Loading .45

[223AI]

I've spent my entire reloading and shooting "career" focusing on practical precision rifle shooting (6.5x47/243/308/223/223ai). I've spent a lot of time, money, and effort in the pursuit of practical precision via good handloads, good training, and plenty of competition. As more and more matches start to incorporate pistol stages, I've come to realize how important good ammo and good practice is....funny how that works. I can shoot rifles just fine, but am *ahem* deficient in the pistol department.

I aim to fix my pistol (in)capabilites with this:



As well as plenty of these:



The pistol is a Ned Christiansen built 1911 with plenty of holster wear from some very, very sandy conditions in which I overlubed the gun and practiced drawstrokes. Tripp 10 and 8 rounders with a few CMC's are the mags, I'm running with.

I've 8lbs of Winchester WST, 10k primers, and 2k S&S 200gr SWC. Should be fun to learn how to roll my own pistol ammo...on a Forster Co-Ax...using Lee dies ...

Anyone have tips and tricks?

[JAD]

First, that's a beautiful pistol. You're doing it right.

Second, .45 ACP is a very forgiving cartridge to reload and you already have the correct components. WST is my preferred powder and you will find that 5.2 grains is as soft as you'll want it and six is borderline too fast; fuss around in that range and you'll find your favorite. 1.250" oal, .472-.473 crimp, check primers for flush or below. Brass that had cracked down the side can only be reloaded two or three more times -- half of my brass has no recognizable head stamp. Best I can get with cast is about 2". With Hornady 200 FMJ C/T and a few tenths more powder I can get sub-inch with the right gun (none of mine) and right shooter (not me).

Eta: you can get a 550 or 650 now, or after you get through that first 2K. Don't say I didn't warn you.

[NETim]

You'll eventually want a progressive press for reloading straight wall pistol cartridges. I started with a Dillon SDB as my first progressive and it does well but the 650 has better mechanical advantage (particularly when seating the primers) and has that wonderful case feeder option. Quite a bit faster to load on but truthfully the SDB kept up with my demand.

Get a case gauge and test your product occasionally to see how it chambers. Many reloaders simply pull the barrel of out and drop rounds into the chamber to see how they fit, headspace wise. (The "plunk" test.) I prefer the Dillon case gauge. That test is how I gained a lifelong hatred of AMERC brass. Off center, oblong, square brass. ACK! It's like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. Seriously, it has save me a lot of aggravation on the range.

Lots of powders work well in the ol' 45. Typical military cartridge. I've loaded 231 for many years but recently picked up some WST. These days, your favorite powder isn't always available. I've heard good stuff about WST so I'm not worried about it's performance.

Bell the case mouths just enough to allow bullet seating w/o shaving off lead. And according to Dillon, adjust the crimp die with a case (with a bullet in it) inserted into the die with your fingers until the die is snug, lower the ram a little, turn the die 1/4 turn downwards, raise the ram and lock it down there. You want to iron out the flare. I like to be at or near .470".

As far as OAL, I don't usually put calipers on them. I look for just a little of the shoulder of the SWC peeking over the edge of the case mouth. Sometimes going by OAL works, sometimes not. Depends on the length and profile of the bullet nose. If I leave OAL a little long, after some shooting and the chamber gets gummed up (which doesn't take long) I start to have chambering issues. I am more concerned with crimp diameter than I am in a set, measured OAL.

Yes, some of my reloading techniques are "seat of the pants." Running my thumb over the case mouth of a loaded round gives a good idea if the crimp is good. I also press the bullet nose of a loaded round into my reloading bench, hard, to see if the bullet moves back into the case.

And I don't load near max, even in the 45. I like a safety margin.

[223AI]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I actually had a 550 that was set-up for .308 back when I thought I could load consistent match grade long range ammo progressively. I eventually sold it because I had to use ball powder to get it to throw powder within tolerance, and that caused temperature stability problems....hence the move back to single stage, a prometheus powder measure, and stick powders.

Until I get the feel of loading pistol ammo, I'm going to stick with the single stage for now. Batch laoding should help, and I can't imagine it taking more than 30 min to knock out 100-150 rounds. The Square Deal "B" is tempting, but I have my sights on another Schmidt and Bender first.

That said, I loaded up a dummy round using scrap range brass, in the following steps:

1. full length size and deprime
2. run through the expander die
3. seat bullet to 1.250" OAL

Here is what I ended up with:



Looks dirty, but that is because it is scrap brass, and I chambered it about 15 times in the gun to ensure feeding and extraction. 1.250" Case Overall Length. No crimp was necessary, the case mouth measure right at .71".

Next time, we go live....

[NETim]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I actually had a 550 that was set-up for .308 back when I thought I could load consistent match grade long range ammo progressively. I eventually sold it because I had to use ball powder to get it to throw powder within tolerance, and that caused temperature stability problems....hence the move back to single stage, a prometheus powder measure, and stick powders.

Until I get the feel of loading pistol ammo, I'm going to stick with the single stage for now. Batch laoding should help, and I can't imagine it taking more than 30 min to knock out 100-150 rounds. The Square Deal "B" is tempting, but I have my sights on another Schmidt and Bender first.

That said, I loaded up a dummy round using scrap range brass, in the following steps:

1. full length size and deprime
2. run through the expander die
3. seat bullet to 1.250" OAL

Here is what I ended up with:



Looks dirty, but that is because it is scrap brass, and I chambered it about 15 times in the gun to ensure feeding and extraction. 1.250" Case Overall Length. No crimp was necessary, the case mouth measure right at .71".

Next time, we go live....

Looks good. As long as it chambers and the bullets don't set back during the feeding cycle, you should be GTG.

[1slow]

Taper crimp crimping die is your friend in a cartridge like 45acp that headspaces on the case mouth.

[buckskinjoe]

Taper crimp crimping die is your friend in a cartridge like 45acp that headspaces on the case mouth.

Definitely--especially with 1911s and LSWC bullets. The taper crimping should be a separate operation from bullet seating using a TC die. A "full" taper crimp of about 0.465" is excellent with LSWC in 1911s. For ball FMJ, taper crimp at about 0.469" seems to work well in just about all .45s. For the "68" 200 gr. LSWC bullets, OAL of 1.245" to 1.250" works about best. Any longer than that can start to cause feeding issues and-or be too long to fit in a magazine properly.

[LSP972]

Eta: you can get a 550 or 650 now, or after you get through that first 2K. Don't say I didn't warn you.

LOL. True words.

Although, if you have no plans to load another handgun caliber, the Square Deal is probably your smart move. The 550/650 make it relatively painless to switch calibers; switching a SD is a flaming PITA.

But JAD is right... you WILL end up with a progressive press if you shoot any amount.

.

[JAD]

An afterthought on crimping: I really do run a 471 nominal crimp, and that is light by most standards. Bill Wilson recommends a 469 with a 200 grain LSWC. I run light partially because I want good headspace, partially because I don't want to overwork the case mouth, and partially because it's always worked well.

[NETim]

An afterthought on crimping: I really do run a 471 nominal crimp, and that is light by most standards. Bill Wilson recommends a 469 with a 200 grain LSWC. I run light partially because I want good headspace, partially because I don't want to overwork the case mouth, and partially because it's always worked well.

Good enough!