New to forum and need help on loading 45 Colt

[Virginian]

Hello,


Kind of a long post here. I was doing a google search to get some help and there seems to be quite a few 45 colt fans on this forum so I thought  I would reach out here. My names Eric and I've been reloading for about 2 years, mostly rifle rounds, so I consider myself a novice reloader. I love shooting the 45 colt and currently have 3 pistols in this caliber, 2 Ruber Blackhawks and a Ruger Vaquero.


Yesterday, I decided to quit talking about reloading this caliber and just do it. I'm using a Lee die set #90586, which comes with a decapper, FL sizing die, bullet seater, shell holder and dipping cup. Kind of an all in one in a red plastic tube.


My recipe is Unique at 7.2 gr, WLP primers, Win brass, cast 250 gr bullets. Pop hot loaded this round as well all the way up to 9 grs. of Unique.


The problem I'm having is the bullets are not seating soothly. They are shaving the sides off the bullets and in some cases, there's spillage of lead where it rolled over the rim of the case and pushed it in.


The brass that I'm using is unknown as far as how many times it's been reloaded. Some of the lips crumple when trying to seat the bullets. I stopped till I could get some advice.


I lubed the cases before full length sizing. Could it be a case of too much lube causing this? I've read about carbide dies that don't require lube, should I get a new set of dies? Could this be a case of crappy bullets no being in spec? I can post specific pictures if need be.


Thanks for any and all advice.


Eric

[stimpylu32]

Eric
Whats happening is that you are not flairing the case enough to allow the bullet to start into the case mouth , your FL sizer should size the case & de-prime it , while your 2nd die will be a powder through Expander die ( this needs ajusted to allow the case mouth to flare and allow the bullet to enter the case ) and the 3rd die will be your seater and crimp die .
 
stimpy

[shot1]

You are not flaring your case mouth enough. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS WITH THE DIE SET AGAIN. Forget about using that dipper as a measure. You can use it to put powder in your scale pan but WEIGH EVERY CHARGE.  Flake powders just do not stack up the same every time in those dippers and you get LARGE differences in charges.  Unique is a good powder for average to mid loads for the 45 Colt. 8 to 9 grs with a 250/55 lead bullet is usually really accurate. If you want to really step up things get you some H-110 and some Hornady 250 or 300 gr XTP Jacketed bullets and go to the Hodgdon web site or manual and pick you a starting point and work up to accuracy and powder level required for the task at hand. By the way get you a set of Hogue mono grips for those RBH's and it turns a muzzle flipping web of the hand smashing pistol into a pussy cat with heavy loads. Over 30 years of loading experience with a draw full of the T-shirts to go with it.

[tacklebury]

Well, I always order the Lee deluxe carbide dies for any caliber they are made for and those come with the correct taper or roll crimp factory crimp die also.  I load .45 colt, 45 acp, 30 carbine and 38 special with these.  Any time you are shaving lead, you aren't opening up the case mouth enough as was stated by the others.  Lee makes a universal expanding die which works with all calibers and can open it consistently the same each time and has different manderals for various size cases.  At $9.99 + shipping, it's an inexpensive way to get just enough expansion without over working your brass.  I get over 10 reloads per .45 colt brass typically.
 
https://fsreloading.com/html/xcart/UNIVERSAL-FLARING-DIE.html

[Virginian]

Thank you gentlemen, you were spot on and I was able to get to the heart of the problem quickly. I loaded up 200 rounds and hit the range yesterday. We are having an unseasonably warm winter this year and it was nice to get out and bust some caps.

I may switch to the carbide dies. I really like the idea of not having to lube the cases.

Thanks again,

Eric

[JamesIII]

Virginian, as Tacklebury said, get the deluxe die set. The factory crimp die is well worth it. JamesIII

[41 mag]

If you use the factory crimp with your cast bullets be sure to check the size around the case of the seated bullet, on the first couple. Measure along the sides of the bullet and compare to ones you have already loaded and not used the FCD on.

I have read that the carbide ring  in the bottom of the FCD can size the case down around a seated bullet. Depending on what size your running, this might leave you with undersized cast bullets. Some have removed the ring due to this, which will still allow the crimp function to work properly, but doesn't size the case around the bullet when inserted through the bottom.

May or may not be an issue but thought I would pass the info along.

[BCB]

As many have mentioned, it sure sounds like you are not putting enough bell on the case mouth…

As far as the dipper that came with it, it can be used with the powders shown on the pamphlet that came with the die set…

I believe the dipper with the 45 Colt is a .7cc.

If you are going to used Unique, that size dipper will only through around 6 grains of Unique…

But that .7cc dipper will work with other powder listed on the data sheet that came with the die set…

And you certainly DO NOT need to weigh every charge as was indicated by another poster…

The vast majority of my powder charges for whatever I am reloading are thrown with a powder measurer/thrower and I weigh every 10^th one or so…

The dippers will work quite well…

Good-luck…BCB