Reloading hard cast for the .45 acp pistol?

[twoclones]

A few months ago, my girlfriend bought a XDS .45 acp. It's a very nice, easy to pack little gun and cycles fine with factory JHP ammo. It will not even chamber the cast lead, round nosed ammo I've loaded for my model 625 revolver

I haven't gotten to work with it much because 'she' wanted to shoot 'her gun' that day.... But I suspected the wax on the bullets or residual (now sticky) lubricant on the brass.

My questions are:
Do .45 acp pistols normally cycle cast lead ammo?
Should this work as is or should I tumble the cast lead ammo after loading for it to work in a pistol?

Read More

 

[nwbobber]

Cast lead works great in any auto pistol I have ever owned. Cast lead is usually a bit bigger in diameter (and needs to be), so check the dimension of your crimp. The revolver you have I am not familiar with as far as the throat, but my first thought is to check to see if the bullet is contacting the rifling in the pistol. Coat the bullet with a sharpie shove it into the chamber hard enough to make some marks, you may need to hook a small screwdriver under the rim to extract it, check for small dings in the bullet. If it is marked up the bullets will have to be seated deeper.

 

[RVTECH]

Do .45 acp pistols normally cycle cast lead ammo?

Depends on the pistol. The small 'compact' .45s typically do not seem to accept hard cast reloads as well as, say a 1911 style. ALL of my 1911s have shot well with hard cast, including SWC. Checking seating depth as suggested above is a good idea. I had problems with my CZ 75 9MM with hard cast when I first got it and discovered seating depth was the problem, given the CZs and their typical short and tighter chambers.

 

[jib]

It could be the COL or if the case mouth measures more than .473" the round may not chamber, with .452" bullets you could try R-P brass.

 

[bt97006]

I've run hundreds of home cast 200 gr .452 LSWC through my Springfield XDS and they feed and shoot fine. From the description in your post about excessive "sticky lube," it sounds like you might be using Lee tumble lube molds with LLA tumble lube? Are you sizing your bullets? As suggested, perhaps try adjusting seating depth and or crimp and make sure your bullets are sized correctly. Just remember that 45 acp head-spaces off of the case mouth so too much crimp could cause problems as well.

 

[Throckmorton]

there is more cleanujp with hard cast as the lube is smoky and if tumbled lubed bullets are used..well,I just don't use them BECAUSE they are sticky and messy.
cast is all I shoot in all my guns,have shot thousands of them in my 1911.

I see no reason why a compact gun would not shoot them equally well,unless,i'd be open to hearing a good explanation on that.

 

[twoclones]

I've run hundreds of home cast 200 gr .452 LSWC through my Springfield XDS and they feed and shoot fine. From the description in your post about excessive "sticky lube," it sounds like you might be using Lee tumble lube molds with LLA tumble lube? Are you sizing your bullets?

I'm using 230 grain, round nosed bullets from Friends Wood and Dillon Case Lube.

My COL varies, due to lead building up in the bullet seating die, from 1.196" - .1256". Unless too short is a problem, I'm good on COL (1.275" according to my book). I check with a case gauge about every 100 rounds.

Crimp, as best I can measure is 0.010" at most.

 

[twoclones]

View attachment 61289
It could be the COL or if the case mouth measures more than .473" the round may not chamber, with .452" bullets you could try R-P brass.

I pulled the barrel from the 'S' and set both factory and my hand load ammo into the chamber. A straight edge laid across the top shows an identical head-space for each.

I'm going to have to go to the range and evaluate the problem...

What is R-P brass?

 

[nwbobber]

I usually like to work up loads in each firearm individually for safety's sake. If these are close to max, I would sure want you to be careful, especially since there seems to be some kind of issue.
R-P = Remington-Peters

 

[twoclones]

If these are close to max,

I load these closer to the low end for my revolver.

 

[RVTECH]

I see no reason why a compact gun would not shoot them equally well,unless,i'd be open to hearing a good explanation on that.

Probably a variety of reasons. Possibly tighter chambers in some non-1911 compacts, less slide movement but most likely, as many have already mentioned, excessive COL. Regardless I think anyone considering a compact .45 should be prepared for the possibility it may not reliably feed cast if that is what one wants to shoot out of it. Two guns I have witnessed that would not run cast were a Glock 36 and a Kahr owned by a friend a while back. The Kahr had problems with 'standard' FMJ as it was.

 

[Throckmorton]

if ui are shaving lead and lube and plugging up your seater,do what LOTS of folks do..seat in on die,crimp in another.
think about it..any time the handle is moving,so is the round.,therefore,while the bullet is being seated the crime ring is crimping the brass WHILE THE BULLET IS STILL BEING SHOVED IN.
I flat guarantee this fixes that problem.

 

[twoclones]

if ui are shaving lead and lube and plugging up your seater,do what LOTS of folks do..seat in on die,crimp in another.

I'm loading with a Dillon 550b so am already using separate dies for setting and crimping. Sure would like to find a solution for the shavings building up in the seating dies...

 

[MarkAd]

Shavings in the seating die are occuring because you case mouth is not flared enough for the bullets to be seating with shaving lead. Go back and adjust the case expander a couple of thousands of an inch.
You have to pull your seating die apart and clean it out. with you dillon your COL should be a lot closer then they are.

 

[twoclones]

Shavings in the seating die are occurring because you case mouth is not flared enough for the bullets to be seating with shaving lead.

OK. That makes sense and I should have thought of that myself. Thanks.

 

[fxdc]

Wheel gun lead in an auto......... Square peg into a round hole!!!!!!!! LOL

 

[springfield0612]

I have the XD 4" compact in .45 ACP and my wife just got the XDS .45. I've found that a 230 LRN boolit has a very wide shoulder and needs to be seated near maximum OAL to function in the XD's or the boolit will hit the rifling before it is fully seated in the chamber. This also happens if you try using .452 LSWC in the XD's it doesn't work because the should of the boolit is too high on the bullet profile. Using a boolit with a smaller shoulder profile is best. I tried the Missouri Bullet Company 200 gr. RNFP IDP #4 bullet and it was amazing. I then purchased the Lee 200 gr RNFP 2R 6 cavity, seat them at 1.200" with 4.6 gr of Bullseye as per Lee 2nd edition data tumble lubed with 50/50 alox/JPW, the brass dribbles out of the slide and accuracy is amazing @ 15-30', low recoil, and no leading, not smokey at all.

If you want PM me your address and I'll send you some of the 200 Gr. RNFP lubed and sized to try out.

 

[twoclones]

I look forward to trying some of your bullets.

 

[twoclones]

I've found that a 230 LRN boolit has a very wide shoulder and needs to be seated near maximum OAL to function in the XD's or the boolit will hit the rifling before it is fully seated in the chamber.

Am I reading this correctly? The finished cartridge works best at Maximum length?

 

[twoclones]

By the way,,, Today I received bullets from Friendswood 8 weeks after ordering.
Could be worse.