Is this normal? (more newbie questions)

[Dom123]

I'm reloading some 45 Colt Cowboy rounds.
the recipe im following is straight from a Lymann book

Hornady 185 gr JHP
16.5 gr IMR4227 (starting load)
OAL 1.20

There are two things i've found and i dont know if they are normal and nothing to be concerned about... or if they are something that will hurt my gun.

1) the powder seems quite loose in the case, if i shake the bullet i can definitely hear it shaking around in there. when i poured the powder, it came up to about half... and the projectile is not that long, so im not surprised... but is that ok?

2) if i follow the OAL in the book, it pushes the bullet pretty deep into the case to the point that the case mouth rides slightly over the point that the bullet tapers in... so it has kind of a sharp lip even after being crimped. is that an issue?

as always, your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Al-Sway]

The powder will normally not fill the case in a .45 Colt load, so it is normal to hear it moving around.
As for overall length, you should be crimping in the crimp groove, but it appears you are using a bullet that was never designed for use in a .45 Colt. It doesn't have a crimp groove and it is undersized. It also doesn't make it as a Cowboy round, as those are supposed to be lead.
The seating depth, without a crimp groove, should be just over the the transition point as you have found out. Your dies should allow you to do a roll crimp and remove that sharp edge.

 

[(((Echo)))]

You say this if 45 Colt rounds, not ACP?
If so, your OAL is screwy. It should be around 1.5" - 1.6". The length you gave is for 45ACP rounds.

(E)

 

[Gunner4life]

It's alright for the powder to rattle around, same happens to me when I'm loading for .357, the powder fills maybe 20% of the case?

And Echo is right, 45 ACP's OAL is around 1.2 and 45 Colt is 1.5 to 1.6.

In my Lyman 48th Ed Handbook it has the load for your bullet using IMR 4227 with a OAL of 1.520

 

[Dom123]

Ok... So turns out I didn't screw up my oal... I just got a little confused when I was writing the post... My oal was in fact 1.520. So I tried them out at the range. Extremely inconsistent, very dirty, and left behind a lot of unburned powder... But it shot... So I guess that's a plus. From what I've read my load is simply too weak, so I'll add some powder to the load and try again. Thanks for all the input guys!

 

[Ganderite]

You want a heavier bullet (lead, not jacketed)and a faster powder (like 231) if you want to make mild plinker loads.