Question for the smart fellows

[bottom rung]

I have a Springfield XD 45ACP with a four inch barrel. I took it to the range yesterday and was having a hard time getting it to group. The ammo I was shooting were reloads I had bought from a local guy. His work is generally pretty good. Anyway, I noticed that the ammo I was shooting had the bullets sitting lower in the case than on typical factory stuff. I verified this today with some factory Federal FMJ. The reloaded bullets were definetely sitting lower in the case than factory ammo, but not by much. Maybe 1/32 of an inch. My question is, would this have been the cause of my poor accuracy? I shot an XD before and got about a 4" cluster at 25 yards with a full 13 round mag. I would beleive that this gun is capable of that also. I think the deeply seated bullets are the problem. What do you guys think? What should I do to resolve the issue because I bought 1000 rounds of this stuff and would hate to get rid of it. I guess I could keep it for making noise.

[joneb]

I'm am no expert, but given all things being the same a deeper seated bullet will increase the pressure. Not all bullets are created equal, though they may appear to be the same, there maybe differences in the Cartridge Overall Length with different bullet designs that appear to be similar .

[Unclenick]

Yes and no. The 1/32 inch isn't doing any harm by itself. However, if these are lead bullets, you may find they have to be seated out farther than normal to shoot to their potential. Many .45's tend to be generous in the chamber, and instead of headspacing on the casemouth, they headspace on the extractor groove of the cartridge. When the firing pin pushes forward on the cartridge, the extractor groove runs into the hook before the rim of the casemouth makes it to the end of the chamber. When this happens the cartridge pivots at the extractor hook, causing it to lean to the extractor side before stopping hard enough for ignition to occur. This forces the bullet to enter the rifling slightly tipped. A jacketed bullet can straighten itself out enough for satisfactory .45 ACP performance, but a lead bullet pretty much just swages into the rifling at whatever angle it is launched at, resulting in enough imbalance to open up your groups.

If you can borrow an inertial bullet puller, you can knock the rounds hard enough to just pull the bullet part way. Field strip your gun and take out the barrel to use as a gauge. Reseat the bullets only far enough so that when you drop them into the barrel, the back of the casehead is just flush with the part of the back of the barrel that the breechface presses against. At this point the bullet is against the throat to stop the cartridge from moving further forward, so you are headspacing on the bullet. If that longer round still feeds in your magazine OK, you will find it more accurate. If it doesn't, you will have to settle for pushing it back in until it just works in your magazines. In this case, a blunter bullet shape make be more accurate in your gun.

By the way, I am assuming you reload and can reseat your bullets? If not, you can get a Lee hand tool and a Lee seating die for under $30, which may be worth it to rescue 1000 rounds. Your commercial loader might also be willing to let you trade yours in for some he's seated further out especially for you?

[bottom rung]

Wow! Thank you for the promt answer. I will try the things you said. The bullets were FMJ and I don't reload yet. I will be getting into reloading eventually. Thanks again, Steve

[crowbeaner]

UncleNick is right on again. I used to have to seat the lead bullets for my 10mm out just enough to barely engage the rifling to acheive maximum accuracy, and the jacketed loads didn't shoot as well as the lead because the lead was sized .401, and the jacketed stuff was .400. Go figure.

[sanson]

if I want accuracy I let the bullet "kiss" the rifling