So I wanted to test out some 45ACP loads in my 1911 today. I had 4 different powders lined up with 4 or 5 different powder loads for each. All loads were under a 200 gr LSWC from Missouri Bullet with a published Brinell Hardness of 18. First powder up was WST which Lyman manual lists low end at 4.5gr and high end at 5.1gr. I used standard large pistol primers.

I loaded up 5 of the 4.5gr bullets and the first shot was a bullseye from 10 yards. Second shot, shell ejected but no hole in target and next bullet in the magazine jammed. I removed the magazine and cleared the jam. When I checked the barrel the ogive was lodged in the barrel about a centimeter from the feed ramp.

So I've been trying to think why this happened and I'm wondering if the Brinell Hardness is too high for this light powder charge. Not enough blast to get the ogive to obturate????

The Missouri Bullet ogive measures consistently .452 as advertised. It's the IDP #1 on their web site.

Any other thoughts? I'm hesitant to shoot any more light powder loads with this ogive.

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What could possibly go wrong?

You might be overthinking the problem! I would look at the reload possible mistakes! Primer only, powder bridged in the loading funnel, dropped only half desired load(or less)! I would clear the stuck bullet, inspect the barrel, reload 5 more of the same load(very carefully), and try again!
jcelect

You had no powder in the case.

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Where we go one, we go all

I've used bullets molded for a Ruger Old Army in my Kimber 1911 sized to .452 to good effect; But will not chamber in my 45 Shield. Take away your bbl and try dropping your completed round into the chamber and observe.

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"Don't Give Up the Ship"

If the bullet was stuck right past the chamber and there wasn’t powder spilling everywhere when the slide opened, then it’s likely there was no powder to start with.

Sure sounds like an under-charged (or UN-charged) case to me.
A primer is usually just enough to push the bullet out of the case and into the rifling. In a revolver a lot of times it won't even clear the cylinder to forcing cone gap, and lock up the revolver.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

I know some really like to load for accuracy, but backing off a pistol bullet 7thousands or so and loading for over all cartridge length shouldn’t adversely affect your accuracy, especially in a semi auto.

The only loads I do measured off the og rather than OAL are for my long range rifles.

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Hold my beer and watch this!

I'm glad that the bullet stuck close enough to the chamber to prevent you from firing a second round with it acting as a bore obstruction.

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Keep your powder dry.

@DeplorabusUnum

We should probably talk about your reloading process -- Sure seems like no powder or very little powder (as others have already said). How in your process could that have happened?

Nothing wrong with 4.5 in a 1911 but When I use it I have to go to 4.7 to lock the slide back on the last shot. For some reason it ran out of gas. My small group does that ever once in a while but we are on top of the screw up an give the shooter fits. Break out the wood dowel and hammer and if you are shooting a lead bullet you are ready to go. No harm done. If it don't recoil something is wrong. I swelled 1 barrel in 50 years of shooting and it was on a 1911. Leave the 1911 in battery when you whack the bullet with the magazine out or it can screw the slide stop.

I would think removing the barrel and putting it in a vice would be the way to go about it. Maybe I'm wrong.

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SWCA 3563
10mm aficionado

Barrel lugs are locked to slide lugs in a 1911 in battery. It cant be hard as firing a bullet. Lead bullets come out easy in a 1911. It is not plastic.

Thank you all for the replies. I've been thinking about the possibility of no powder or low charge, and can't really think how that would happen.

I reload on a single stage RCBS press. I drop the first charge from my RCBS Charge Master digital scale. Once the pan has the proper charge, I drop it by hand through a powder funnel into the 1st case. I move the funnel to the next empty case, and while the next powder charge is dropping in the scale pan, I take the loaded case and run it through the seating die. I make them one bullet at a time. I never load a second case until the previous one has a bullet seated in it.

After crimping I take every case and drop it into an L.E. Wilson case gauge to make sure it drops in. Only then does it go into the ammo box. Even though is a bit tedious, I load this way so I don't get a double charge or no charge. I'm a bit mystified, but I do appreciate everyone's thoughts.

Like one of you said, I'm fortunate it lodged so close to the feeding ramp. I've been thinking about that all day.

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What could possibly go wrong?

I used a brass punch and a couple of taps with a plastic mallet with the magazine out. It came out pretty easily.

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What could possibly go wrong?

