My first re-load ogive stuck in barrel

DeplorabusUnum

DeplorabusUnum

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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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Light load

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
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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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@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.
 
4barrel said:
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.
Click to expand...

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

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.
 
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1&done said:
@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?
Click to expand...

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.
 
4barrel said:
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.
Click to expand...
I used a brass punch and a couple of taps with a plastic mallet with the magazine out. It came out pretty easily.
 
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.
 
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!
 
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