45acp lead bullet in 45 long colt brass

[Dannd]

Hey everyone

I had just bought my first gun and I love it

I know I am a newbie and I bought the judge because I like the boom factor

any how I made my first 25 rounds of reloads and I was so dumb that I completely missed the fact they were 230 grain acp

made them on the lee loader too an it took forever but I loved it

anyhow do I have to trash these now?

I am worried th min oal is off
they all measure 1.6 but since they have a round nose instead of a flat nose I am worried too much of the bullet is seated in the brass and it will reduce the volume and increase the pressure

I like my hands and I would hate to part with them

Thanks for any advice

Dan

[g.willikers]

Since both the LC and the ACP use the same diameter bullet and the LC case is so large, unless you loaded for extreme velocity and pressures, or installed the bullets way too deep,
it's probably ok.
What powder and amount did you use?
Lead or jacketed bullets?

[Chesster]

Welcome Dan. I have used a lot of 225-230gr RNL designed for the ACP in .45 Colt cases. Great plinking load. Just have to use a good taper or factory crimp (I use Lee dies) to get a good grip on the lead w/o a groove.

[Dannd]

More details
speer brand
.452 dia lead round nose 45 cal
oal between 1.5835 and 1.600
universal powder 6.8 to 7.1 grains
winchester 45 colt brass

thanks again evryone I am a bit nervous but I figure it is better to be safe than sorry

[orionengnr]

I have put together lots of .45LC rounds using 200 gr SWC projectiles that were originally meant for a .45acp--no problems at all.

As long as your powder charge is appropriate (I didn't look it up), and your OAL is within limits (1.600 IIRC), you will be fine.

[Dannd]

So the round nose on the acp doesn't seat the bullet in to deep? I look at the diagram and the oal is measured from the flat nose on the 45 colt bullet to the primer aside of the brass

I guess I was thinking that the rounded part of the acp bullet is making me seat the bullet further into the brass to get the same length

[DiscoRacing]

What size bullets are you referring to?? In grains... I use a 230gr bullet for acp and a 255 gr bullet for LC

[Dannd]

230 grains
universal powdr 6.8 to7.1
min oal 1,59

min oal is my biggest worry I keep think I am seating it to deep because it has a end nose and the 45 lc is flat

ugh

[DiscoRacing]

Shouldnt be a problem...measure OAL from the rounded tip.

230 is a small bullet for LC brass anyway... I would worry more about it not being seated far enough... rather than being seated too far in.

[melchloboo]

Also, if you decide not to shoot them you don't need to "trash" them. Get a kinetic bullet puller to remove the heads. You should then be able re-use all of the components. Actually, if you want them a little longer you could maybe get lucky with the puller and it will just knock the heads a little forward where you can then re-seat and re-crimp them, although don't count on extreme accuracy at that point.

[Ozzieman]

I agree with DiscoRacing, the small amount of difference is not going to increases your pressure too much since your load is a light load of Unique. You just want to make sure its deep enough so that the cylinder can turn.
One problem in reloading that bullet in the LC case is the bullet seater. Most LC dies have a flat nose seater in the die, some come with two seaters. If you use the flat seater don’t completely shove the bullet into the die. Start it first then remove it and make sure your die is starting it straight.
My biggest concern is accuracy.
What are you shooting it out of? Most of my single action 45 LC like larger bullets like .455 and ACP is more around .451. You’re going to lose some in accuracy.
I like the same bullet but I order them from Penn Bullets with a diameter of .455 and keep them separate from the bullets I load in my ACP.
Over all you should be ok just don’t expect great accuracy.

[Dannd]

Taurus judge not the magnum

I have been thinking a lot about this and I am going to try it

if I am seating it too deep I will find out in the first round

Ouch

and if it works then I'll hve a recipe to use up the rest of the 275 or so acp bullets in my lc cases

[zxcvbob]

One of my favorites for .45 Colt is a Lee 230 grain truncated-cone tumble lubed bullet. I roll crimp them into the top little miniature grease groove. They are cheap to shoot and accurate. OTOH, I tried some Berry's copper plated round nosed bullets and I couldn't get enough neck tension. (I normally like Berry's bullets, but these didn't work for me)

[Brian Pfleuger]

Using a 230gr Hornady lead round nose bullet seated to 1.590, QuickLoad thinks that 7.1gr Hodgdon Universal will produce about 786fps from a 4 inch barrel. I don't know the length of the barrel on the judge, so I guessed at 4. That velocity figure is likely a tad optimistic, as QuickLoad does not compensate for the cylinder gap in a revolver. The pressure is estimated at 11,931psi. QuickLoad thinks that 7.7 would be approximately max load, so 6.8 would probably be a good place to start.

[Dannd]

So does this mean tha the acp bullet with the round nose and the 45 lc bullet with the flat nose are the same lenghth?

That would make me feel a lot better because I am thinking right now that the round nose is reducing the volume in my casing by having to pushh the 1/8 inch

acp with round nose less volume?

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versus flat nose with more volume

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V is volume
x is colt case
b bullet

[zxcvbob]

In a short-cased high pressure cartridged like a 9mm, the bullet seating depth is critical. In long-cased low pressure cartridges (and usually even long-cased high pressure carridges like .357 Magnum) small differences in bullet seating don't matter very much.

So don't worry about the bullet profile in .45 Colt until you start messing with >300 grain bullets or full wadcuters.

Worry very much about the bullet profile and OAL in a 9mm or .40S&W

[zippy13]

The max cartridge overall length is a semi-arbitrary number set SAAMI. The main controlling factor in revolver ammo is that the bullet not protrude beyond the face of the cylinder. When they set the standard they had to take into consideration the cylinders of existing 45s. With the Judge, there's no way you can load a .45LC longer than a .410.

Another consideration of SAAMI is allowable working pressure. While the Judge is not a "magnum" it is a lot more robust than the old guns used to determine the .45LC max allowable pressures.

Seems to me, for you to rest easy, you need to pull the bullets and redo them. Hey, you've loaded just 25 rounds, that's only half a box of shells. It's probably not necessary, but it will be a good early lesson for a novice reloader. Most of us old phart reloaders wouldn't think twice if we had to pull 25 bullets, it's part of reloading. Always err on the side of caution -- your concern about this potential problem indicates that you have the mind set to be a safe and successful reloader.

[Dannd]

Zippy13

thanks for more than just the advice on the oal

I think I will redo them and just be thankfull for the extra practice

that is of course if my kinetic puller can work out the crimp

[Dannd]

The kinetic puller worked great

now to redo some cartrudges

I misspelled that last bit but it is ironic so I left it in