What you REALLY don't want to do it overcharge with fast powder. There will be very little left to tap on.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I believe you should re-think your loading process ... since you have charged cases AND empty cases on your bench at the same time while you are seating bullets there is opportunity for error. Consider getting a powder measure, there is no real need to weigh each charge once you get the measure set. This allows you to quickly charge the entire batch and then have a step in your process where you grab a flashlight and use it to quickly scan the charged cases in your loading block to be sure each case has an equal charge before starting the bullet seating step.

I do things in steps & stages. For handgun powder drop I use my ‘Little Dandy’ with the adjustable rotor. The empty cases are to the right, drop powder, then set them on the left side. Once I have 15-20 or so, I casually look to see general powder level, then set them by the press.

I never have cases near each other where some have powder, some don’t.

I don't usually chime in here because I've only been reloading for a few years.

Haven't used WST, but 4.1gr of W231 get that bullet out of my 1911 pretty well. I cannot imagine a projectile getting jammed in a barrel with that much powder.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

From what was described, either far too little powder or no powder at all in that cartridge.

From the standpoint of economics, the advice given is to use small charges of fast burning powder. That's great from the view of a bean counter, right up until a case gets no powder or worse, a double charge of powder. I used to be one of those who subscribed to the economics of reloading. It was the 80's, I had a part-time job and I was in college. Money was tight and I enjoyed shooting... a lot!

I'm quite a bit older now and maybe a tiny bit wiser. I no longer subscribe to using tiny charges of the fastest powder for a given caliber just so I can save a dollar. Fast burning powders have their place, but I prefer medium burning rate powders like AA#5 and Unique. Even when loading to mid-range velocity, they fill about 1/2 of the case volume, so it's easy to see powder in the case and a double charge is very easy to see.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Loading trays, whether you are loading 5 or 50 bullets, make it easy to see that all the cases have approximately the same amount of powder: this pretty much insures at a glance that there are no empty cases nor any that have been double charged.

The OP's description certainly sounds like a primer only situation, which is, after all, much, MUCH better than a partial powder load sufficient to stick one in the barrel and work the action!

CHEERS!

This is why I dont reload or shoot reloads in anything I own, seen way too may Quality reloads from expert ammo manufactures.

When you go to the range, be a scrounger! Look in the trash cans for the plastic trays that many company's use to hold the rounds in their boxes. These make wonderful loading trays. You can do batches of 50, or less, in stages. After the powder drop it is easy to compare the level in each case under good light. Set that tray full next to the press and on to the next step or load another tray! These trays fit US Army ammo cans very nicely for storage and/or transport. Use a piece of cardboard, cut to size, between each layer of trays.
jcelect

We traveled the same road. I LOVE AA#5 for .38 and .45 target loads - for the safety as you mentioned, and it meters so very, very well.

You're hitting on one (of many) aspects of reloading I'm really intrigued by: The really nitty-gritty details of how we do things......the process steps.

If I'm following your summary above correctly, one scenario I could imagine is you inadvertently moved the funnel from an empty case to an empty case, thinking powder had been dropped when it hadn't. (There have been many times my mind has instantaneously gone off and thought about something unrelated to loading - and when my consciousness is back on the bench - I realize I've been doing things and "not really thinking about it". It's easy to say "Well - I don't do that.", but I think it's inevitable. Do I have that dentist appointment tomorrow? Am I out of cookies? I wonder if I should cut the grass tomorrow or tonight?)

We all need to make our processes that work for us, but I've found I do better if I design my processes so that the steps are very small; not doing too many different things at once. In this context it actually might be safer, for example, to charge numerous cases, check powder levels visually, and THEN seat bullets.....as others have said.

Many people put uncharged cases in the loading block with primers up, and only turn them over when they put powder in. That certainly works for a whole bunch of people. I don't like this method. I put primed cases in a small container on the bench (just all dumped in there). I pick up a case, charge it, then put the charged case in the block. All of my processes move the "to be processed" cases from the left to the right. So no matter what step I'm on (decapping, sizing, mouth expansion, priming, charging, seating) the items to be processed always are on the left. And the completed items for that step are placed on the right.

A few weeks ago I was loading some test loads - just a few rounds. I violated one of my above process methods, and I accidentally seated a bullet on an empty primed case. Fortunately with how many rounds I planned on loading (I realized I had one more seated round than planned) I discovered my mistake before leaving the bench. Scared the &*%# out of me.

OR

I don't have a powder measure... so I'm always either dipping or weighing with one case at a time. When the powder's in, the bullet goes on and it goes in the loading block.

