45acp

[Kevin Stenberg]

My new Ruger American has a problem when it is extracting a spent case from the chamber. I have only put about 50 rounds through it, all cast no factory or jacketed. It seems like the cartridges in the magazine sit a little high. and the spent case is released from the extractor and sits half way out of the chamber with upward pressure from the next round.
I was wondering if my loads are too light. An not letting the slide do its work properly
I am using a NOE 453 195 gr bullet PC sized 452 after PC / Bullsey powder at 4.3 gr. / LOAL 1.126 for a consistant plunk test but it will take a 1.135 as a maximum length plunk

 

[Ben]

I'd try 4.8 grs.- 4.9 grs. of B'Eye and see if that changes things.

 

[RicinYakima]

Load is too light for a new gun with full power springs. Ben's is a good load and shoot at least 100 then clean and lube.

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

That is what i was thinking also. This is my first time loading the 45 ACP.

 

[JonB]

The Ruger American is known to NOT cycle SWC ammo.
I have one and when I had that trouble, I did a little google-foo and found I wasn't alone, it appears to be common with seemingly all of them.

 

[JonB]

...and to be more clear, it's not a random thing, it is very single round will not eject and/or cycle the gun.

 

[fiver]

magazine issue the SWC magazines present the round at a different angle for the 1911.
I bet Ruger copied the geometry from it rather than their P series guns.

 

[Joshua]

The first auto cartridge that I loaded for was the 45acp. I now load 40 s&w and I’m getting ready to start loading 32acp.

But back to 45acp. I did a lot of online searching for what was the most reliable bullet. Over and over again the Lee 230 grain round nose was mentioned, the TL452-230-2R. So I bought a six banger and have had no problems with functionality.

Now getting my 40 S&W Shield to run reliably with my cast reloads was a whole nother can a worms.

Good Luck,
Josh

 

[Ian]

again the Lee 230 grain round nose was mentioned, the TL452-230-2R

Excellent bullet design, not to be confused with the 228-1R, which is a toad.

 

[CZ93X62]

Uh, Lyman #452374 loaded @ 1.272" OAL atop 5.0 grains of Bullseye or 5.5 grains of WW-231. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Rick H]

Now getting my 40 S&W Shield to run reliably with my cast reloads was a whole nother can a worms.

My Shield runs well with the Lee 401-175TC with conventional lube grove. I had trouble with leading until I started Powder Coating. My Shield had almost zero lead before rifling. PC seemed to toughen the bullets up enough to handle that transition.

 

[Joshua]

My Shield runs well with the Lee 401-175TC with conventional lube grove. I had trouble with leading until I started Powder Coating. My Shield had almost zero lead before rifling. PC seemed to toughen the bullets up enough to handle that transition.

I had a similar experience. I was loading the same Lee bullet as cast around .402” to .403”, alloy was approximately Lyman No. 2, pan lubed, over a starting charge of Herco. No Leading, but they were only barely/kinda plunking. I was getting at least one failure to feed every magazine.

I started powder coating and sizing to .401”, worked up to 6 grains of Herco. I’m getting good cycling, but some PC build up in the barrel. I had read that Popper had the same problem with a short throated pistol and just shot a magazine of jacketed after a hundred or so PC bullets. That’s were I am now.

I have lots of options, throat job, size a little larger, just deal with it, shoot only jacketed, swage 9mm brass in a 220 swift die, or sell it.

You want to hear something funny. My 45acp was a gift. The guy had lost the magazine, and “wasn’t gonna spend any more money on that horrible gun.” It’s a Hi-Point, it goes bang every time and loves my cast bullet loads. My S&W Shield is finicky even with factory ammo. Go figure.

Josh

 

[popper]

I used the Lee 401-175TC until the mould wore out, then 40-165H(?) in 4x works fine in my XDm. Friend shot a bunch of my reloads in his Shield 40 and they worked fine, no leading and accurate. He did have to send it back to get the disconnector problem fixed. Stovepiped during rapid fire - not good when a 170# hog is running at you. I mostly use 50/50 alloy HT after PC. 4.5gr 231 pushed it faster with less felt recoil than the 175 that dropped 180. If we still get to have guns I want to tweak the 165 mould a bit, drop the LGs and modify the base some.
Cut that #2 50/50 and drop in ice water after baking. I ran some 1% Zn and 1% Sn, Lee 401 sizer using LLA - lots of leading - soft comes out under 400. Interesting target. 7 yds and yes, they expand! But still pretty accurate.

 

[HM8485]

I had a similar experience. I was loading the same Lee bullet as cast around .402” to .403”, alloy was approximately Lyman No. 2, pan lubed, over a starting charge of Herco. No Leading, but they were only barely/kinda plunking. I was getting at least one failure to feed every magazine.

I started powder coating and sizing to .401”, worked up to 6 grains of Herco. I’m getting good cycling, but some PC build up in the barrel. I had read that Popper had the same problem with a short throated pistol and just shot a magazine of jacketed after a hundred or so PC bullets. That’s were I am now.

I have lots of options, throat job, size a little larger, just deal with it, shoot only jacketed, swage 9mm brass in a 220 swift die, or sell it.

You want to hear something funny. My 45acp was a gift. The guy had lost the magazine, and “wasn’t gonna spend any more money on that horrible gun.” It’s a Hi-Point, it goes bang every time and loves my cast bullet loads. My S&W Shield is finicky even with factory ammo. Go figure.

Josh

I have gotten slight PC fouling in pistols when I push the load. It has always been easy to remove with a patch wetted with Acetone, or even Alcohol. Even Hoppe's usually removes it. I just let it sit wet for a couple of minutes to dissolve.

 

[JWFilips]

I heard tell .....That some folks are having success with Alliant Power Pistol
I used to load a lot of 40 S&W and was talked in to buying too much of this back then! Haven't shot 40 S&W in 10 years!
But If I can get some loads for my Remington 1911 r1s I may try it again so as not to use up my BE supply!
My way of thinking is to use up powders that I do not rely upon for my other loading
I'm shooting the Lee 200 SWC and the 230 Lee RN
One of my biggest Gripes is that The sights are too course for target work....They are combat sights and I need to shoot bullseyes!
However the 3rd party sights are very confusing as to fitment! I like the Novack sights but I can not see if they fit the Original Rem 1911 R1S

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

Well i think i have at least a partial fix for my problem. My gun got to the point that even the round nose bullets were having a problem with extraction. An i was very close to listing it on a local annual gun auction.
As a last resort i loaded and shot some .451 bullets. I shot some rapid fire and some slow fired. Not a hickup in 10 rounds. I went back and loaded 20+ more with the only change being the .451 bullets. That quantity also shot without a flaw.
As a thought i also tried changing to a looser and tighter grip on the gun. All 20 rounds ran smoothly through the gun with no problem.
Now i just have to run some TC bullets through my .451 sizer and see how they flow through the gun.