Sugg. for Avid 45 Colt Reloaders...

[Patriot_1776]

I just wanted to make a public suggestion about brand of brass for reloaders (or potential reloaders) of the famous 45 Colt.

Starline is tops, no "buts" about it.  I was reloading some Colts the other evening, and I had two diff brands in the blocks; one was Starline, the other Remington.  While priming the cases, I had one case that was literally ripped out of the shellholder; the case was a Remington, and some brass was removed from the rim slightly.  Can still be fired, but I will scrap it afterwards.  The Colts are known to have those shallow rims.  BUT, apparently, Starline got the drift on this, and designed their rims to offer a better grip inside the shellholder.  

I have not had one problem with their brass as yet...well, maybe one; a case that showed a split after I first fired and then resized it.  But hey, that is only one out of the hundreds of brass I've bought from them, and probably a thousand or more reloads altogether using their brass.  That says a lot to me.  Just thought I'd let you all know where I stand on my further brass purchases for either the 45 Colt, or the 454 Casull.  Thanks for readin'.

 
-Patriot

[Vern Humphrey]

Years ago, when I got my first .45 Colt revolver, I went pawing through all my range pickup brass and found 17 Starline .45 Colt cases.  They had been fired at least once, of course, and may have been fired more than that.

I loaded  some pretty stiff charges ("Ruger ONLY")  and kept reusing them.   I didn't lose the first one until I had more than a dozen reloads on it -- I have 5 of them left, and they have 22 reloads on them.

[Duffy]

I'm still using the WW and Starline brass that I bought many moons ago. The Federal and Remington have long since gone to the scrapman.

Patriot,
Another thing to watch is your shell holder. The RCBS #18 fit's 44 while the #20 fits 45 but the 45 will also fit in the 44 and with the Lee's one shell holder fit's both of them plus the 444. :roll:

[Dusty Miller]

I'm just starting to reload the 45 Colt but I've experienced no problems with the Hornady and Winchester brass I'm using.  However, I'll be on the lookout and if problems do arise I'll give the Starline a try.

[Vern Humphrey]

Keep track of how many times you reload each case.  If you do a lot of reloading -- and especially if you use stiff charges -- you'll find Starline brass lasts a lot longer than other makes.

[Haywire Haywood]

When I buy brass, regardless of caliber, the first thing I do is check to see if Starline has it in their lineup.

Ian

[jd45]

I think the most important component in handloading is the case, so I try to buy the highest quality cases I can afford. For my .45 Colt loads, it's Starline, hands down!jd45.

[unspellable]

I bought some PMC brass for my 445 SuperMag that woud stick in the chambers and require a rod and mallet to get them out no matter how light the load.  At DW's suggestion I bought some Starline and no more problems!

Now to the 45 Colt.  Most 45 Colt chambers are oversized, a hang over from black powder days when they had to leave room for the crud build up.  I've been wondering about a sort of "wildcat" in which the 45 Colt brass would be fireformed to the chamber and then run through an appropriately oversized die so as not to size it back done to nominal, making it an ever so slightly bottle necked case.  Seems like the brass would last longer this way.  Any thoughts on this?

[jd45]

I don't think you'd get the desired result. Remember, you want to "shrink" the case in resizing enough to achieve a high "pull" or grip on the shank, or base of the bullet, to provide proper burning of the powder. How about just resizing down to where the bottom of the bullet would be in the case? Wouldn't that be an easier, better fix? Every time you full-length resize that case, as I've heard, it "work-hardens", making it go , eventually to a brittle state, where it'll split. So, I'd think a partial resize would lengthen its life, & get you where you want to go. jd45.

[Vern Humphrey]

Quote:
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Now to the 45 Colt. Most 45 Colt chambers are oversized, a hang over from black powder days when they had to leave room for the crud build up. I've been wondering about a sort of "wildcat" in which the 45 Colt brass would be fireformed to the chamber and then run through an appropriately oversized die so as not to size it back done to nominal, making it an ever so slightly bottle necked case. Seems like the brass would last longer this way. Any thoughts on this?
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All you have to do is back your die out -- as you would to neck-size a bottleneck cartridge.  Size enough of the fore part of the case to get a good grip on the bullet, and leave the lower part of the case unsized.   It works well for me.

[bpjon]

I've read about others doing this, I can't remember if it was Scovill or Waters who wrote about it.  Said it worked well for two firings of a full power load, then the brass had to be sized fully or else the base would not fit in the chamber.  At any rate, the article said it was worth the effort, as loads were slightly more accurate and brass lasted longer.  Only thing to look out for is if one chamber is quite a bit larger or smaller than the others, could cause fit problems.

[unspellable]

Full length resizing is sometime necessary due to differences from one chamber to the next or when loading for more than one gun.  But suppose you full length size to something larger than nominal that would correspond to the usual chamber size, then neck size to nominal, producing an ever so slight bottle neck?

You would get much the same effect when neck sizing only.

This raises a few side issues like keeping the neck concentric, what's the chamber mouth diameter, etc.

[Vern Humphrey]

I have no trouble with partially re-sized cases in .45.  I think if you have chambers so lacking in uniformity that you can't load a "neck-sized" round, you have bigger problems that can be solved by handloading.

[Rmouleart]

I agree that starline has really good brass, On the other hand I have noticed that Hornadys 454 brass had a problem when I was using it, seemed to be too soft, over expansion, what I use the most and have very little to no problems is The Winchester brass, very affordable as well, I did buy some nickle plated starline for the 454 casull, they come out as good as they go in, don't expand hardly at all, never a stuck case. a littl harder to work, i still like nickle plated better, but of course cost more also. Using the 454 casulls, if the cylinders get dirty and you have some soft brass, you will get stuck cases sooner than later, I did. I can shoot over fifty rounds before cases start getting stuck. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.