Trying 200 Grain load Saturday

[gunnut]

Starting to reload the 450B from here is like starting a book in the middle. A lot of what you might be looking for is over on Calguns. That will save you a lot of time and frustration. Welcome to the club!

[wildcatter]

Those mis-fires? How does the primer strike look? They better be rich, deep, solid strikes. Is there any chance of you posting a picture of some of those "hit" primers, on the miss-fired cases and some side views of the cases from hang fired rounds?.. What's your opinion on the possibility of your case lube deactivating your primers? If you are using an oil based case lube and/or a oil based spray, in the room, these can be contributing factors. I once ruined a case of primers by cleaning a weapon with the spray lubes near the primers. Now, I love the lubes as the lube will migrate to areas you can't normally reach, but that includes primers..

[demo_450]

OH!! You reloaded for the 45 colt long? Do not use the roll crimp in the factory seating Die! Taper or side crimp only! This beast head spaces on the case mouth not the rim. 1.7" + 0,-.003.

I used the same bullets and powder for the colts. The Bushmaster loads did not work.
I am thinking the plated bullets are just too soft to create enough compression for a full burn....

[gunnut]

This cartridge does Not load the same as a 45 colt long or a 45-70. It has a rebated rim and head spaces on the o.a.l. at the case mouth. This is critical. Do not use a roll crimp. A charge of 25gr. of Lil Gun under a 200gr. bullet with a good taper crimp should function the action. But, will be nasty, leaving sooting down the case and maybe some powder in the bore. Very low pressure. I have learned so very much from this group! Take the time to read whats available and it will all come to you.

[wildcatter]

This cartridge does Not load the same as a 45 colt long or a 45-70. It has a rebated rim and head spaces on the o.a.l. at the case mouth. This is critical. Do not use a roll crimp. A charge of 25gr. of Lil Gun under a 200gr. bullet with a good taper crimp should function the action. But, will be nasty, leaving sooting down the case and maybe some powder in the bore. Very low pressure. I have learned so very much from this group! Take the time to read whats available and it will all come to you.

10-4, I didn't hear a definitive answer, was a roll crimp used on those misfires? And if we are to help I need answers to my earlier questions.. And also, way yes, you can under load this and the give away is the sooting problem revealing a sealing problem.. Ask now, if we aren't clear here, most of us grew up at a reloading bench, when we should have been paying more attention in English Class..

[demo_450]

This cartridge does Not load the same as a 45 colt long or a 45-70. It has a rebated rim and head spaces on the o.a.l. at the case mouth. This is critical. Do not use a roll crimp. A charge of 25gr. of Lil Gun under a 200gr. bullet with a good taper crimp should function the action. But, will be nasty, leaving sooting down the case and maybe some powder in the bore. Very low pressure. I have learned so very much from this group! Take the time to read whats available and it will all come to you.

10-4, I didn't hear a definitive answer, was a roll crimp used on those misfires? And if we are to help I need answers to my earlier questions.. And also, way yes, you can under load this and the give away is the sooting problem revealing a sealing problem.. Ask now, if we aren't clear here, most of us grew up at a reloading bench, when we should have been paying more attention in English Class..

I used the Hornady crimp tat came with the 450 Bushmaster die set. I shot today with a 240 XTP with 30 grains of lil gun using CCI magnum small rifle primers. Worked great. I hope I did not waste my money with all this reloading stuff. Hope this is just a learning experience and I am not in the deep end over my head.Thanks for all the help.

[gunnut]

Relax! You just need to know the basics of loading this cartridge. Size & deprime. Prime. Charge. Here's where hornady throws us a curve. Their seating die also has a roll crimp built in to it. Back that off and just seat with it. Then use the taper crimp die that comes with the set. Nobody knows why they did this. "except Hornady"

[wildcatter]

Relax! You just need to know the basics of loading this cartridge. Size & deprime. Prime. Charge. Here's where hornady throws us a curve. Their seating die also has a roll crimp built in to it. Back that off and just seat with it. Then use the taper crimp die that comes with the set. Nobody knows why they did this. "except Hornady"

This is great advice, don't worry about things so much and my suggestion is too try YOUTUBE.COM and doing a search on reloading the 45acp, it'll be there and is the very stuff we are doing. As for the basics, we will never get away from them ourselves, so stick with it and you'll discover a world far better than you first imagined..

[pitted bore]

demo_450-

I think your reloading techniques are probably OK. The problems you have described in your results are characteristic of trying to use bullets lighter than about 240 grains in the 450B. That's why I was able to predict the hangfires, etc. in my post right after your first one on this thread.

I got some notable hangfires with the 185-grain bullets using 40-45 grains of 296/H110 (Chap 3 of my 185-grain work). The hangfires were not caused by light strikes of the firing pin. There's no question about the whack delivered to the primers by the firing pin of my old Springfield, My cases are fully supported at the front of the chamber, being taper crimped to about 0.478 at the mouth using the Hornady die set.

It's likely not a problem with your work, but check the mouth diameter of your loaded rounds. They should be between 0.4800 max and 0.474 minimum. With the Hornady taper crimp die, it's possible to crunch the diameter to a lot less than the minimum, resulting in excess headspace. This can lead to light firing-pin strikes and ignition difficulties.

I think gunnut is very correct in criticising Hornady for putting the roll-crimp shoulder in their seating die. Some of us have also commented about the lack of instructions for the taper crimp die.

You may get the same results with the 200-grain bullets that I found with the 185s. That is, using the techniques that work with 250-grain bullets, you cannot stuff enough Lil'Gun or 296 in the case to get consistent powder burn with the light bullets. That's why, using light bullets, we're trying to find ways of increasing bullet pull that mimic the effects of the inertia of heavier bullets. The conventional technique for doing this, roll crimping, isn't available with this cartridge.

(Then again, the 15-grain difference may be large enough to cause problems if you willy-nilly stuff lots of powder behind the 200s. Be careful.)

--Bob