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I am new at 45 reloading so please advise. If you are not supposed to crimp 45 acp do you expand the case or only resize it. and if you do expand how do you retighten the case on hte bullet. Also I have some steel military cases. Are these safe to reload And should I do anything different for steel vs brass. Thanks in advance.:
You're not really crimping so much as just removing the minimal 'bell' necessary to get the bullet started. You 'taper' the crimp into the bullet rather than rolling the mouth over and into a crimping groove/canalure. Most of the 45 ACP dies come designed w/ a taper crimp for that reason, but the crimp adjustment method here is the same whether taper or roll.
Step 1. Pull the barrel out of your gun (only required this one time, and only if you feel nervous) :-)
Step 2. Don't bell the case any more than required to just start the bullet. Experiment on where that is with a couple of already-sized test cases until you just feel that case mouth edge out w/ your thumb/forefinger and/or the bullet will just barely enter the case. Lock the expander down at that point. You should never have to adjust again.
Step 3. Take that (empty) belled case and run it up into the loosely mounted seating die. With the ram/case all the way up, screw the seating die in until resistance is felt/the case starts to crimp. This is the starting point.
Step 4. Gradually screw the die down in 1/8 turns until the empty case will enter the barrel chamber. Mark the die alignment with a pencil as minimum crimp. Screw the die in gradually/testing with the barrel until the case just slips past the chamber shoulder as shown in pic #1 here:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9...litiesxyn4.jpg
Back it off 1/8-1/4 turn and Mark it w/ the pencil again -- That's max crimp position.
Step 5. Lock the die body nut down. You should never have to adjust again.
Step 6. Adjust your seating as appropriate from this point on and test the first half dozen bullets you load by dropping them into the barrel/chamber and listening for the solid 'clunk' as they come to a stop against the chamber shoulder.
Step 7. Press on.
Actually, it's much simpler/intuitive that this once you've done it. But this is this is the engineering way first time out. ;-)
(Others will no doubt have other suggestions/opinions/critiques/corrections/addendums and experience.)
It is nice to do bullet seating separately from "Bell removal". It works better for me.
I've loaded a few steel cases with no difficulty.
CDD
Get .45 Auto 3 die set, preferrably with a carbide sizer die. You need a taper crimp die, and MAY have to purchase that one separately. There will be an expander die in the 3 die set. Follow instructions in the die set. Set the expander to expand the case mouth just enough to set the bullet in the case so it is pretty stable, but not too much bell or the case will not enter the seater die well, or the bullet can be pushed into the case too easy/too far by hand. Not enough bell of the case mouth, and the bullet will not set well, and may crush the case when you attempt to seat it, or it will seat very rough. It is a controlled trial and error process. Different types of bullets or brands of cases sometimes require fine tuning re-adjustment of the expander die.
Final stage for .45 Auto, use the taper crimp die to taper crimp the case, flattening the mouth up against the bullet and removing the bell. There should be a distinct case edge that you can feel all around the bullet, that is what the case headspaces on. But the case mouth should now be snug to the bullet. Dies come with instructions, again, a little bit trial and error.
Do not reload steel cases, from what little experimentation I have done, it is not reliable and in my opinion can be dangerous in some circumstances. Somebody may disagree, but especially since you are new to this, don't do it.
Make sure you have some good reloading manuals if you dont already, they also have instructions and guides on how to do this. Lyman, Hornady, Hodgdon, others.
BTW, yes, you prob CAN seat the bullets and taper crimp them in one step with a seater die that taper crimps. I do not recommend that. Get a separate or 4th Taper Crimp die. Take time to seat the bullets with the seater die that is set up higher in the press so as not to crimp the case, but just seat the bullet to desired depth. Then in a separate "production line" as the final reloading step, taper crimp the cartridges only with a taper crimp die, with no bullet seater plug installed in the die. Somebody else's MMV, but this has worked great for me over the years, and the extra step is worth it.
(Actually, now I use a Dillon progressive that does it this way in 4 stations all at once, but if you are new, you prob need to reload a while before you get to a progressive.)
the seat die should do all in one step-insert bullet-and crimp-Taper crimp is correct-all new dies should do this ,,the barrel method he uses is correct when you don't have the case gauge--the belling is required,,no belling
and you will crush harder cases,,like federals
"...you prob CAN seat the bullets and taper crimp them in one step..." Works just fine. Been doing it for eons. You set up the taper crimp die as a seating die. No big deal.
Taper crimp only for the .45. Slight bell, just enough to sit the bullet in the case mouth, like MEHavey says. Using the chamber as a case guage is the best guage too.
Steel cases are mild steel. Mild steel is not elastic like brass is. Work hardens faster and are usually, berdan primed. Pitch 'em. They don't make nice drawer pulls either.
all good info.
Don't reload the steel cases.
1) you WILL scratch your die for sure if it is a chrome die and then it will have to be replaced.
2) you will cause more wear on your dies, and on the chamber in your autoloader pistol.
You can buy once fired Brass at Dillon for 69.95 per 1K.
you will need to remove the crimp from the primer pocket on the military cases. you can use the deburring tool to do this (only once per life of the case) or buy the swaging tool for primer pockets.
Dillon is at 1-800-223-4570 technical assistance and they will transfer you over to the order desk.
orders is 800-762-3845 (nice numbers ;) )
or
Dillon Precision: Reloaders, Reloading Equipment, Bullet Reloading, Bullet Reloaders
HTH
Bob
I only reload 45ACP for use in M1911 pistols. Glocks, Sigs, etc may be different.
Based on a target shooter's advice, I set my seating depth of the bullet so that the case base was even with the barrel hood. I used a Colt series 80 barrel.
Guess what, different barrels have different throat depths. When I replaced that Colt barrel with a Wilson match, those cartridges were too long. They jammed in the throat. They were jammed so hard I could not pull the slide open with my hands, and the slide was open just enough, that the disconnector would not allow the pistol to be fired.
This was when I learned that a guide rod is a bad idea. You cannot place the recoil plug on a table edge, (barrel overhanging edge) and push on the grip, to extract the round. The stupid guide rod is in the way.
I got rid of all my guide rods. Also, I now seat all 230 LRN to 1.250”. Based on reloading advice from Wilson Arms, I taper crimp all rounds to 0.469”. Works great and shoots fine.
Agree with you about the guid rod not needed and never was. John Browning knew what he was doing.