45ACP reloads and 1911's

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subneural

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I am hoping the experts here on CGN can help me out with suggestions on diagnosing a problem I am having with reloads in my STI Trojan 1911 (has a feed ramp).

The problem: The slide will not fully close (go into battery) on average once per magazine fired. Most of the time a gentle nudge on the back of slide will put things right. Rarely the slide will bind up on the round, and I will need to stop, remove the magazine, and really pull back hard on the slide to eject the (unfired) round.

- It occurs with all my magazines (mix of ACT and Tripp).
- It occurs with my lead 200gr SWC and my plated 230gr RN loads.
- It can occur on various shot # of the mag (IE its not always the 3rd round fired that this happens on).
- All of my loads are 4.7gr of Titegroup. There are no overpressure signs on fired brass.
- All of my loads are chamber-checked in a Lyman .45 Chamber gauge. I also calliper-check every 5th round for OAL, neck diameter, etc. All rounds drop freely in/out of the chamber gauge.
- I have *never* experienced this problem with factory ammo OR commercial reloads - these run/cycle 100% for me. So it must be something I am overlooking.

What am I missing here? I take my time making these rounds on a progressive press without auto-indexing. I don't rush. I am using RCBS dies.

Any ideas? I would love to work up a load that cycles consistently.
Thanks in advance.
 
Hmmm, now you have me wondering as I'm expecting my Lee Classic loader this week....in .45 ACP! I know you've checked everything, but is it possible that the case neck is flaring just a touch or developing a burr when seating the bullet. I've had this happen on some 22-250's that I didn't necksize properly.
 
I am having the same issue with my. Norinco 1911
Someone suggested i did not crimp tight enough. It just started so I have not tried to see what the problem is. My first 45 reloads on a lee.
Will keep an eye on this thread and post if I come up with a solution. I don't get to the range often so may be a few weeks
 
The SWC I don't know, but with my 230gr plated I found they had to be seated deeper in the case than the 230 FMJ because of the different nose shape and ogive position. Basically the front part of the bullet was fatter and would hit the rifling sooner than on a FMJ. I don't recall the length but it was like 1.25" was fine for FMJ but plated 230RN had to be 1.20" to chamber easily.

Another problem may be the flare in the case mouth has not been removed. Taper crimping slightly is how this is usually solved with either the seating die or a seperate Taper crimp die. The Lee factory crimp die will do this but is not neccessary if the regular three dies are used properly. I prefer to crimp in a fourth step, but I use a taper crimp alone and not a FCD for most loading in auto pistols.
 
I had this exact thing happen when I bought some reloads. (yes, he is an approved manufacturer of ammo)
Long story short, I ran them all through my Lee FCD and the problem went away.
Just my $.02

(E) :cool:
 
A picture is worth a thousand words.

How about posting a few pictures of your reloads, from different angles.

IMO, the crimp and seating depth (not necessarily the OAL), as seen from the pictures, will tell a big part of the story.
 
I had this problem in my R1 on my first couple batches of 45acp. I shorten the round length and don't have that anymore. I was using Frontier 230Gr RN. I believe my coal is about 1.21" now.
 
Had the same issue using 200gr LSWC. I brought the OAL down to 1.235, and the problem was solved. That was on a Para GI Expert. The problem was even worse in my Glock
 
It pays to have smart friends :).

It looks like I have TOO MUCH crimp, which caused a very slight "bulge" around 1/3rd of the way down the case from the mouth. This bulge was causing the hangup/binding.

I took two rounds of factory (thank goodness I still had some!) Winchester and American Eagle. Right at the case mouth (crimp) the diameter was 0.471. At the widest point of the case (about 1/3rd down from the mouth) the diameter increased to 0.472-0.473, and then got narrower again. If I set my callipers to 0.472, I could pass a factory round all the way through.

I repeated these steps with a box of my reloads. Even though every reload checked OK in the chamber gauge, a few of them had case diameters of 0.475 at their widest point (again 1/3rd down from the case mouth), but on these the crimp was tighter - about 0.470.

Phew!

I have since re-adjusted my crimping die, and now my rounds measure out identical to the factory ammo - 0.471" at the case mouth, and 0.472" at the widest. I've made up a half-dozen dummy rounds, and the results seem to be consistent. I will make up a small batch to test drive on the next range trip.

SIDE NOTE ON OAL: I know OAL can play a factor in this as well. I run my 230gr at 1.230"
 
Tlake said:
I am having the same issue with my. Norinco 1911
Someone suggested i did not crimp tight enough. It just started so I have not tried to see what the problem is. My first 45 reloads on a lee.
Will keep an eye on this thread and post if I come up with a solution. I don't get to the range often so may be a few weeks
Click to expand...

I have the same problem with my norinco 1911. I noticed the bullets I had from Marstar were Frontier 230gr round nose and they wouldn't feed well and would fail to feed.

It turns out they weren't the normal size the other ball ammo was. Turns out the ogive (wiki link for definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogive) was out to far. So it would hit the beginning of the grooves in the barrel and stop the slide from going into full battery. This was making almost every 3rd or 4th round fail to feed. I had to carefully seat the bullets a little deeper while keeping pressure and fps in check. But they looked much deeper seated than factory ammo would look.

Needless to say I won't be buying more bullets from them. I have 200gr wad cutters that I've still gotta try but haven't got around to loading yet. But I hear the 1911's like round nose better.

Check your OAL and if you have factory ammo, compare it to your made round and see if the ogive is an issue. Also field strip your 1911 and take the barrel and hold it so it's pointing at the floor. Take a factory round and just drop it in and you should hear a specific "plunk" sound. Try to match that with your loaded ammo and you'll know it feeds well. Also bulging could be an issue too.


EDIT: subneural beat me to it :D read my mind!!
 
(((Echo))) said:
I had this exact thing happen when I bought some reloads. (yes, he is an approved manufacturer of ammo)
Long story short, I ran them all through my Lee FCD and the problem went away.
Just my $.02

(E) :cool:
Click to expand...

Cool call Echo. I picked up the Lee FCD for 45, and it is working wonders.

I am now a convert to the "seat and crimp as two separate steps" club.
 
i had to deal with this tonight when i loaded some 200 l semi wads cast and sized to .452". i seated them then ran them through the fcd, but i still had a major bump, so i actually had to bump the case down in my rcbs resizing die,with the decapper removed. and now i have no issues. they all cycle great and the case is all the same size again.i just ordered up a .451" sizing die today to test out and hope that they are more consistent
 
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