FTF problems

[wilkersk]

I'm new to reloading and I've followed all the instructions for dialing in the RCBS carbide 3 die set for .45 acp.

But, I'm having problems with frequent spent brass not ejecting (stove-pipes) and FTF's that strip off the mag but then jam nose high on the ramp.

Have not had any problem at all with ANY factory ammo. So I'm guessing its my reloading skills.

Here's the specs:

Pistol: XD .45 5" tactical (box stock) over 500 rounds of factory ammo without any problems. 130 rounds of reload with about a 30% FTF.

Reloads:

Brass: mixed head-stamp purchased once-fired from Wilson Combat.

Bullet: 200gr Oregon trails Laser Cast SWC (has cannerule for taper crimp)

Primers: Fed Match lg

Powder: Win 231 / 4.9 gr

Chrono: 750 - 790 fps

All loads cleaned and polished in tumbler with reloading specific polish and corncob media

* I've notice that brass easily drops in a bore checker to the rim after resizing. But, a finished round will stop just short of the extractor groove and takes a little force to go all the way into the bore checker.

Also, even though I've taken pains to make sure that the resizer die is adjusted correctly, the brass just doesn't look like its resized all the way.

And, once the bullet is seated with a slight taper crimp, the brass looks a little overworked. I haven't had any splits and it doesn't look to me like the seating die is the area thats causing this problem.

ANyone got any ideas?

[Tony C]

I have a 5" XD .45 and a Kimber 1911. When I load 185 grain SWC rounds there is NOTHING that I can do to get them to load or eject consistantly in my XD yet they fire fine my 1911. Search these threads and you will find a few that talk about the XD not cycling SWC rounds.

If you do eventally figure it out let me know how you fixed it. Good luck.

Tony C.

[jibjab]

Have not had any problem at all with ANY factory ammo.

Was the factory ammo SWC ?

ANyone got any ideas?

COAL. My 1911 will only feed SWCs well at a certain length.

[wilkersk]

Actually, now that you mention it, its all been round nose, some Blazer and some S&B.

[tom234]

What is your crimp and OAL ? SWC bullets can be problematic. Rounds not fully chambering while sized brass does indicates not enough crimp or lead burrs in crimping. You should crimp to .469-.471". My experience with 200gr SWC is to have OAL 1.250". Perhaps you may want to consider a Lee FCD.

[oldandslow]

w, 4/3/09

It looks like you are having two different problems. First, the failure to feed which only occurs with your SWC reloads and not with factory ammo. The simplest way to check to see if it is the SWC bullets is to reload some FMJ bullets and see if they feed OK. If they don't then the SWC bullets aren't working well with your pistol

The second is the failure to eject. All of my chrono's loads (185-230grains, both factory and handloaded) run faster than the velocity you are getting from your reloads- in the 800-850fps range for 230 grains and 900-1000fps range for 185 grains. The stove pipes may very well mean than your slide is short-stroking (that is, not moving all the way back) due to the light loads. If you want to stay with this load then the answer is probably a lighter recoil spring.

So take a look at your bullets and recoil spring and decide what changes you want to try, but only change one thing at a time so you can tell what works and what doesn't. Good luck.

best wishes- oldandslow

[MDB]

Drop your reloads into your barrel [first remove it from gun of course]. They should be flush with the barrel hood. Maybe .001 to .003 below the hood. Also [already mentioned] be sure to measure the taper crimp--.469 to .470. Min. oal is 1.190 max is 1.275. Find the oal that works best in the XD.

[Shane Tuttle]

My XD45ACP feeds SWC just fine, but I've seen another friend's jam about 1 every 5 rounds on average. Also, based on observation of your detailed information, I don't think it's the lack of reloading skills.

[FrankenMauser]

As for the FTF-

If the SWC bullet you are using is capable of feeding from your magazine, it sounds like the OAL is too short. Most likely... it's the SWC design. Many pistols don't like the shoulder on the nose of the bullet.

[wilkersk]

Thanks for all the replies.

The OAL on the SWCs is dead on 1.250". I tried to use the data that Oregon Trails gives customers for free.

I don't know how to measure the crimp. The instructions that come with the RCBS die set just says to adjust the die down 1/2 to 1 full turn past the point that it contacts the throat of the cartridge for a taper crimp, then adjust the seater for proper OAL.

I bought some Sierra 200gr FPJ Match to try. I didn't see any round nose at all and I don't want to pay shipping for 100 rounds of 230gr from online just to try and fix my problem.

[Gbro]

I have struggled with SWC's in my 1911, and the easiest way to prevent/eliminate that problem is to not use them. I only reload round nose bullet now.
I bought the Lee 6 cavity mold for RN bullets. Problem(s) solved.

[wingman]

I've loaded 45acp nearly 40 years and found few guns that like swc bullets
unless you have a smith do some surgery,I currently have one 45acp that
does handle swc's ok, a Springfield ultra compact with bull barrel, while i like
200gr swc's in all honesty for me they aren't worth the effort. For me one
malfunction every 100 rounds is too much even though while at the range.

[snuffy]

I don't know how to measure the crimp. The instructions that come with the RCBS die set just says to adjust the die down 1/2 to 1 full turn past the point that it contacts the throat of the cartridge for a taper crimp, then adjust the seater for proper OAL.

