Federal .45 ACP brass issues

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Sharps '63

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I acquired about 300 Federal once fired cases.

Running them through my Dillon press with the same settings and powder charges as I run Star-Line, Winchester, Norc and GI brass, I get stoppages with both 200 and 230 gr bullets.

What's going on?
 
Sharps '63 said:
I acquired about 300 Federal once fired cases.

Running them through my Dillon press with the same settings and powder charges as I run Star-Line, Winchester, Norc and GI brass, I get stoppages with both 200 and 230 gr bullets.

What's going on?
Click to expand...

Where is the stoppage....sizing, priming, seating? Need a few more specifics. If you go back to other brands do the stoppages end?
 
Only thing I can think of is your setup for large pistol and you got some small pistol primer mixed in.
 
I'm talking about shooting here, not reloading. No small pistol cases mixed in the lot.

The stoppages I'm experiencing are failures to go fully into battery.
 
It's not case length, 45acp will actually get a little shorter the more it's shot. Over or under crimping would be my first guess, do you run the rounds through a case gauge or the chamber after crimping?
 
Any chance you have an aftermarket extractor in your gun?

I'm just thinking that besides the usual chamber issues, it's possible that the extractor is binding on the extractor groove.
It would be marking up the forward edge of the groove if that's the case.
 
Check your sizing die and see if it's adjusted correctly.

Take the barrel out of your gun, drop a factory round in the chamber and see where it lands, and then take you reloads and drop them and see if they are at the same level. If they are not, generally the case has bulged slightly. Maybe too much crimp.
 
The brass is definitely "Once fired" as I picked it up immediately after the shooter left the range.

I'll experiment with the crimp and see what happens.

The gun is a Rem R1 that feeds everything else reliably. Haven't tried the ammo in my '70's Gold Cup.
 
RePete said:
Check your sizing die and see if it's adjusted correctly.

Take the barrel out of your gun, drop a factory round in the chamber and see where it lands, and then take you reloads and drop them and see if they are at the same level. If they are not, generally the case has bulged slightly. Maybe too much crimp.
Click to expand...

^^ This
 
Sharps '63 said:
The brass is definitely "Once fired" as I picked it up immediately after the shooter left the range.

I'll experiment with the crimp and see what happens.

The gun is a Rem R1 that feeds everything else reliably. Haven't tried the ammo in my '70's Gold Cup.
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once fired?- unless you actually saw him buy the rounds and followed him around like a dog, truthfully, YOU HAVE NO IDEA- i'm a reloader,and use my 45acp rounds at least 6x before I dump them- and I use the factory boxes and containers, my primers are the same colour, only difference is a lead bullet instead of a jacketed- i'd hate to be the guy that picks up mine after I dump- and I defy you to be able to tell the difference between one of my reloads with a jacketed and a factory round with just a cursory inspection
 
t-star said:
once fired?- unless you actually saw him buy the rounds and followed him around like a dog, truthfully, YOU HAVE NO IDEA- i'm a reloader,and use my 45acp rounds at least 6x before I dump them- and I use the factory boxes and containers, my primers are the same colour, only difference is a lead bullet instead of a jacketed- i'd hate to be the guy that picks up mine after I dump- and I defy you to be able to tell the difference between one of my reloads with a jacketed and a factory round with just a cursory inspection
Click to expand...

Send me a box of 50, I will see the difference. 45acp brass is good for 20+ reloads unless it's really low quality brass.
 
t-star said:
once fired?- unless you actually saw him buy the rounds and followed him around like a dog, truthfully, YOU HAVE NO IDEA-
Click to expand...

Hearing the shooting going on while setting up for a CAS match, seeing the new ammo cartons and the nice, shiny brass on the ground was a pretty good indicator. Asking the shooter if he wanted the brass back and being told he didn't reload was the clincher.

ANY reloader who's been at it for years can produce reloaded ammo that could pass for new. And we all have brass that has seen many reloads. It amazes me how long some can last. Who doesn't have brass with nearly invisible head stamps?

In one of the shooting magazines, a rifle shooter wanted to see how many times he could reload .308 brass before it began to fail. He got at least 20 before he got splits, etc.
Had he annealed, it would have lasted much longer.
 
Only thing I can think of is the crimp. Perhaps the wall thickness of this new(to you) brass is thicker or thinner, thereby changing the crimp?

Best thing to do is take some brass that works, measure and compare to this brass both before and after sizing. And then do the same with some loaded rounds. Calipers may be able to identify what exactly is different between them.
 
You're right!

I just took it for granted that I could run it through my Dillon just like any other .45 ACP brass. This Federal stuff is going to need more attention. Once I solve it, I'll post the solution.
 
My seater die just seats. The last position on my Dillon is a Lee factory crimp die, that also irons out any bulges. The result is ammo that always chambers. It solved the problems described in the OP.

I use the Lee die on all my pistol set ups.
 
Ganderite said:
My seater die just seats. The last position on my Dillon is a Lee factory crimp die, that also irons out any bulges. The result is ammo that always chambers. It solved the problems described in the OP.

I use the Lee die on all my pistol set ups.
Click to expand...

Yup, same setup with a Lee Factory Crimp die in the final reloading stage on my LNL AP press.

I had similar issues like the OP when I started reloading 9mm and 45ACP. One problem was different manufacturers' OGIVE length which caused one batch to work without issues and the other batch to hang up. I started seating them a little deeper and also ran them through the factory crimp die at the end. No more issues.
 
Just ran 100 Federal cases through my Dillon using 200 gr LSWC's. . Only adjustment necessary was a hair more seating depth for correct OAL. That tells me the Federal brass was a hair shorter than my other brass - Star-Line, Winchester, Norinco.

No case bulges using all Dillon dies.

In a Feb/Mar 2010 article by Brian Pearce on loading .45 ACP with 200 gr bullets, he suggests that after crimping, the case mouth should be .470. Mine mike at .469.5 with both 200 and 230 gr bullets in other brands of brass.

His OAL length varies with the bullet make and type, but he suggests .8980 max for case length.

- A batch of Norinco cases ranged all over the map from .888 to .897, depending upon vintage. The newer brass was longer.
- Star-Line was pretty consistent at .890 to .892
- GI again was all over the map from .884 to as long as .893!

My Federal rds mike OAL at 1.245.5 - 1.245.6. Star-Line rds at 1.250 - 1.251

All of it works in my three 1911's as well as my wife's pet SR1911.

We'll how this batch loaded in Federal cases works out next trip to the range .....

PS: All loads (including the Federal) were drop tested in a spare 1911 barrel.
 
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