Mod 625 .45 ACP Reloading Question

[2Guns]

I have been reloading .45 ACP for quite a few years but always for semi-automatics and without any difficulties. I recently purchased a new 625 JM and my reloads will not seat fully in the cylinder, they hang up with about an 1/8" of the casing sitting above the cylinder. The will not seat even with slight pressure. I tested three factory rounds and they all slip into the clyinder, so clearly the problem is my reloads. Unfortunately I don't know what is causing it.

I full length resize and bell the mouth of the case slightly before seating the bullet. I don't crimp the case mouth as I would with a revolver round, as it has never been required with my semiautos, which feed well and shoot accurately.

What am I doing wrong? Advice and suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks

 

[Culina]

OAL or the lack of a crimp sounds like your problem. I think the revolver chambers are also tighter than those you would find on an autoloader.

 

[M29since14]

If you do not have a "case gage" (which should be correctly called a "maximum ammunition" gage), by all means get one. In all likelihood, you may be trying to work with worn out brass and the only thing you can do is either save it for your guns with larger chambers or throw it away. If your ammunition goes in your maximum ammunition gage, it should fit in ANY firearm you own. Chambers, like ammunition, have minimum and maximum dimensions. You are interested in making sure your handloaded ammunition is below (smaller than) the maximum ammunition limits.

 

[Reddog]

I have the same gun and all my 1911 reloads work just fine in it. Are you allowing for the fact that the gun is designed for use with moon clips? When you drop a round in a chamber, even without the clips it won't go all the way in. It head spaces on the shoulder of the case.
Dick

 

[arjay]

Try a taper crimp and see how they fit.

 

[Aticus]

Do not roll crimp the case as you would with a revolver cartridge. You might need to add a little extra taper crimp over what you are using now. I had a similar problem with two different 1911s a while back. The handloads I was making worked great in one but would fail to FULLY chamber in the other. It took just a slight turn of the seating/crimping die to add just enough crimp to get them to work in the second gun.

As was posted your 625 chambers might be a little tighter than your semi-auto.

 

[Foxtrot40]

+1 on the taper crimp. You should do this on your loads for semi-autos as well.

 

[2Guns]

Ok, here is another question/observation. What is a tamper crimp? I tried, backing out the seating screw and screwing the seating die body down farther, like you would for a revolver cartridge but it deformed the cases.

I then tried running the loaded rounds thru the resizing die. The worked for the lead ball and lead semi-wadcutter rounds, the would drop into the chamber with the moon clips.

Howevver when I tried the same approach (running thru the resizing die again) with jacketed hollow points, the bullets loosened up so much in the case that the bullets could easily move in and out of the loaded case under finger pressure. In fact some became so loosened that if you shook them the bullet would drop out.

I am clearly doing something wrong, your recommendations would be most welcome.

2Guns

 

[arjay]

Some 45 acp die sets come with a roll crimp die and I suspect that's what you have if it's deforming cases.What does it say on the box?Taper crimp dies can be bought seperately.

 

[johngalt]

My 625 has tight chambers and won't chamber federal brass, both my reloads and factory fresh ammo. Winchester and RP are ok though.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Can I see a picture of the loads? The reason I had for the same condition is that the shoulder of my bullet was trying to enter the throat that was the same size as the bullets. I had to go with a very short OAL so that the shoulder of the bullet did not stick out near so much, then, viola, they chambered just fine after that.

 

[ILLWIND]

I used to have similar problems with my 625-4 SAC. I too used this forum to have questions answered.First my primers were too high. After fighting that problem, I bought a primer pocket reamer and processed all of my 45 cases. End of that prob, primers all seat nice.
Next problem was reloads that would be hard to chamber. My bullets are My own cast from Lyman molds, 200 gr SWC and 230 RN. the 200's are .4518" dia and the 230's are .4506" dia as cast. I size them in a .451" die. The 230's were never a problem.

The SWC's I found would chamber nice ONLY if I ran them thru a seating die a 2nd time, and slightly deeper (.050-.060 deeper). 1st seater die is for seating to length only and the 2nd for taper crimping. Now they all fit in to a Wilson chamber gage. End of problems with .45 ACP reloads.

