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Posted: 1/2/2011 5:28:13 PM EDT
| I have a buddy who just started reloading and I helped him w/ his first batch, which are .45 ACP w/ Israeli brass, Berry's 200 grain SWC and CCI primers. He was super paranoid and measured every single round that he finished and they all came in under the max listed length, which according to a couple manuals we looked at was 1.275, I believe. He went to the range today and said about every other round jammed in one HK and about every 5th round in another HK. Any ideas why this would happen? I don't see what could make a pistol round jam, other than being too long. We shot for 1.265, some were slightly longer, but under 1.275. Is that too long? |
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Quoted: I have a buddy who just started reloading and I helped him w/ his first batch, which are .45 ACP w/ Israeli brass, Berry's 200 grain SWC and CCI primers. He was super paranoid and measured every single round that he finished and they all came in under the max listed length, which according to a couple manuals we looked at was 1.275, I believe. He went to the range today and said about every other round jammed in one HK and about every 5th round in another HK. Any ideas why this would happen? I don't see what could make a pistol round jam, other than being too long. We shot for 1.265, some were slightly longer, but under 1.275. Is that too long? Check the case diameter with your micrometer. |
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1.240 to 1.245 is seating height for long truncated swc. I'm amazed you got them to feed at all. See my thread on gateway page 2. Titled why loading 45acp isn't like loading 9mm.
Swc's should be seated 1/32nd of an inch from case mouth to ogive base. I don't give a damn what the manual says..Round must feed without exception. If your charge is higher than median you may need to pull bullet and start closer to low charge. I'm not close to my books to check at present. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Hk will feed either long truncated swc or button nose swc. I've loaded for a few HKs. What's going on in this case is bullet was loaded with regard to max SAAMI spec. With no clue as to proper feed height. To be fair, taking Nosler's manual for instance. It gives max SAAMI spec but no mention where to seat their own bullet. ie;185 gr 45acp jhp. Lee gives seating heights with no mention to what bullet, leaving a lot of gray area. A logical but incorrect conclusion is to seat just under max to play it safe. Glocks will feed button nosed swc just fine whean seated around 1.20. Just keep in mind the 1/32nd rule. I sometimes seat lower by a hair or longer than 1/32nd for maximum feedability. When seating deeper I'm using low end charge and working up. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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LSWC's have to be seated to a length that keeps the ogive off the rifling or they'll stick tight.
I switched bullets one time, from a 200 gr LSWC from one caster to one from another caster. The bullets appear identical, but they certainly don't measure the same, and the new one had to be seated a little deeper to work correctly. |
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Quoted:
LSWC's have to be seated to a length that keeps the ogive off the rifling or they'll stick tight. +1. I first loaded some Laser Cast bullets at 1.235-1.240 and had some NASTY problems with them sticking. I backed the OAL down enough to get them out of the rifling (I'm now at 1.225") and they feed pretty good now. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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I'm experiencing the same thing with my M&P. All my single stack 1911s feed no problem. The M&P double stack mags feed the semi-wadcutters at a slight angle hanging up on almost every round. Round nose and every hollow point round including the cup points feed fine.
From what I can see on each hangup the shoulder of the semi-wadcutters is catching on the edge of the chamber. Usually it is from the rounds fed from the right hand side. I shouldn't complain because I got about 600 rounds for free, so I'll have to fire them in my 1911s! |
| With a semi wad cutter, the bullet tells you where to seat it relative to the case mouth. The full diameter shoulder of the bullet should be just a touch above the case mouth. You can eyeball it, but it is likely a couple of hundreds of an inch. Any deeper, and you get a overhanging unsupported case mouth. Any higher and the full diameter shoulder can give you chambering trouble. That said, even if properly seated, some pistols are picky with SWC bullets. I assume that your load was full power enough to cycle the action, feed a new cartridge every time and lock the slide back on an empty magazine. |
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Quoted:
I have a buddy who just started reloading and I helped him w/ his first batch, which are .45 ACP w/ Israeli brass, Berry's 200 grain SWC and CCI primers. He was super paranoid and measured every single round that he finished and they all came in under the max listed length, which according to a couple manuals we looked at was 1.275, I believe. He went to the range today and said about every other round jammed in one HK and about every 5th round in another HK. Any ideas why this would happen? I don't see what could make a pistol round jam, other than being too long. We shot for 1.265, some were slightly longer, but under 1.275. Is that too long? There are two things that frequently cause jams with SWCs in 45 ACP. 1) If the SWCs are cast lead, they are usually .452" diameter. Some guns won't chamber the .452" diameter bullets. My 1911 sure as hell won't. My loads with cast lead SWCs have to be run through a Lee FCD to swage the bullet down closer to .451" before it will chamber. 2) The other common problem is that the shoulder of the SWC bullet is sticking out too far and impacting on the shoulder of the chamber. For most reliable feeding, SWCs should be seated such that the bullet's shoulder is only a few thousands above the case mouth. Basically seat it as deep as you can but still have the case mouth put good tension on it. This may result in cartridge overall length being considerably below the listed length. As long as you aren't using balls to the wall loads with slower burning powders, this is usually not an issue in 45 ACP but, as always, reduce your charge and work back up just to be safe. My last set of 200gr SWCs were well under 1.275, but I can't quite remember what the length was. I'm wanting to say I was running them at 1.225, but I'm not sure. They were Missouri Bullet Company 200gr SWCs. |
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Quoted:
1.240 to 1.245 is seating height for long truncated swc. I'm amazed you got them to feed at all. See my thread on gateway page 2. Titled why loading 45acp isn't like loading 9mm. Swc's should be seated 1/32nd of an inch from case mouth to ogive base. I don't give a damn what the manual says..Round must feed without exception. If your charge is higher than median you may need to pull bullet and start closer to low charge. I'm not close to my books to check at present. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile 1911smith has it. What the books say about overall length with SWCs is generally complete fiction in the real world. Seat the bullets deep enough to feed, and adjust the charge as necessary for safety. |
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