That means you don't have a caliper, or you don't know how to use it to measure your crimp. But you state your OAL, so you must have something to measure with. If you do have a caliper, then measure right at the very end of the mouth after crimping. Use the sharp ends of the caliper jaws. Since the auto cartridges like the 45 acp headspace on the mouth, you can't have too much crimp. Also, over crimping a non-cannelured,(crimping groove), bullet may buckle the case.

You also may have to polish the feed ramp on the barrel. Roughness there could be slowing the shell down, or causing it to bounce when it hits it.

[Scorch]

Bullet: 200gr Oregon trails Laser Cast SWC (has cannerule for taper crimp)
Primers: Fed Match lg
Powder: Win 231 / 4.9 gr
Chrono: 750 - 790 fps

According to the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading, you are .3 gr below the minimum load. That would explain the FTF and some jams. I load LSWC to 1.20", longer does not work well.

[MDB]

I loaded some Oregon Trail 230gr rn 45acp a few weeks ago. OT said oal should be 1.260. They would not feed in my CZ at all. I loaded some in 1.255--1.250--1.245. When I shot the 1.245 there was no trouble at all. I loaded up 30 more 1.245 and no problems. So I will use the 1.245 in the future also.

[wilkersk]

Again, thanks for the replies.

I said I don't know how to measure the crimp, because I do know there's any number of different ways to measure something, and usually only 1 right way [anyone who's ever noticed all the different people who drive "exactly" the speed limit knows what I'm talking about].

I'm using the loading data that the nice folks at Oregon Trails sent me in the mail for their product line (free of charge by the way). I hope they know their product. I used 0.1gr over the suggested starting powder charge. And, the estimated muzzle velocity was dead on from what I interpolated, then measured with my trusty Chrony F1.

After reading all the replies, I've gotten a few ideas on where to go from here. And, I've also realized that, as with any other manly "pre"-occupation, there's no shortage of ideas! []

[sti_mike]

I had a similar problem with developing my first loads of 200gr LSCW. It turned out that I wasn't seating the bullet deep enough into the cartridge (was at 1.250 now at 1.240). I did what was suggested above (dropping a round into the barrel (removed from slide of course) and increased the taper slightly to .470 from 4.72 (it will be different for different chambers. I had a very tight match chamber and the rounds would occasionally not go completely into battery without a little coaxing. Two small, but significant changes improved reliability 100%. The throat and feed ramp on the barrel are highly polished in my RR .45 Wadcutter, but even so without these minor changes I still had problems even with reloads that were "to spec". One must be careful not to over crimp as this may increase pressures to dangerous levels and adversely affect headspacing. Improper headspacing could cause raised primers which could change the relationship of brass to breechface and extractor thus affecting proper ejection. Take a careful look at the ejected brass for signs of overpressure and the cartridge lips for odd markings.

[QBall45]

If I were your I may consider several things that have been said here. and some that have not yet been said.

1. Replace your RCBS crimp die with LEE's Factory Crimp Die. While so many people hate LEE products and their dies in perticular. There is on thing that most reloaders will aggree upon. That is that LEE makes about the best crimp die available. It is what I use for both 45 and 223. This die has a carbide sizer that will size your round after it crimps it. take a look. It is worth your money.

2. Try iscreasing your W231 charge from 4.9 to 5.3 I just finished working up my load for w231 and found that I was having some problems with any load under 5.3gr.

3. Set your OAL to 1.24 to 1.25 same for 230gr round nose and 200 SWC. Your XD should feed these just as well as my 1911 when using this OAL.

4. Check your crimp at the mouth of the case. Use your caliper. It should be .469 to .470. This will make your loads more accurate if they are all crimped the same.

5. Make sure that you are expanding the case enough but not too much. It should be expanded to .451 to .452. This allows the bullet to seat without shaving any lead off the sides.

6. Just reread your OP. Are you using factory mags? Failure to Feed... I wonder something... When does this happen? First round, last round, somewhere in the middle of the mag? Are you using more than one mag? Can/have you issolated that your failure to feed is happining with all your mags or is it just with one? I ran into this failure to feed (jambing up with my 1911 with a couple of mags and not the rest of 'em) Something to think about.

I hope that you can get this figured out because reloading is too much fun to be having trouble at the range. It truly sucks when you work so hard to get it right and then...Jam.bang.jam... and from what I here that XD ya got is rather fun to shoot. Keep working at it you will get it to work.

[wilkersk]

in reply to QBall45, who wrote:
"...
2. Try iscreasing your W231 charge from 4.9 to 5.3 I just finished working up my load for w231 and found that I was having some problems with any load under 5.3gr."

Yeah, my reloading manual said the minimium charge for a 200gr SWC and Win231 for .45 would be 5.4gr. So, the first time out, I loaded some up with the Oregon Trails. I was getting a heck of a kick and around 1,000fps on the chrony. It definitely seemed hot for a starting charge. And, I still had a couple of spectacular nose-up jams against the breach face. It jammed so hard, I had to press the mag plate down HARD on the table to get the magazine to release so that I could clear the jam (could not rack the slide at all with magazine in.

Thats when I emailed Oregon Trails for their loading data. It was quite a bit different than my Lyman manual, which lead me to the discovery that not all 200gr LSWC s are the same.

I think I'm gonna try loading some good ole 230gr round nose until I feel a little more confident. Now, I just need to get all those SWCs re cast. Hmmm....