Welcome to M1911.ORG
The M1911 Pistols Organization Forums Site


John needs your help
Please read this message.


Sponsors Panel
If you intend to buy something from the companies advertising above, or near the bottom of our pages, please use their banners in our sites. Whatever you buy from them, using those banners, gives us a small commission, which helps us keep these sites alive. You still pay the normal price, our commission comes from their profit, so you have nothing to lose, while we have something to gain. Your help is appreciated.
If you want to become a sponsor and see your banner in the above panel, click here to contact us.

Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Reloading Mistake

THREAD CLOSED
This is an old thread. You can't post a reply in it. It is left here for historical reasons.Why don't you create a new thread instead?
  1. #1
    Join Date
    25th September 2006
    Location
    South of Lake Superior
    Posts
    14,085
    Posts liked by others
    127

    Reloading Mistake

    There a many different kinds of mistakes a handloader can make and a minor one can become a major one if repeated enough times.

    Such was the case last Fall when I set out to reload about 1,200 rounds and use up all the cast lead SWCs on hand, about 600 H&G 130s and 600 H&G 68s. A few years ago I had begun to load the stubby 130s a little long so their shoulders were impressed onto the barrel freebore when chambered. Did this not to improve accuracy but to reduce leading by not allowing hot propellent gasses to blow by the bullet. The bullet seating die was adjusted for the longest COAL that would still let my wadcutter gun reach battery with the case head against the breechface and the bullet shoulder forced against the barrel freebore (the tapered part of the throat between the chamber stop shoulder and leade).
    Barrel Throatb Throat In SIG 1911 Scorpion Short, Post 3.jpg
    While I don't recall which of the two bullet types was loaded first, the same procedure was used to readjust the bullet seating die between bullet types. My cache of 1200+ rounds of 45 Auto SWC waited through the long cold Winter for warm weather, outdoor and centerfire shooting to return.

    My mistake? Loading about 600 of the longer H&G 68s without checking to see if they'd fit in the magazine - and they didn't!!! The cartridge shown in the center was simply too long!!!!
    H&G 68 Nose Job.JPG
    Spent some time agonizing over how to fix the problem and finally decided to simply cut a little off their noses using a bandsaw and the cartridge fixture shown below:
    H&G 68 Too Long.JPG
    The bandsaw fence was adjusted to barely clear the blade, the too-long cartridges loaded into the fixture with their noses and fixture held against the fence, cartridges held in place by the stick seen on top of the fixture, the bandsaw turned on and - zip - off came about 0.075" of bullet nose:
    H&G 68 Shortened.JPG
    Took about six minutes at the bandsaw (turned off between each sawing operation) to trim the noses of 50 rounds. Another few minutes to put them back into their compartmented boxes. The moral of this story? Don't do this!
    When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind. [Lord Kelvin]
    Likes (2) :
    JD11 (27th October 2020), Rick McC. (27th October 2020)


  2. #2
    Join Date
    18th March 2012
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    123
    Posts liked by others
    17
    I already have, luckily only 100 rounds.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    25th September 2006
    Location
    South of Lake Superior
    Posts
    14,085
    Posts liked by others
    127
    What was your solution?
    When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind. [Lord Kelvin]

  4. #4
    Join Date
    18th March 2012
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    123
    Posts liked by others
    17
    Since I had a light charge of Unique I was able to just seat the boolits deeper without worrying about too much pressure.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    25th September 2006
    Location
    South of Lake Superior
    Posts
    14,085
    Posts liked by others
    127
    Did the same with a handful of rounds as a stop-gap measure, but doing that brought back the bullet jump and resulting blow-by. My goal was to finally follow this advise from Lyman...P(10)1160011d Discussion Thread For The MP Bullet Mold Review, Post 6.jpg
    ..not for improved accuracy but for reduced leading in the chamber throat as well as up against the chamber stop shoulder. Failed to heed the fourth and fifth paragraphs, however, and that cost me an extra four days of work - two days to design and build the fixture and two days for the nose jobs on the bullets.
    When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind. [Lord Kelvin]

  6. #6
    Join Date
    25th September 2006
    Location
    South of Lake Superior
    Posts
    14,085
    Posts liked by others
    127
    For those without access to a bandsaw I began to think the cheapest way out of such a dilemma would be a 10mm cup bur chucked up in a Dremel:
    H&G 68 Meets 10mm Cup Bur.JPG
    While it does round over the corners of the flat nose to fit into the magazine I think it's a poor choice due to the virtually uncontrollable chattering when both are held by hand and the tedious process of cleaning the lead shavings out of the burs cutters.

    Second moral: Don't reload hundreds of rounds too long (that you don't want to fix by simply seating deeper) without a bandsaw standing by to rescue you from your stupidity!
    When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind. [Lord Kelvin]

  7. #7
    Join Date
    2nd June 2007
    Location
    In the desert
    Posts
    295
    Posts liked by others
    9
    There is a problem I neither understand or care about, but glad you solved it and had fun.
    H&G 68 works perfect for me.
    I use a seating stem that ONLY contacts the SWC shoulder, so all my SWC loads use the same "COL" or, in this case, shoulder to case head length.
    NRA Life Member

  8. #8
    Join Date
    25th September 2006
    Location
    South of Lake Superior
    Posts
    14,085
    Posts liked by others
    127
    Do you seat your 68s so their shoulders are forced against the barrel throat when chambered?
    When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind. [Lord Kelvin]

  9. #9
    Join Date
    2nd June 2004
    Location
    Terra
    Posts
    22,286
    Posts liked by others
    906
    Quote Originally Posted by noylj View Post
    There is a problem I neither understand or care about, but glad you solved it and had fun.
    H&G 68 works perfect for me.
    I use a seating stem that ONLY contacts the SWC shoulder, so all my SWC loads use the same "COL" or, in this case, shoulder to case head length.
    Bur that's not COL. Both of the bullets Niemi24s was loading have similar shoulders, but one has a considerably longer nose. The result was that the longer ones wouldn't fit the 1911 magazine. Even though the shoulder to case head length was the same, the COL was longer -- and, unfortunately, too long for the magazine.
    Hawkmoon
    On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside
    Likes (1) :
    Rick McC. (1st November 2020)


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  



Sponsors Panel
If you intend to buy something from Brownells, please use their banners above. Whatever you buy from them, gives us a small commission, which helps us keep these sites alive. You still pay the normal price, our commission comes from their profit, so you have nothing to lose, while we have something to gain. Your help is appreciated.
If you want to become a sponsor and see your banner in the above panel, click here to contact us.

Non-gun-related supporters.
Thank you for visiting our supporters.