.50AE Reloading Issue With Speer GDHP

[Adonlude]

After going through the learning curve of loading my first 25 rounds of ammo I was happy to have a nice handful of 50AE with a perfect OAL of 1.580" as recommended by my Lyman manual. I started dropping some of the rounds into the chamber of my Desert Eagle and found that they didn't easily fall back out. I cycled a few through a magazine and let the slide slam on them and pull them back out. I checked the cases and everything was to spec. I even tried a more agressive crimp on some of them but no change.

I finally discovered the problem. The 300gr Speer GDHP bullets were running into the rifling of the barrel even though I had the right OAL for 300gr bullets according to Lyman. Additionally, every time I let the slide slam a round home the AOL was reduced to around 1.565" and faint scoring marks could be seen where the rifling hit the sides of the bullet.

What is going on here? My lyman manual says 1.580" for 300gr HP and 1.575" for 325gr HP's. Why are these Speer bullets being pushed deeper into the case upon slamming a round home???

Anyone have a Speer reloading manual who can lookup their suggested OAL?

[depmac983ret]

From the Speer Reloading Manual #13 (there is a later edition) only one bullet for the D.E. is listed. It's for a:

.500' Dia 325 grain Uni-cor HP.
C.O.L. 1.575
Max case length 1.285"
Trim-to length 1.275"

Hope this helps

[Adonlude]

From the Speer Reloading Manual #13 (there is a later edition) only one bullet for the D.E. is listed. It's for a:

.500' Dia 325 grain Uni-cor HP.
C.O.L. 1.575
Max case length 1.285"
Trim-to length 1.275"

Hope this helps

Thanks for looking that up. Looks the same as my Lyman manual. Anyone have the newest Speer manual? Speer currently sells GDHP rounds listed for 50AE in 300gr and 325gr. There must be load data out there for the 300gr but my Googling is turning up nothing.

[new cal shooter]

does your projectile have a cannelure? "crimp groove" if so go on the bottom of that and check the COL, if not, remove your barrel and chamber test the rounds, if your going much shorter on your COL like from 1.580 to 1.560 take out a few grains of powder to compensate for the shorter COL, more preassure. Not going to hurt loading at 1.560 if the round drops into the chamber freely and does not touch the rifle groves / lans, Also check the Diameter of the Bullet is it .500 or +/- use a Micro meter, awesome tool, If you dont have one, Sears has a nice 1" model for $20, WELL worth the money.
Good luck!

[Adonlude]

No cannelure, these are Speer 300gr 50AE specific bullets. I finally figured out what the problem is though I am not sure if its the bullets that are bad or if there is something wrong with my chamber.

I have some Load-X factory 50AE ammo and a box of Magnum Research 300gr IMI factory ammo and both these cartriges drop in and out of the barrel perfectly.

I have used my calipers to compare my reloads to both of the factory cartriges and everything is identical except for one thing. The two factory cartriges that feed nicely have a bullet that starts tapering down from its .500 diameter immediately past the case mouth. These Speer bullets do not start tapering down the diameter until quite a bit further away from the case mouth and thus they are hitting the barrel rifling. Approximately 0.100" away from the case mouth the bullet still has a diameter of 0.495"! Yes, I have checked and checked again and my OAL is definately 1.580" just like the factory Magnum Research rounds, the bullet just stays to wide for to long.

Whats going on here???

I contacted Speer and this is the response I got:
"we developed the 50 AE round for the Desert Eagle and our
tested OAL was 1.580". You may want to check (read cast) your chamber
to see/compare the dimension with Industry Standard as MAX OAL is
1.595"."

My gun works great with these other two factory ammo's whose bullets clearly begin tapering off diameter further from the tip of the bullet. Anyone every experience this before or have any ideas?

[new cal shooter]

Are you seating the bullet and taper crimping in 2 stages or using the Lee all at once seat and taper crimp?

[Adonlude]

Are you seating the bullet and taper crimping in 2 stages or using the Lee all at once seat and taper crimp?

I am doing it in two stages. Take a look at my post right before yours. The issue seems to be with the Speer bullet taper not starting soon enough.

[new cal shooter]

Cant really use Calipers to measure diameter, must use a Micro meter, Sears has them $20

or try a stronger, deeper taper on your crimp

[Adonlude]

I seated one of my bullets to a COL of 1.545" and it chambers perfectly. That is 30mils below the recommendation though. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here! Anyone else have a 50AE Desert Eagle who reloads it? Ill send you a couple bullets and reloads and maybe you can tell me what is wrong. Maybe my chamber is out of spec.