First time loader with first 200 round range report

[1911dude]

Round 1:Round 2:
Just about every round in every mag went smoothly. I was starting to feel really good about these bullets.

Round 3:

Round 3 observations:

Round 4:
I ran a bore snake a couple of times before starting and the rounds fed better but that first round was still consistently giving me issues. The remaining 7 rounds fed well.


Overall I was happy with the way they shot but concerned about every thing else. Simply going bang is not enough. What do you guys think is going on?

[XDRoX]

Did you test the rounds in your barrel before you shot them? Did they freely drop in and freely drop out? And did they drop all the way in? Or did you case gauge them?
Have you ever shot LSWC in this pistol before? Did they feed reliably? Some guns will have a hard time with them.
You may want to try to load some jacketed round nose to see if you can isolate the problem to the LSWC.

[1911dude]

Did you test the rounds in your barrel before you shot them? Yes
Did they freely drop in and freely drop out? Yes
And did they drop all the way in? Yes
Or did you case gauge them? Both
Have you ever shot LSWC in this pistol before? No
Did they feed reliably? N/A
Some guns will have a hard time with them. I've read that and I'm hoping my gun doesn't fall into that group.

You may want to try to load some jacketed round nose to see if you can isolate the problem to the LSWC. I have a box of them and will do them but wanted to work out the bugs on these first.

See above bolded replies. See, I think it has something to do with the texture of the moly coated bullet butting up against the texture of the dirty feed ramp but I could be wrong. Also, the mags having some play in the them while in the gun has me wondering since the rounds fed well when I pressed on the bottom as I released the slide.

[XDRoX]

I'm not a 45 expert, by any means, and I only load jacketed. Even then, my 1911 (Colt) can be a little picky if the rounds are just not exactly right. So hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

But IMO, if the rounds case gauged, and dropped all the way into the chamber, then your rounds are good. IMO it's the guns fault and it may just not like the LSWC's.

I'm not a 1911 guy, I only have one, so hopefully some of the 1911 heads will help out.

[spencerhut]

200 LSWC should be ~1.200 OAL 1.250 is a FMJ/ball OAL.

Never seen a 1911 that refused to run SWC or ball unless it was broken or the ammo was put together wrong.

[Sheldon]

My SWC 200 grainers are in the 1.250" range.

[XDRoX]

1911dude, I just sent your post to my reloading teacher. He is a 1911 guru and loads over 20 calibers. This is what he had to say. Hope this helps.

I don't see which 1911 he is shooting, new gun or old reliable. How does it feed w/ ball ammo?
The load is right in the middle, although I load a bit hotter w/ Clays. If he is running a stock spring, they should cycle. How many rounds has the existing recoil spring had? A weak RS can cause such malfunctions. The OAL is right about where they should be. I would check the fit to the chamber, not a gage. Again, not knowing the gun, the chamber could be tight. Too much crmip could also be an issue, causing slight buckling, again, tight chamber would see this.
Lots of little things can stack up & cause issues. I would go back to ball, if it works, then it's not the gun. Then check the rounds fit to the chamber, not a gage. Then maybe bump the charge to 4.1gr. see how that runs.

[1911dude]

Cool, Chris, thanks for doing that for me. Here is more info for him if you wouldn't mind asking his opinion once more.

To answer his questions, the gun is Dan Wesson Pointman 7 and it feeds jacketed ball ammo 100%. The stock 18.5# RS has about 2,500 rounds. These reloads fit the chamber and fall out easily without assistance. They are crimped at .470 and inspecting them I don't see any buckling. I'm confused how upping the charge would get the first round of every mag to load properly. What does he think about the feed ramp being dirty after 100 rounds or so? I mean with the nose literally sticking to the dirty feed ramp makes me wonder if the powder residue is tacky enough against the moly coating to stop forward motion. When I ran a bore snake through the gun, the rounds loaded well. Also, the mags seating kind of low too makes me wonder if the bullets are just being head butted against the frame because when I press on the bottom of the mag, that extra 1/16th" gets them to feed when I press the slide release.

[XDRoX]

Cool, Chris, thanks for doing that for me. Here is more info for him if you wouldn't mind asking his opinion once more.

To answer his questions, the gun is Dan Wesson Pointman 7 and it feeds jacketed ball ammo 100%. The stock 18.5# RS has about 2,500 rounds. These reloads fit the chamber and fall out easily without assistance. They are crimped at .470 and inspecting them I don't see any buckling. I'm confused how upping the charge would get the first round of every mag to load properly. What does he think about the feed ramp being dirty after 100 rounds or so? I mean with the nose literally sticking to the dirty feed ramp makes me wonder if the powder residue is tacky enough against the moly coating to stop forward motion. When I ran a bore snake through the gun, the rounds loaded well. Also, the mags seating kind of low too makes me wonder if the bullets are just being head butted against the frame because when I press on the bottom of the mag, that extra 1/16th" gets them to feed when I press the slide release.

I'll relay the message to him. I think he has a few Dan Wesson's, so hopefully he'll have some advice.

[XDRoX]

Here's what he had to say. Hope it helps.

Well it sounds like the mag release isn't in the right spot if all the mags are setting 1/16" below the butt. ThAt certainly would screw up the feeding. If every round is feeding on firing & only the first round is hanging up, it may be him riding the slide home. Slides are meant to function @ full speed. I am not sure of the exact sltyle of the bullet, but seating 0.1" longer may cure the feeding issue. FWIW, I load 200grLSWC @ 1.255", the work in 5 diff 1911. Work with one known mag to remove the mag issues. Hoepfully that is helpful.

[1911dude]

What does that mean "riding the slide home"? When I insert the mag, the slide is open and I simply press the slide release to, um, close the slide. Is this not the best way to load a 1911?

Remember, I didn't have any of these issues until the third round of mags (about 100 rounds) when the feed ramp was noticably dirty.

Seat the LSWC longer than what the manuals say? I've read anywhere from 1.200 to 1.235 max for these and I went with 1.250 based on what a lot of people here said they do theirs. Wouldn't longer cause more 3-point jam problems?

Appreciate the effort Chris and please also tell your friend I said thanks.

[XDRoX]

I didn't understand most of his reply either, so I'm not much of a help
I know that making the round longer does sound weird, but worth a shot. In fact you can probably just put one in a puller and lengthen it a tad. Worth a shot I guess.
Are you a member of glocktalk? They have a dedicated reloading forum over there and it has some very knowledgeable people that love to trouble shoot problems like this.
Might be worth joining glocktalk and see what they think.
Sorry I couldn't help.

[5shot]

If the bullets that are not feeding right are being pushed in, their hitting the ramp or top of the chamber at the wrong angle. You may want to try 2-3 brands of magazines. Some mags work better then others in different guns.
Just about any 1911 will feed round nose bullets flawlessly, but some may need the ramp polished to load SWC's consistently.

[bootcamp]

The learning curve with lead is slightly higher than jacketed.

Just a dumb question but you are fl resizing correctly right?

Can you remove the barrel and do a bullet drop in test to make sure they slide all the way in?

The crimp should just be enough to remove the belling. You should not have a 9mm like taper crimp or a 38 special style roll crimp.

[spencerhut]

1/16" play in the mags is perfectly normal.

Dirty feed ramp? Is that a joke? Come on . . .

If 200g SWC do not feed in a 1911 @ 1.250 OAL . . . guess what? The gun is perfectly normal and the rounds are loaded too long. You are using Ball OAL data for SWC. Square peg, round hole ring a bell?

If you have more than a finger nail width of lead (not the cone, the .452" body of the bullet) sticking out of the case mouth they are too long.