, correct? with mine the bullet has to balance on the lip of the case and is held in position by the sizing die (keeps it aligned), kit is supposed to have everything you need to load a round so i have no way to crimp right now...ive even dropped some of the rnds (the few that held semi tight) into my barrel and they seated almost exactly as my factory rounds do...hopefully when i get my press and dies (w/ a FCD) in this week i can get some test loads going...
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Lee Loader 45 Auto - Lee Precision
From the Lee Classic Loader page for .45ACP (bolding is mine)
From the Lee Classic Loader page for .45ACP (bolding is mine)
I wonder why they even offer this if they do not recommend it's use for semi-auto guns?
well...i guess that settles it high pockets...i glanced at lees site but didnt read much because it was listed as 'sold out'...saw on other sites that this thing had many good reviews from people reloading even for use in semi auto 1911s...like i said, i was only comfortable shooting 3 of the rounds that i loaded and tested the tightness of the bullet extensively...there is NO WAY the dummies i seated would have even held tight under recoil if i was actually firing...i could push and pull them with my fingers lol i wonder if people just are not doing any cycle checks or they are just shooting them anyways, or just getting lucky? lol
guess ill wait for my press and dies
guess ill wait for my press and dies
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Better accuracy with a bolt action.
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I don't think I've ever seen a Bolt Gun in 45acp
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Because full-length case resizing is typically required for all action types except for bolt guns. Mauser-type bolt actions (not straight-pull bolts, like the Swiss K-31) apply a large amount of force via camming on the bolt lugs which assists in removing fired cases. The other actions lack the camming feature, so full-length resizing minimizes the likelihood of stuck cases.
thanks for the feed back...my die set on the way includes the crimp die and will use those from now on with the press...not sure what good this little kit is...even in a a gun that doesnt auto load, the bullets would have been pushed back into the case by slightly bumping them at any point being loaded into a gun
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