I know .45 Colt has a smaller rim than I am used to in other calibers, but is there a brand/brands of brass that are a little larger/stronger than others. I was loading virgin Fiocchi brass with new RCBS dies and 2 cases stuck on the expander and pulled off the shell holder buggering the rim. I've had issues with virgin brass and new dies before, just forgot to polish the expander plug first, but I also had two cases pop out of shell holder while seating primers on RCBS bench primer. I guess another question would be is there a shell holder you've found to fit better than others?

You've got a #20 RCBS shell holder?

My original 45 Colt dies are Lee. Just looked & I forgot but I had bought a RCBS #20 shell holder to use instead of the Lee (#11).

Don't recall having the problem you mentioned. I think I felt the Lee S/H was a little too loose (which I've thought on other cartridges too ).

Lyman's Reloading Handbook makes mention of the fact the 45 Colt rims provide less bearing surface, in comparison to other cartridges.

My S-L & Hornady 45 Colt rims run .509" diameter. SAAMI specs say .500" - .512" dia.

What do your Fiocchi brass run?

.

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Waiting for the break of day

I used new Starline brass and found that they needed to have the inside of the case necks reamed to get rid of burrs, then I run them through the tumbler, and after that I have no problems with the expander die (I use Lee dies, and Lee #11 shell holder).

I had a " 92 " Puma rifle in 45LC , 16" barrel . The first ammo I got for it was some off brand foreign stuff . It was very unreliable about ejecting spent cases . I switched over to Winchester ammo and the problem went away . Winchester brass had a very slightly larger case rim .

Just a thought, Dobie, but are you aware you could use .45 Schofield brass in a .45 Colt revolver? The rim is significantly wider, yet works fine in my 3rd Gen Colt. Because the case is shorter, they won't work in a lever-action rifle, unless it's been modified.

Granted, the case capacity is less, but if you're shooting smokeless it shouldn't matter. You can find load data in various books or on-line.

Doing this from memory, but I believe a shell holder for .44-40 works for .45 Schofield.

Hank M.

For what it's worth, I color code my .45 Colt loads. I use R-P Nickel cases for my "Ruger/TC only" loads. I mainly shoot them in my Marlin 1894. These cases crack on me in the resizing die more often than the regular brass cases. I have always attributed it to the higher pressure of the loads, but I suppose it's possible that the nickel cases are just inferior.

About 10% of the Winchester cases I have don't fit very well into the shell holder. See the previous comment by cowboy4evr. This drives me nuts but I get through it.

Watch out for Hornaday brass. They are sometimes quite a bit shorter than nominal.

I probably wind up throwing away Remington brass, for various reasons, more than any other brass.

Never had a problem with Starline.

Bluedot,
My shell holder is a RCBS #20. I think the problem is the brass, the Fiocchi I have measure .503-.506

msauter,

I lightly chamfer and deburr new brass, the problem with sticking on the expander is a problem I've encountered before with virgin brass, the problem goes away after it's been fired and tumbled.

my concern is with my primer seating on the RCBS bench primer, I don't mash down super hard, but I do like to give a pretty firm solid press. I usually use Starline brass, but bought these Fiocchi at the same gun show I got the revolver and dies

I have done perhaps 500+ Starline brass both virgin and fired successfully with my Lee single stage and a #11 shell holder with no issues yet. No experience with other brass though.
Karl

I use Star-Line, almost exclusively and have had no problems.

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

I also use and like Star Line brass. However I have found that their brass when new is really clean and dry and I find that with that big ole .45 Colt case the first time through the sizing die a lot more effort is required both up and down. I find that for the first time after I have lubed them very lightly they just zip along in the sizing die. This reduces the stress on the rim greatly. After fireing them for the first time and a trip through the tumbler they run through nice and easy.

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Stay safe people!

I use a Lee #11 shell holder. Never had a problem using it with any .44 Mag, .44-40, or .45 Colt brass of any headstamp. You name the headstamp, I probably have it.