I only dip for low/med power range ammo. Anything anywhere near a limit gets individually weighed.

Mostly used Bullseye to date so I started out being aware of the double-charge danger and arranged my process to suit.

I am rethinking the way I re-load and I see this as an opportunity to buy a new toy. So now I find myself wondering what's the best, most consistent powder measure out there. I may start a new thread on that one question.

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What could possibly go wrong?

I've saved all my empty ammo boxes over the years and use them for my re-loads now. Never thought about using them as loading blocks.

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What could possibly go wrong?

I think you are right about doing too many things at once. I found myself waiting what seemed like an eternity for the RCBS charge master to trickle out the correct load, so I changed my process to add seating the bullet while waiting.

I think I'll get a powder measure to eliminate that wait time.

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What could possibly go wrong?

...full ones on the right.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Necessity is a big factor. But I realize the danger and am extra careful.

One thing the big shortage did a few years ago was got me into buying different powders that became available. So now I don't have to use fast powders and I get the benefits of a nice half full case.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

...and the prices go through the roof, I take comfort in knowing I can make about anything I need. I couldn't afford to shoot as much as I want to if I bought all my ammo even in the best of times.

You right, there are some quality factory reloads out there, but I got turned off on them years ago when one shot would sputter and the next would kick like a mule. I'm sure things are better now, but I've never messed wiith factory reloads again.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

If powder "bridges", then what's left of the bridge goes into the next case with another load. This could cause an overload. I'd be certain this didn't happen to you.

I'm not familiar with your RCBS Charge Master digital scale, so excuse me if I'm missing something.

Does a primer have enough power to cycle the pistol eject a case???

A light powder charge may but primers only have power to stick the bullet an inch or two into the barrel. I've heard of loose bores and soft bullets almost making it to the end of the barrel.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Most benchrest shooters use Harrell powder measures . Wonderful piece of equipment but pricey . I use a Redding 10X for handgun & small rifle cases . Some powders meter better than others . Large flake powders like Unique & 700 / 800X are a pain somewhat but unless throwing a max charge are close enough . Generally Accurate , Winchester , Ramshot , Vihtavouri , some Hodgon ( ball type ) will meter more precisely than Alliant or IMR flake type . Also you don't need BHN 18 for 45acp , 12 will work just fine . My loads that I shoot for Bullseye run around 730fps & I use Zero swaged lead which is pretty soft like 8 BHN . I too like WST for target mid range loads .

I cannot count on both hands and bare feet the number of high-quality "expert" commercial ammunition recalls and alerts I've seen. Wrong powders, or/under charges, ammo manufacturers have done it all also.

For the OP, I started reloading in the early '70s, and except for a pair of dud primers from the same package, I never had a bad load--until last year.

I still don't know how it happened, I am pretty meticulous in eye-balling every charged case, rifle or handgun load--but I went to the range with some rifle loads (6mm wildcat based on a .223 case) and midway through a session pulled the trigger and got a resounding click. Like hammer fall click. Ejected the round and it has a solid primer strike. Tried the next round in the mag and click again, same solid primer strike. Had five consecutive duds in a row. The next rounds fired fine.

At home I broke down those five duds and found fired primers and no powder! I didn't ear so much as a pop from those primers going off.

I still haven't figured out how I missed putting powder in five consecutive rounds, and oddly enough, not one of them squibbed and the bullets didn't even budge in COL.

Stuff can happen, even with the best of procedures.

I had my first dud a couple weeks ago. Just like yours - solid hit, no nothing. Three tries, nothing.

Intended to break it down, but before I did thought Hey, I'll try it in another gun. Boom, first time!

Had just started using some CCI primers (couldn't get my usual Winchester). I guess they really are harder. Gun that failed was a 60-7 with a bobbed hammer, so likely a light hit. I replaced the hammer spring and loaded a new box with CCI primers to test it out next time I go.

The answer to this depends on what your loading situation is.

If you are loading normal pistol rounds with ball powder then most commercial solutions work fine because the powder meters easily.

If you are loading stick powders for precision rifle then the answer to this question is completely different.

For loading something like W231 in a 45ACP case, I am a huge fan of the Lee powder solutions. Lee uses a thick plastic disc with holes punched in it to set how much powder will be charged into the case. The different sized holes are marked with their internal volume in CC. The advantage of this setup is that once you know which hole to use for a given powder/load, you can go back to that same setting immediately at a later date just by picking the same number. The disadvantage is that you don't have infinite adjust-ability, if you want a 4.1gr charge you may have to live with 4.0 or 4.2 instead.

