Hi:
I was firing some older reloads of mine (200gr SWC / 3.5gr Bullseye) in a M1911. A few of the rounds had fire sparks coming from the chamber end of the breech when fired.
Could this be caused by the case mouth not being crimped tight enough ?

*** The cases, bullets, and powder (like me) are old.

Thanks,
Jimmy

That's a pretty light load. I'd guess there was a good amount of blow by from the brass case not sealing in the chamber and that is what you are seeing.

^^^^ What he said. ^^^^

One of the reasons 1# of Bullsye powder in 1981 was enough for me, smoke and smut everywhere with cast lead bullets.

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S&WHF 366

I use 4.5grs of Bullseye with the 200gr SWC, and I consider that a lite load.

That sounds like and awful light load for 200gr 45 Auto?
Perhaps not much sealing in the chamber due to low pressure and some flash back?
Karl

Fifty + years ago the 3.5gr of Bullseye was the standard load for target shooting.I loaded 10s of thousands on Star Machines using H&G #68 cast bullets.

These days I need to load 4.0gr under a 200gr hard cast bullet to get same functioning and accuracy.YMMV

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NEVER GIVE UP YOUR GUN

If by chance you saved any of the cases, or get a chance to look at them
the next time you shoot that load, you might want to see if they
have any soot on them or are dark in color.

They might be just a little light in the powder dept.

They will work but you might also get a little better accuracy with a little more fps.

Jimmy, I would have to agree with the above answers, it sounds like a pretty light load and like you said they were old reloads, but I have shot some from 10 years or so ago and they shot fine so who knows.

Torun that light a load you have to run a pretty light recoil spring. That may not allow complete lockup depending on the slide/bbl fit.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

So that other readers have a basis for comparison, the 2017 Alliant Reloader's guide shows a MAXIMUM load with a 200 gr LSWC to be 4.6 grains of Bullseye.

Probably not.

As several others have posted, the load is light enough that the case is not expanding enough to get a good seal against the chamber wall and what you are experiencing are propellant gasses leaking around the case.

A tighter crimp can delay the movement of the bullet sufficiently to allow pressure in the case to build to where it does expand the case as the bullet starts to move, but for a case that headspaces on its mouth, the amount of crimping that can be done is limited before you start having problems from the case not headspacing correctly.

So even reducing the 10% for a starting load would have you at 4.15! That makes 3.5 almost another 15% more reduced
Yikes! probably getting some leading in the barrel too.
Karl

I threw that worthless Alliant loading guide in the trash a long time ago.
Alliant is a real disappointment in the loading data department.

I get on average about 780fps with that 4.5gr Bullseye load.


.

My Lyman cast manual has 2 200 grain bullets. One of the loads does start at 3.5 it has the pressure as 6,900 CUP and a velocity of 645. The max is 5.6. The other load is 4.9 and 6.0. The 3.5 BE load is the lowest pressure and lowest velocity of any of the loads. I prefer light loads but 4.0 BE is as light as I'll go.

That doesn't seem right...

As a note on Alliant Bullseye powder...........

it is known to give off a muzzle flash and..... little "Sparklers".
I noticed this the last time at a inside range.

It probably will do it with light and heavy loads.

While BE maybe quite accurate, the crud just isnt to my liking. Today we have quite a few choices that deliver eq accuracy with cleaner results.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

As mentioned above, 3.5/3.7 grs. of Bullseye was the "go to" load for target shooters (and PPC shooters, I might add.) for many years. I think the problem may have to do with the key word "Old". I have had old rifle reloads split at the neck after sitting unfired for a couple of decades.(348 Win. comes to mind) and have read of 303 and 8mil surplus that had neck splitting problems on what was old but virgin brass. I think that while high pressure rifle loads split, the very low pressure ACP loads, like the ones Jimmyj is using, just don't expand like they should/once did. Ergo, blowback and a little fireworks. (OK, I haven't said anything that hasn't been mentioned in several other posts) My take is that except for a need to do a good job cleaning don't worry, just shoot and enjoy.

Notice that was a maximum load for LSWC (Lead Semi-Wad Cutter) not cast SWC. I don't know which bullets Jimmy was using? And that didn't answer Jimmy's question! Sorry I don't know.
Ed

4.0gr BE under 200 LSWC is a great target load. I also use it in stake shoots.