Lee 452-230 Not Chambering

[RiskyBusiness]

comparing with berrys bullets 45 230gr i can chamber them fine at 1.255 and a .471 at the mouth after crimped. they plunk and come out like butter. The powder coated ones are giving me trouble. As you can see the closest i can get to chambering one of these bullets is at 1.186 and .472 at the mouth. I used to get this problem with my 45-70 pc bullets but i just seated deeper and they chambered. I've been reading this is a problem with modern 1911's and its just best to try a different bullet mold. 1st pic is 1.186 cast pc, 2nd pic is berrys bullet, 3rd pic is 1.235 cast pc. PC bullets are all sized to 452.

[Bumslie]

I have the same mould and they chamber fine in my newer colt 1911

Try seating and crimping separately.

Mine are all seated long, too
~1.260
RIP Blitzburgh

[hambam105]

Check diameter of plated bullets, approx. 20 random should do.

[RiskyBusiness]

I have the same mould and they chamber fine in my newer colt 1911

Try seating and crimping separately.

Mine are all seated long, too
~1.260
RIP Blitzburgh

i do seat and chamber separately. i found the short OAL is fine, the problem was the throat of my barrel. just need to work up the load safely. by the way do you powdercoat your cast 45s?

[noylj]

It sounds as though your COL is still a bit too long for that bullet. Seat it shorter until it does plunk and then start either reduce load back to start load or at least 2% reduction and work up.
For any one interested:
The solution to chambering problems is to determine the cause:
Take the barrel out of the gun. Drop rounds in until you find one that won't chamber. Take that round and "paint" the bullet and case black with Magic Marker or other marker. Drop round in barrel (or gage) and rotate it back-and-forth a few times.
Remove and inspect the round:
1) Scratches in the ink on bullet--COL is too long
2) Scratches in the ink on edge of the case mouth--insufficient crimp
3) Scratches in the ink just below the case mouth--too much crimp, you're crushing the case
4) Scratches in the ink on case at base of bullet--bullet seated crooked due to insufficient case expansion (not case mouth flare) or improper seating stem fit
5) Scratches in the ink on case just above extractor groove--case bulge not removed during sizing. May need a bulge buster.

[rsrocket1]

I used to load the Lee TL452-230-TC as dropped with nothing more than a tumble lube of 45/45/10. The trick was to seat them to where the cone met at the rim of the case.



Now I powder coat the bullets and size them with a 0.451" push through sizer, seat them wherever (I still typically seat them to the same spot which gives me a 1.17" COL) and use the Lee FCD.

I was originally hesitant to use the FCD because of stories of swaging down bullets. However with powder coated bullets, they act just like plated or jacketed bullets in that even if there is a slight amount of daylight between the rifling groove and the bullet, the powder coat gets the gas cutting and not the lead. In the worst case, you will see soot in the grooves of your barrel after a shooting session, but that wipes away with nothing more than a wadded up paper towel. The pics below are 9mm sized down to 0.356" in a slightly larger 0.357" groove barrel.





So follow noylj's advice and see where the bullets are failing the plunk test.
If the profile of the RN cast bullet is too long and it's hanging up at the rifling, you need to either get your barrel throated or use a different profile cast bullet. A SWC will work but they tend to cause feed problems in some 1911's. The TC bullet I use feed perfectly and have worked very well in my 1911 and XD45.