I have both RCBS & Lyman shell holders for 45Colt. I did have a
Lee, but had to many pull throughs with them, they went to round file. The biggest part of my brass is Winchester, that I got
once fired from a guy who was into SAS, but didn't load. These
brass are from the Cowboy loads. I also have around a thousand
Remington Kleanbore brass, new old stock from the 50s. I have
a few hundred newer Rem brass and several other makes. The
Lee shell holder didn't care what brand it was, a few would pull
through. The only ones that pulled through the other holders
we're the newer Rems. I figure that is par for the course. If you
take a close look, the newer Rem brass uses less copper in their
brass. I do a lot of Wildcat case forming and learned several years ago that Rem brass is "harder" than the others. The lost
brass to splits, ect was a high percentage.

Ive loaded 10s of 1000s, all brands of brass, never had the issue on my dillon stuff. With new brass, or brass wet/ss pin cleaned, try tumbling in dry media with a bit of nu-finish polish.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

As far as reloading , I have used just about every brand of brass available for the 45LC and never had a problem . I bought a bag of " once fired " 45LC brass and there was every brand you could think of in there including from Mexico . They all fit my Lee shell holder fine .

Are you using carbide dies? Unless I missed it I don't see whether you said. If you're NOT using carbide, you must lube the cases. Unlubed, you're going g pull lots of rims off.

I've run I'd guess around a thousand mostly Starline brass through carbide dies.and haven't lost a single case.

One thing I have noticed about the .45 Colt brass. Many cases seem to have proprietary headstamps on them. I suspect from custom loaders, don't remember all of them but one is "Top Brass"

The sticking problem I had was on the expander, I've had this happen before with virgin brass in other calibers, just a virgin brass thing. My bigger concern was the brass pushing out of shell holder while priming.

Expander? My dies for straight wall cases don't have an expander. There's a cylindrical sizing die (1st step), then a die that bells the case mouth (2nd step), and a die that seats and crimps the bullet (3rd step). I can't imagine how a case would get stuck on the second step, presumably where his problem is occurring, unless the piece that bells the case mouth is set WAY too low or is somehow too large in diameter.

It has something to do with the "grip" of virgin brass on the expander plug while "belling" the case mouth. I barely "bell" the case mouth, just enough to start the bullet in use. This problem never happens once cases have been fired and tumbled.

The 2nd step does more than bell the mouth, it also expands the case.

Don

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NRA Cert. Reloading Instructor

Well, If I had ever taken my dies apart, I would've known that! I stand corrected.

That's correct. Factory new brass is very grippie. Sizing & expanding is noticeably harder on them. However, it shouldn't be pulling the brass out of the shelf holder.

It may be a combination the slightly smaller case rims & the shell holder's (larger) size? You could always try a new/different brand shell holder to see if it helps.

.

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Waiting for the break of day

Sticky virgin brass is not new to me in the 4 calibers I load, but .45 Colt is new to me with it's smaller rim combined with Fiocchi being maybe smaller than others. I have some Starline on the way. The Fiocchi I bought came primed, I've now learned factory primed Fiocchi brass makes for fairly loose primer pockets, feels like I could seat Federal 150's with my thumb.

I have had nothing but problems with TOP BRASS brand. From virgin cases I had 75% splits on first firing!

I have in the neighborhood of 5500 pieces of 45 Colt brass, mostly bought fired from shooters who changed to a different caliber. Top Brass is the worst, with Remington (brass or nickel) 2nd and Winchester a distant third!

BTW, I've had 3 92 repro carbines and 2 Marlin 1895 Cowboy Specials, and all fire Starline 45 Scofield without and alteration, or modification. The shorter case allows 1 or 2 more rounds in the tube magazine.

Ivan

Problem solved, got some Starline brass in today.

Fiocchi rims: .503-.506
Starline: .506=.508
The metallurgy of the brass may well be different as well.

100 Starline sized and primed, no issues.

I use all brands including Starline, Remington, Winchester and Federal Brass and now have a Dillon 650 - NO PROBLEMS.

When I DID own a Dillon Square Deal B I used the Brass Locator Pins from the .45 acp set up on the .45 Colt Shell Plate and that solved the ocassional case popping out of the ShellHolder. The .45 Pins are a slightly tighter fit and I found them to work MUCH MUCH better than the .45 Colt Pins did.