.45 ACP Case Issue

[psteinmayer]

Ok, here's one I've never encountered before:

I'm in the process of loading some .45 ACP cases. These are PMC once fired cases, and I'm stumped. After cleaning, sizing and trimming, I expand, fill and set my bullets in the case mouth. On approximately 20 out of 100 cases, the bullet dropped right into the case until setting on the powder charge... as if the cases were oversize. I sized all of my cases together, and same for expanding and charging. The first indication that I have one of these cases is the lack of the usual "Bump" when retracting the case from the expanding die. All cases were fired through the same gun (Taurus Millennium Pro PT-145). I've fired several hundred rounds through this gun, and after reloading several hundred rounds, this is the first time I've encountered this.

My question is this: Is it possible for some brass cases to be weak enough to over expand when being fired? And why didn't the cases size back down in my sizing die (Lee Carbide Die)? The remaining cases loaded normally. For reference, I load with 8.6 grains of HS-6, Winchester primers, and Berry's Plated 185 grain round nose bullets... and only shoot these for practice and plinking. Oh, and I always weight my charges.

I welcome all advice.

[Twinson]

Are the bullets undersized?

[BudT]

Another idea, did you check the case wall thickness? I'll explain. I tried to reform .308 winchester into .338 Federal and it worked but only for the first firing. After loading and firing in the normal way I resized the case and the bullet would just fall into the case. I discovered that the case wall was to thin to size correct to hold the bullet. Measure your case walls and see if some mike out thin.

[joem]

Some cases have thinner walls than other manufactures. The outside is sized correctly to SAMMI specs but the inside is a bit larger. Sometimes I pick up by mistake brass other than my own at the range. Certain manufactures I trash because of this.

[JimF]

I had the same problem with PMC 6.5x55 cases . . . . Brass too thin at mouth to hold bullet!

Solution? . . . .

I used the brass for another project . . . . Reforming to 7.5mm French! --Jim

[psteinmayer]

Are the bullets undersized?

Nope, removed bullet and powder, and reloaded into another case with no problems. Did this every time it happened!

[psteinmayer]

I'll throw a micrometer on a case... or maybe measure the case inside with my digital calipers. That makes pretty good sense!!! Thanks all.

[Duane Hansen]

Very Strange indeed. I have loaded range brass for years, probably close to 2000 rds in the last 6 or 8 months (all .45 ACP). I have just about every manufacturer represented that you can imagine. I've never had this problem before with any of them and I've never had to trim a a casing either. I'd be very interested to hear what you find.

[Parashooter]

The problem described is most likely from thin-walled brass, as stated above. The solution is a tighter sizing die. If you have a .30/06 F.L. sizer handy, it will usually do the trick - thanks to body taper. Dies for other rifle cartridges with the same head size, like 8x57, 7.62 NATO, etc. can also work.

[emmagee1917]

Yep , I reload for .38/200 , and one brand 38S&W brass is too thin , Remington IIRC . I run them through a .38 spl / .357 die first then into the .38S&W die for mouth expansion.
Chris

[mikld]

I agree with the fellers above that the particular brass is thin walled and with your dies leaves the ID a bit "large". Easiest solution in this case is to just sort out those PMC cases. With my old RCBS sizing die and .451" and .452" bullets, I don't have that problem....

[psteinmayer]

I'll try the 30-06 die and see what that does... I am still going to measure a few cases though, just to see. If the brass is thin enough to cause this problem, I'm not sure I want to use it anyway... It's not like I'm hurting for brass - I have almost 700 rounds worth, and I can always pickup more at the range (I always ask people who don't save their brass if I can have it).

[Hefights]

One thing that jumps out to me right away, PMC brass. Of my many brass brands I use in various calibers including range brass, often unexplained anomalies will surface with PMC. So I have just learned to be on the lookout and maybe not expect the same "success rate" or reloading life as with other brass. I do not know if I would be searching for an extroadinary way to size brass that won't work with a normal die. You don't need bullets pushing into the case upon feeding or some other anomaly surfacing when least needed.