New guy with a question????

[ar-steve]

Hello, I just reloaded my first 2 bullets ever. 45colt . I used a lee loader and all went OK until I crimped them ,they look a little squishy. Am I missing something or is this normal? I am using 200gr jhp speers
even with them squished down I can spin the bullet around in the case.

Thanks..Steve

[John Traveler]

The Lee Loader is a basic handloading tool and most calibers provide only neck resizing.  Did you crimp the case mouth into the crimping groove on the bullet?  The bullet may loosen if not crimped into the cannelure or crimping groove.

If your jacketed bullets are a bit undersize, the neck sizing may not be enough to secure the seated bullet.

By "squishy", do you mean the bullet nose is deformed?  If so, it is the nose punch that does that during the bullet seating operation.

No, the bullet should not turn using finger pressure in the finished cartridge.  If your cartridges are fired in a revolver, the recoil may walk the bullet out of the cylinder, tying up the gun.

Please re-read the instructions with the Lee Loader and see if you are missing anything.

HTH
John

[ar-steve]

thanks for the reply .
The bullets I am using do not have a crimping groove.

The bullets will spin in the case but I can not move them in or out even with pliers

By squishy I mean that the mouth of the case where the crimp is looks kinda bulged and uneven,I dont think its wrong as in dangerous ,but I dont see how I would get anouther reload out of the brass. after sizing the case I can put the bullet in by hand so there is no deformation on the bullet itself

I re-read the instructions and I am not missing a step. how ever I am leaving out the step were I tap the die into the case to open it up because if I did that it would not hold the bullet at all.

[John Traveler]

OK, bullet looseness understood now.

Your neck-sizing die is apparently a trifle oversized, your brass a bit thin, or the bullets a bit undersized.  It may be a combination of all of these that make the bullets loose in the assembled cartridge.

Did you use parafin or sizing lube before driving the fired case into the sizing die?  It should be okay to skip the mouth belling step if you are not using lead bullets, but the sized case should be too tight to insert the jacketed bullets by hand.  The seating step (after priming and powder charging, of course) uses the die body to align the bullet, and it is pressed into place using the top punch.

You might want to try another brand and weight of bullet.  Try the traditional 250-255 grain lead RN or SWC.  The old .45 Colt should shoot beautifully using that and 8.0 grains of Unique.

Don't worry about the uneven crimp.  The next firing irons it out, and you should get several reloads out of one case.

[stimpylu32]

Steve

Are the bullets that you are using the Speer Gold Dot 200 grain JHPs ? If so they are a .451 Dia. for use in the 45 Autos and will be a little loose in the colt round .

They should shoot ok in the colt but maybe will not give you the best groups being under sized .

stimpy

[ar-steve]

Yes those are the ones , they are 451. thanks.

[Lone Star]

This is one of the long-standing issues with the .45LC cartridge.  How old are the Lee dies you are using?  I had a similar problem 30 years ago with my .45LC Lee dies - the old SAAMI dimensions for this cartridge called for a .454" bullet, and my Lee die sized the case to fit that bullet diameter.  A .452" bullet was loose, and .451" bullets fell into the resized case.  Send the die back to Lee and ask for one dimensioned for modern .451" bullets.


.

[ar-steve]

I got the Lee loader on Friday so its new (from Midway) I think the 452 dia bullets will be better and that is the size cast I ordered.

[Castaway]

Try sizing your cases before you load them the first time.  My experience with 45 Colt brass is that it's a bit oversized (0.454).

[LaOtto222]

Besides the under sized bullets and over sized case problem...Does the case fit the chamber of your gun. I suspect not with the "bulge". When I get that it is because I do not have the bullet punch adjusted down far enough. That is the bullet is not getting seated before the crimp starts. Once the crimp starts and there is no crimping grove, the case mouth has no where to go and "bulges" or crinkles. Once you get the proper sized bullets with a groove your bulging cases may go away. If they do not then you need to back off of the pounding a little.