RELOADING REVOLVER CARTRIDGES VS SEMI AUTO CARTRIDGES

[markp]

I need an education.  I load for the 45 colt . What differnces are there to loading say for the 45 a.c.p.
I presume oal  is much  more crucial with an auto pistol cartridge. I believe the auto cartridges headspace on the mouth. Please tell me what additonal steps there are and differnces there are to loading for an auto pistol over a revolver. I presume you would need to measure and trim after every use of your brass ? If so is this an easy process ?  As always thanks for helping to educate a country boy.

[Badnews Bob]

There is really no diffrence at all, Your die set will take care of most of the work. I have never trimmed a piece of .45 or 9mm brass. The biggest concern I see in any type cartridge loading is setting your dies up properly.

[LaOtto222]

Badnews Bob is correct - there really is not much difference. Straight walled pistol cases, do not need as much trimming as do bottle necked cases - IMHO. You just have to make certain that all cases are the same to start with. This should apply to both your 45 Colt and 45 ACP. The crimps are slightly different between the two cases. The revolver cases need a rolled crimp and the 45 ACP needs a tapered crimp. The 45 ACP does head space off the mouth of the case so a rolled crimp would be inappropriate. When you buy your die set for the 45 ACP, it should be set up to do a tapered crimp or have a separate tapered crimp die. In general you can buy tapered crimp dies for revolver cases too, but they are not standard with the set you buy. A rolled crimp holds bullets in place better. That is especially important with heavy recoiling guns. Good Luck and Good Shooting

[Luckyducker]

The only other issue that comes to mind is that the bullets for the semi-auto pistol do not need a crimp groove, as the taper crimp can do it's job without one.   I too have never trimmed a semi-auto brass case.

[markp]

 My ruger 45 colt is a convertible. So maybe I will get a.c.p. dies and give it a try.
 Thanks for your input guys.
 
Will the acp dies come with a taper crimp. This part I am not too familiar with. 
Is there much chance of danger if I dont crimp properly ? Do you bell the case mouth same as a revolver round before seating ?  .
 
I presume  I use standard large pistol primors same as for the 45 colt ?


Thanks Guys Your input it helps a bunch .
Your the best.

[Dave in WV]

Yes, you bell the mouth of the .45acp cases but only enough to get the bullet started. If you crimp the bullet too much on a semi-auto case it may go so far into the chamber it won't go off due to too light of a firing pin strike. If you crimp it too lightly there may be no problem with using the ammo in your Ruger revolver if it chambers ok. Using the same ammo in a semi-auto pistol the crimp needs to be enough to hold the bullet in place when chambering the rounds. I'm not sure if .45 auto rim brass will work in your Ruger but you can roll crimp it as it has a rim like the .45 Colt brass does. It's actually for M1917 revolvers so you don't need the moon clips.

Starline Brass makes .45 auto rim brass.
http://www.starlinebrass.com/index.php?cPath=1&osCsid=2a761ea0f57366847f3702b7cc05c9b2

[sk330lc]

Most 45acp Dies come with the taper crimp in the seater die.
Yes you will bell the cases the same as your colt.
Yes you Use Large pistol primers. Except their are a few Co. that use small pistol, Speer come to Mind.
You just need to check the brass you plan to use.
Be Safe, Have Fun!

[markp]

   You guys are pretty knodgeable. I appretiate all your help !!

[Autorim]

I suggest that you purchase the 45 Colt dies first. The rimmed cartridge headspaces on the rim and is made for revolvers. IME the .45 Colt is an interesting cartridge to load. Start with Trail Boss and Unique powder. You may never need any others. You can buy cast bullets from several excellent sources. Good luck finding components if you don't already have them.

[Davemuzz]

I don't know if Hornady now includes their taper crimp die with their 45acp die set. When I purchased their 45acp die set 4 years ago, I just "assumed" I had everything I needed.  Yeah....well you know how that goes. When I got to the seating\crimp die I must have "fussed" with that die for over 2 hours. Then I called hornady only to find out that the seat\crimp die will do "just enough" to make the cartridge headspace in a 45acp chamber.....but probably not feed consistently in a 1911 type semi-auto gun. (And I was thinking....something like...What?? huh??come again??)

Well, I then bought the Hornady taper crimp die and since then, life just hasn't been better. I've hit the lottery for 60 million, my three children all graduated from Harvard at the top of their class, and I've purchased a 4,000 acre ranch in Montana.

Well, maybe not. But, I will say the Hornady crimp die does a great job on the 45acp. my rounds feed as smooth as a baby's....ear. Just make sure you have that separate crimp die no matter whose die set you buy.

Dave

[fastbike]

The OAL on .45acp is critical in terms of bullet type, not for head spacing but for feeding. Bullet profile will make a difference as well. Every manufacturer's hollow point has a different profile. Some of my 45s have eaten everything and some have been fussy about specific hollow points.

Titegroup and True Blue have worked very well for me in the .45acp.

[markp]

Thanks Autorim ,  Davemuzz   and  fastbike. All good information.


I pretty much decieded I would buy a pound of unique  and perhaps a pound of trail boss or titegroup.
 
I downloaded the 45 colt to about 700 fps with a 240 grain bullet  using a load of 15 grains of the old 2400 my last days off and  was it ever mild and  pleasant to shoot.

[Davemuzz]

Markp,

FWIW, Unique is a great powder....but I just hate to use it.  Yeah....I know. That being said...the reason why is it just doesn't meter consistently. It's like it has this "sticky" consistency to it and when I sit down to load up 100 rounds on my Hornady LNL progressive, you can bet that I will get at least 3 rounds that will get "short powdered" using Unique. Fortunately, I am exceptionally diligent when loading the 45acp and I will catch these.

This year I changed powder and went to Clays. Clays is a flake powder just like unique....but I have never had it not drop a powder charge of the correct amount. And I just loaded 400 rounds using Clays. The other plus I found using Clays (IMHO) is I'm using 3.7gr for the Ranier 230gr. bullet and it's a nice load to shoot for my clubs action pistol. Very little muzzle flip and consistent POI of the bullet.

Plus, not including brass cost...I think I worked the cost per round at like $0.18 per round.    Now...I'm not saying my shooting turns out cheaper than someone else's....that's because I'll just shoot more! 

Dave

[markp]

Turned out to be a moot point what I thought I was gonna buy . All I could find  today was  AA # 2.
I was happey to find the shop had a fresh supply of cast bullets  and grabbed some and the AA while I could.  I was able to load  some  45 colt  rounds with 6 grains behind a 250 gr cast bullet and clocked it at 850 fps.

 

[Tn Jim]

The best investment I ever made for reloading my 45 acp was a Lee Factory Crimp die. All my chambering problems went away when I started using it. Best $14 (I think) I ever spent.