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my excitement for the week:
so, last night i was setting up my lee classic turret press and deluxe pistol dies to get it ready to load some .45 acp (works like a champ with .45 colt) so i could try a couple different things (mainly 200 gr cast rnfp vs. 230 gr copper plated with 6.0 grains of hodgdon universal). after a few tries and a couple dummy rounds, i get my case length to where i want it and the assembled dummy rounds are looking pretty good.
i then load a live round, get it into the factory crimp/sizer die and the little bugger is stuck. so, i figure, apply a little more pressure. no luck. it's stuck beyond any and all hope. i then go and send an e-mail to lee precision asking them for help. (i also consulted various forums and found advice such as "whack it from the bullet end with a dowel and a hammer." i was a little apprehensive, so just went to sleep).
when i wake up and check my e-mail later in the day, i have an e-mail from john lee himself telling me that he's never heard of this happening in one of their dies, to try doing what i'd already tried to dislodge the round, and that i should mail the die to the company if it's sans rim, making sure to have it brought to his attention. unfortunately, seeing as to how i kinda consider a live round in a tube to be a bit hazardous to mail, i opted to call my local gun store to see where i could just get rid of the whole thing. they suggested that i call my local law enforcement branch and have them take care of it.
so, i call the local police department and after assuring them that it's not a live round in a gun, but in a reloading die, i am asked to kindly come down to the station with the die so the officer i talked to could take a look at it. so, i go on down there, and the guy is nice, but seems certain that it was my fault that the round was jammed in there so bad. he looks at it, takes it to his little shop where he tries to knock it out via the pounding on the top with a dowel method, and brings it back to me to show that he had no luck whatsoever and was impressed with how badly it got jammed in there (he seemed less conviced that the fault lie with me when he couldn't get it out). so, i left the evil die with him, and consider my problem solved.
i consider the ~$15 for a new factory crimp die to be well worth my not having one go boom while i try to extract the round by banging on it or whatever. hell, maybe lee will be so impressed with the fubar story that they'll send me a new die.
also, i'm wondering if any of you have ever experienced a .45 acp die holding on to a cast bullet during the seating process (i.e. "hey, where'd the bullet go?!?!?")? my seating die was doing that off and on, but had stopped once i got the seating depth just right. i'm wondering if that may have been part of the problem too because with my .45 colt dies that's not an issue. i'm attributing it to the taper crimp that exists in the .45 acp seating die (and not in the .45 colt), but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
thanks for any input, and here's hoping you enjoyed my little tale.
so, last night i was setting up my lee classic turret press and deluxe pistol dies to get it ready to load some .45 acp (works like a champ with .45 colt) so i could try a couple different things (mainly 200 gr cast rnfp vs. 230 gr copper plated with 6.0 grains of hodgdon universal). after a few tries and a couple dummy rounds, i get my case length to where i want it and the assembled dummy rounds are looking pretty good.
i then load a live round, get it into the factory crimp/sizer die and the little bugger is stuck. so, i figure, apply a little more pressure. no luck. it's stuck beyond any and all hope. i then go and send an e-mail to lee precision asking them for help. (i also consulted various forums and found advice such as "whack it from the bullet end with a dowel and a hammer." i was a little apprehensive, so just went to sleep).
when i wake up and check my e-mail later in the day, i have an e-mail from john lee himself telling me that he's never heard of this happening in one of their dies, to try doing what i'd already tried to dislodge the round, and that i should mail the die to the company if it's sans rim, making sure to have it brought to his attention. unfortunately, seeing as to how i kinda consider a live round in a tube to be a bit hazardous to mail, i opted to call my local gun store to see where i could just get rid of the whole thing. they suggested that i call my local law enforcement branch and have them take care of it.
so, i call the local police department and after assuring them that it's not a live round in a gun, but in a reloading die, i am asked to kindly come down to the station with the die so the officer i talked to could take a look at it. so, i go on down there, and the guy is nice, but seems certain that it was my fault that the round was jammed in there so bad. he looks at it, takes it to his little shop where he tries to knock it out via the pounding on the top with a dowel method, and brings it back to me to show that he had no luck whatsoever and was impressed with how badly it got jammed in there (he seemed less conviced that the fault lie with me when he couldn't get it out). so, i left the evil die with him, and consider my problem solved.
i consider the ~$15 for a new factory crimp die to be well worth my not having one go boom while i try to extract the round by banging on it or whatever. hell, maybe lee will be so impressed with the fubar story that they'll send me a new die.
also, i'm wondering if any of you have ever experienced a .45 acp die holding on to a cast bullet during the seating process (i.e. "hey, where'd the bullet go?!?!?")? my seating die was doing that off and on, but had stopped once i got the seating depth just right. i'm wondering if that may have been part of the problem too because with my .45 colt dies that's not an issue. i'm attributing it to the taper crimp that exists in the .45 acp seating die (and not in the .45 colt), but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
thanks for any input, and here's hoping you enjoyed my little tale.
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