On a couple of occasions I've loaded a large volume of rounds without testing them first.

This recent batch was some super light loaded 9mm which I posted about a while ago.

That was 1000 rounds before I found out they were too light to cycle my Glocks. Fortunately

they work just fine in my Sig and Beretta.

 

Then came some 250gr 45ACP rounds. Now this one stumped me. I chamber tested these

in my 1911 and they all were fine. So I continued to load about 500. Only to find out they

have significant feeding issues. Now the weird thing is I shot about 150 of these at a static

steel match and they shot just fine. It was after the match I had big problems. Couldn't get

past a couple rounds before the gun could not fully go into battery and had to be racked out

with a lot of force. Still have about 200 or so of them. Sucks.

 

Anyways just seeing if anyone else ever went through similar growing pains.

And where did you find published data for reloading 250gr .45ACP???

My Lee reloading manual. Is 250gr data rare? In any case I'm done with them. Can't seem to get them to work right.

um... why would you load mass quantities of questionable ammo?

 

Load 50, go test them in the gun, before loading a lot more of it.

um... why would you load mass quantities of questionable ammo?

 

Load 50, go test them in the gun, before loading a lot more of it.

 

I usually do test but haven't been going to the range as often

and needed them for a match. Kinda just went on auto pilot

mode. Usually if the round chambers in the gun it's always been

good to go. Guess that rule doesn't work anymore... Lesson learned.

I always test load 10 to 25 rounds before mass producing. To this day, my reloads have been flawless. It's a good idea to chamber check rounds if used in different pistols. For example, the 9mm COL I reload for my 92FS are on the long side (within spec), but are a little too long to properly feed in my PPS. The same in .45ACP. The chamber in my Springfield 1911 is "more forgiving" than the chamber in my H&K 45c. I need to keep cartridge COL within a range to get good feeding in the H&K. You can do a preliminary check to see how well the cartridge fits in your gun by removing the barrel and dropping the cartridge in. It should headspace off the end of the brass and the bullet head should be close, but not hitting the lands in the barrel. This is just a preliminary test. You need to test fire to make sure they cycle OK.

 

RN are usually longer than hollow points or flat points. If the bullet head hits the lands in the barrel, it may not go into battery or cause higher pressures from the bullet head being forced into the case. The lead RN that I reload for my 1911 are slightly longer than the ones for the H&K 45c.

That reminds me. One time I made a bunch that chambered in my Glock just fine but they did not chamber in my HK at all. The HK required

a shorter COL but a good margin. This was with hollow points with a pretty straight shoulder though. So that was another batch of rounds

that didn't work in one gun but did in the other.

I loaded about 20 rounds of .357 and was wondering why the case was turning silver as I loaded the bullet in. Turns out I didn't expand the mouth of the case enough (the die had gotten loose) so the lead was "silvering" the case. That sucked.

 

C

Chamber Checker. It's not the total answer but very helpful:

 

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/25580/catid/3/EGW_Chamber_Checkers

Some more...

 

http://www.egwguns.com/chamber-checkers/

http://www.lewilson.com/pistolmaxgage.html and http://www.lewilson.com/casegage.html are your friends.

Every finished round I make goes through one before it goes into a box or ammo can.

Thanks guys. That's a lot easier than taking my guns apart and using the barrel. Will be picking one up for sure.

http://www.lewilson.com/pistolmaxgage.html and http://www.lewilson.com/casegage.html are your friends.

Every finished round I make goes through one before it goes into a box or ammo can.

 

I have these and I have the dillon ones as well. The wilson ones surface rust like crazy. Buy the dillon. Also if your chamber is tighter than the guage the guage is kinda worthless because the rounds still might not chamber. Most guns are looser than the case guage but not always.

If your chamber is tighter does that mean you need more crimp, different COL, or something else?

 

+1 on the dillon chamber checks, they're relatively cheap too

If your chamber is tighter does that mean you need more crimp, different COL, or something else?

 

Undersize die.

 

the tanfoglio was notorious for tight chambers, and sometimes the bulge at the bottom of the case, especially "glocked" brass would cause issues. The big problem is when the case itself is not resized all the way to the bottom.

 

For this reason, I use Lee dies, which do a better job of resizing closer to the base of the case, and then a second, separate crimp, which also gives everything a nice second resize once case is loaded. never had an issue with any 40 cal brass, even from once fired brass from glocks.

 

CZ's also tend to have a tighter chamber.

 

Alternatively, Lee does sell undersize dies, which do tend to resize the case a bit smaller.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

Undersize die.

 

the tanfoglio was notorious for tight chambers, and sometimes the bulge at the bottom of the case, especially "glocked" brass would cause issues. The big problem is when the case itself is not resized all the way to the bottom.

 

For this reason, I use Lee dies, which do a better job of resizing closer to the base of the case, and then a second, separate crimp, which also gives everything a nice second resize once case is loaded. never had an issue with any 40 cal brass, even from once fired brass from glocks.

 

CZ's also tend to have a tighter chamber.

 

Alternatively, Lee does sell undersize dies, which do tend to resize the case a bit smaller.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

I forget who makes it but there is a .40 resizeing die out there just to make sure lock fired brass will fit In a different chamber it supposedly goes all he way to the head to iron out any glock belly if I find it I'll post it up

Lee makes the "bulge buster" that pushes the entire casing through the die and you get it out the top.That's only a solution for glocked brass, though, the OD is still the same. Are those tight chambers within spec for the caliber?

Lee makes the "bulge buster" that pushes the entire casing through the die and you get it out the top.That's only a solution for glocked brass, though, the OD is still the same. Are those tight chambers within spec for the caliber?

 

Dave - I'm sure the tight chambers mentioned are in spec but, there are so many chambers out there like GLOCK that are bug as an elephants !-hole and are unsupported that the spec chambers seem tight. I shoot some target(tight) chambers in KKM barrels and they are very reliable but all my reloads are in spec and are chamber checked.

 

So my quess is that if you don't chamber check and have a tight spec chamber the tollerences stack and you have a problem.