If it really bothers you then there are tricks you can do like shaving the hole larger to get you from 4.0 to 4.1 but I'm not good enough of a shot with a pistol for 0.1 grain to matter.

Most people and load books always quote powder charges in weight. There is a school of thought that says that really we should quote powder charges in volume. Since small changes in the amount of humidity in the powder will effect its weight but not its burn rate there are people out there who believe that volume of powder is a better metric. This is taking it to a whole other level of retentiveness!

When I load with a single stage press I charge all cases whether 10 or 50 and then I look in all cases to make sure there is powder in them and no double charges, then place the bullets in the cases. Make sure you have good light and LOOK in each case. If you choose to do one at a time, LOOK in the case before putting a bullet in it. It's easy to fail to charge one doing them one at a time, very easy.

I've used various makes of primers over the years with CCI being my preferred. IMO, if a gun won't fire a CCI primer, the issue is the gun, not the CCI primer. They don't require being struck with the Hammer of Thor to ignite. No gun I've ever owned has failed to set them off on one strike. And that is a number of handguns and rifles.

The difference in hardness is minimal, if at all, and a gun with a marginal firing pin or striker power would be more suspect than the primers.

I think OP needs to be with somebody who is experienced. Sounds like first attempt and doing it on his own.

Bang the lever twice on the up stroke and maybe to empty it also.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I use a single stage press set up and I would highly recommend getting one or two cartridge blocks that hold 50 rounds each and get a powder measure, you fill the cases and put the cases in the block, then you can at a glance see that they are all charged. Since you are reloading a 45acp cartridge I would recommend the RCBS lil dandy powder measure and a rotor that gets you the charge you want, that way you can put all the cases in the block and charge them by holding the powder measure in your hand and go from case to case, then when you have filled all the cases you can easily look at them all and see that 1 they are charged and two that you have not double charged any of them. Good luck with your efforts.

"The OP's description certainly sounds like a primer only situation, which is, after all, much, MUCH better than a partial powder load sufficient to stick one in the barrel and work the action!"

Is that even possible with a locked-breech pistol? I don't think so. Might happen with a blowback pistol.

For a very long time I have always charged cases (rifle or handgun) as a separate operation, usually 50 at a time, then visually inspect for uniform propellant level in the case - twice - using a flashlight or in sunlight. Positively prevents overcharges and undercharges or no-charges.

Being with someone who has more experience is never a bad thing, so your point is valid by default, but I've been reloading several calibers of pistol and rifle for years, and doing it safely.
This is the first time I've had a bullet stick in the barrel, so I appreciate thoughtful replies that actually address any potential problem.

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What could possibly go wrong?

Thanks. I'm looking at RCBS powder measures right now. About to get the quick change model since I do small pistol charges but also large rifle.

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What could possibly go wrong?

For handgun ammo loading I think a progressive press that indexes itself with a mounted powder measure is the safest way to go. Absolutely no use at all in measuring each round. Adjust your powder measure to the desired weight, charge the same case a few times, make sure it's consistent then go to town.

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Where we go one, we go all

Whether you drop or pour powder into cases always check the cases for powder level. A look with a light will always show a missed or double charged case. It takes little time but is very important.

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Mighty 90's,Trying 4 a 100!

"Absolutely no use at all in measuring each round."?

...with this statement. Lacking a situation with a die designed to check the actual powder dropped the progressive press is the one most vulnerable to a partial charge or totally empty case.

Just in my humble opinion. I'll stay "in the sticks".

Cheers!

Especially for rifle loads, I really do want to hit my target load on every shell. I envision pulling a powder load into the pan and on to the scale, trickle charger to get right to the desired weight, then into the case. That will still be way faster than what I've been doing.

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What could possibly go wrong?

I do a little ‘click’ with the powder measure handle when down, avoidance of ‘bridging’ technique. Type of powder factors in, lower likelihood with ball or flake powder.

I’ve never dropped powder into cases lined up on a tray, 50/80 whatever. It seems to me the potential is there to skip one or give one two shots. That said, it’s all about a routine that works for you. Yes, a peek in the case is important after charging.

Brass prep(rifle) can take time, powder charging is one of the most critical steps. Develop procedures that ensure things are correct. Go at whatever speed it takes to load quality rounds.