So last time I put away my 45 colt dies I managed to put the bullet seating die in the factory crimp die case and the factory crimp die in with the others of the three piece set. Before I was able to figure out what the hell I was doing wrong I managed to seat 20 rounds to deeply. Not by much but I'm fairly new to reloading and I know that small things make big differences. My oal should have been 1.575 for a cast 255 grain rnfp with 7 grains of Unique. I ended up with the shortest of them measuring 1.512. They don't want to come apart easily so if they're not safe to shoot it's the dud bin for them. What say the learned?
45 Colts seated to deeply
- Thread starter skookumchuck
- Start date
Other than they may not be crimped properly, and barring other problems, they will fire off just fine. If they are improperly crimped, the bullets could move under the recoil of other round being fired. Load and fire one at a time.
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
Two things I would consider in this situation, been a long time since I loaded any pistol rounds with Unique but I don't think 7 gr. is what we would consider a "light cowboy round" and probably able to produce a bit more pressure than any "old BP round". Others on this forum claim that deeper than regular seated slugs can increase pressure but I have never had to deal with it.
The second consideration that I would base my whole decision on in this case is "what gun are you using"...any of the 92 Winchester or Marlin 94 rifles along with any Ruger pistol I wouldn't hesitate a bit to shoot them ...BUT...if all I had to shoot them in are Italian made pistols or any of the toggle action rifles I would pull the slugs or as you suggest "just turf them".
The second consideration that I would base my whole decision on in this case is "what gun are you using"...any of the 92 Winchester or Marlin 94 rifles along with any Ruger pistol I wouldn't hesitate a bit to shoot them ...BUT...if all I had to shoot them in are Italian made pistols or any of the toggle action rifles I would pull the slugs or as you suggest "just turf them".
vagrantviking
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Alberta
That's a pretty safe charge of fairly forgiving powder. You should be fine to fire them off in a modern gun. I'd maybe be a little more reluctant with a $10 000 original from the 1880's.
Max load should be around 9gr so that 1/16 of an inch isn't significant.
Max load should be around 9gr so that 1/16 of an inch isn't significant.
I would shoot them. It's a conservative load with a powder charge that leaves lots of empty space in the case.
If it were something like 9mm or .40 S&W, I would recommend culling the bad rounds. These are examples of relatively small capacity cases where it is pretty easy to significantly decrease the internal volume (and thus create an overpressure situation) by seating bullets too deep.
If it were something like 9mm or .40 S&W, I would recommend culling the bad rounds. These are examples of relatively small capacity cases where it is pretty easy to significantly decrease the internal volume (and thus create an overpressure situation) by seating bullets too deep.
