[Asking4afriend]

You didn’t say what brand .45 bullet you’re using. They vary in length and that can affect COL.

I’ve been loading Berry’s 230gr RN (P) which they spec at .638″, which is reasonably close to the .635″ the current batch I have measures in length and X-Treme 230 gr RN (P) which I’ve measured to be 0.646″ long. I’ve been using load data for the Speer TMJ (#4880) from Speer’s load data and Lyman’s 51st edition. The Speer TMJ is spec’d at 0.655″ in length.

The Speer data sheet shows Min load of 6.0 gr (793 fps) and Max load of 7.5 gr (973 fps) with COL 1.260″ using Federal cases and Fed 150 primers. They don’t state the test barrl length but I assume it’s 5″.

https://reloadingdata.speer.com/SpeerReloading/Handgun scroll downanc click on the “45 Automatic 230 TMJ RN” to download the .pdf.

The Lyman data shows Min load of 6.0 gr (665 fps) and Max load of 6.7 gr (840 fps) with COL 1.275″ using Federal cases and CCI 300 primers using a 5″ barrel.

I haven’t tried CFEPistol in .45ACP yet but have some on hand and I’ going to load some and try the combos. I’d anticipated using 6.2,6.4 and 6.6 grains in Win cases using WLP primers and loaded to a COL of 1.250″ and 1.260″ for the initial trials for Berry’s and X-Treme bullets.

Keep in mind the data is for a Total Metal Jacket and I’m using plated which are “softer” than a Jacketed bullet allowing for the use of a little more powder. IMHO the Max 7.5 grains listed by Speer seems overzealous. Mil-spec for a 1911 shooting a 230gr FMJ is 885 fps +/- 25 fps at 25 feet.

Depending on how the powder performs with the plated bullets I may buy some jacketed Zero Bullet, or when RMR gets theirs to market, 230 FMJ RN and give them a whirl.

Hope that helped.

[Asking4afriend]

A little clarification if you don’t mind.

Currently everything works functionally with the pistol(s) but none of your finished cartridges fit in the L.E. Wilson Pistol Max Gage, correct?

But prior to switching to 124 gr RMR RN you loaded 3500 115 gr RMR RN on a Dillon 550B that fit in the Pistol Max Gage with no issues. After experiencing problems loading the 124 gr RMR RN you went back to the 115’s and then experienced the same problem with them. Did I get that right?

If that describes the order in which things occurred ask yourself what changed in your setup from the initial 115 gr rounds that tested fine in the Pistol Max gage prior to loading the 124’s and then back to the 115’s.

Were you using always using a carbide sizing die or did you use a steel die (requires lube) for the initial 115 gr and then switched to carbide for the 124 gr loads and subsequent 115 gr loads? You said you were crimping with the Lee Factory Carbide crimper when the problem developed, so you weren’t using it on the initial 3500 which did not exhibit the Case Gage problem? How did you crimp the initial 3500? Did you use the taper crimp built into the seating die or the Redding Micrometer Adjusting Seater Taper crimp. Did the micro seater taper die pass the Pistol Max gage test?

You probably know this but the L.E. Wilson Pistol Max gages are cut with reamers made to SAAMI maximum cartridge specification. The Shockbottle gauges are cut with reamers made to minimum SAAMI chamber specification. The minimum chamber reamer cuts a chamber a maximum cartridge is guaranteed to fit (if both are to SAAMI spec) but generally chamber reamers are larger than minimum specificiation allowing for non SAAMI spec ammunition to function (i.e. Glocks unsupported chambers and reputation for shooting any brand of ammo), hence your cartridges pass the Shockbottle and plunk test and function fine in your particular chamber, but they may not work in all chambers.

As an aside, I’ve found one advantage of using a LFC is it has a carbide ring which takes out any remaining oversize at the bottom of the cartridge (similar to Lee’s bulge buster?). I’ve had cartridges that would not initially pass the L.E. Wilson test pass after crimping with a properly adjusted LFC. In addition, cartridge trim length no longer affects the crimp. I’ve never worried about throat length on a handgun and cartridge OAL. But I don’t have any fancy barrels either. I load 9×19 on the long side due to pressure increasing as the rounds get shorter. If it’s shorter than maximum and the bullet is seated deep enough to survive chambering without changing OAL when firing off a magazine it’s good to go,

IMHO if a cartridge won’t pass the L.E. Wilson Pistol Max gage (reload or factory) it’s nothing better than training ammo. I would never trust my life to it.

[Author]

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