 

[scha]

When I had a Model 625 I always used 45 Auto Rimmed brass. This is designed for use in revolvers and headspaces on the rim not on the front edge of the brass. Using this brass in a 45 ACP revolver makes sense to me.

Steve

 

[roundgunner]

I use fairly new brass for my revolvers.

The resizing die wont resize all the way down. When they get to the point the resizing die wont slim them down enough to chamber in one of my 4 45acp revolvers I use them in my auto's until they split.

It becomes easy to keep the brass separate if you have enough moon clips. I only load or unload my clips at the reloading bench. I'm 99.9% sure this is your issue.

A nice thing is once you get them separated the revolver chambers are tighter so they do not expand as much. It is a answer that works.

 

[Coastie762]

As others have noted, if you are not crimping, or at least removing the belling from your cases after sizing that is probably the source of your problem.

Try this: Take a fired case and run it through your full length sizer. Now, before performing any additional steps try the case in all chambers. If it fits easily, run the case through the expander die and try the fit again. If it doesn't seat, the belling from the expander is the cause. You can adjust the expander to reduce the amount of belling and/or remove the bell and adjust the crimp as noted below.

If the case still fits easily after belling, seat a projectile in the case to your desired length and try again. If your seating length is too long, you may be hitting the chamber throats. Granted, this is not the most likely cause but should not be ruled out if the other tests are negative.

If belling was the cause, seat a bullet as described above to your desired length. Back off the seater stem, then turn in the seater die body 1/8 of a turn or so at a time until the case belling is removed. Even a roll crimp die should be able to be adjusted to just remove the bell and not excessively deform the bullet.

These steps should be able to allow you to pinpoint the cause and correct your problem quickly.

Good Luck!

 

[BlueOvalBandit]

I'm gonna bet this is probably a gun problem. Have you tried the reloads in another gun if they drop in just fine its definitely the gun. My 625-8 will do the same thing on 4/6 chambers but drops in fine on the other 2. I've been told by other USPSA revolver shooters that the -8s (you JM included) have a tendency to have out of round or undersized chambers. Mine needed finish reaming.

 

[cfplinker]

My 45ACP loads were taper crimped to a diameter of .470 measured right at the end of the case. When I got my 625 I had a problem like yours in that, using moon clips, not all of the rounds would fully chamber even though they fit into a chamber checker as well as a 45ACP barrel. I found that most of the ones that did not chamber would chamber of I rotated them in the cylinder hole. I tightened the crimp up to .468 and the problems stopped.

 

[steamloco76]

Try Lee Factory Crimp Die

I have a 22-4, 22-4 model of 1917, 625-6 and a Ruger Blackhawk in 45 ACP. The Blackhawk has tight, minimum length chambers. Rounds that fit in all my semi-auto 45's and the 3 S&W's won't always work in the Ruger.

Measure your case length after resizing. If your cases are at the maximum OAL, that could be part of your trouble. You'll need to trim the cases to the trim to length, then chamfer and deburr the mouth.

Also, for all of my semi-auto cartridges I switched to Lee's neat Factory Crimp Die. The Lee die does two things, first it has a carbide sizer ring to bring the loaded round into factory spec if it is slightly bulged or large. Second it applies an easily adjusted TAPER crimp to the rounds. The taper crimp squeezes the case mouth tight to the bullet but does not roll the case mouth. The die is inexpensive, easy to adjust and works very well. It does require a four station progressive press, or the extra step on a manual press.

 

[Maximumbob54]

You could buy the Lee Bulge Buster kit for their FCD and push the cases through the carbide ring to size the whole case back into proper shape.

 

[GLV]

Lee Carbide Factory

crimp die works well for me. It sizes the end of the loaded case to .470, regardless of the brand of case. I just checked five different cases, all the same.

All chamber in my 625-3, both with and without clips.

I started loading revolvers in 1962 and always crimp revolver rounds. Too each his own.