New to reloading....did i get it all??

[Canucky]

Irish one question? Probably addressed, dies/case lube.Carbide dies right? Almost set to load myself, just tumbler and calipers. Still sorting through a estate. Happy reloading.Will follow your progress, live in Roseville too.

[IrishPirate]

apparently with carbide you don't need lube...

my caliper was $20 at harbor freight, I want a tumbler too but apparently that's not a necessity either so it'll wait until i get some more $$$. if i dont press some rounds soon i'm gonna go crazy looking at my press every day!!!!

[HighLander51]

Auto cartridges head space on the mouth, not the rim, so you will need a case gage to effectively check crimp,

http://www.dillonprecision.com/content/p/9/pid/25548/catid/3

The .45acp is a low pressure round, so start at the bottom end of the Win231 load data, about 4.0 grains and use the maximum OAL. Most powder measures are going to throw +/.1 grains, so if it loads 3.9 or 4.1 it won't matter. It takes about .3 grains to actually chrono the difference using the same case.
Win231 is a very low density powder, so it occupies a relatively large volume, a good choice for beginners, versus Bullseye, Clays, Titegroup, which can easily double. Eventually you will need a case tumbler if you are going to load in any volume. Load 20 or so rounds and try them at the range. For decades my standard .45acp load was a 230 gr LRN on top of 5.1 grains of 231 at .1255" OAL and later switched to 4.0 grs of TiteGroup in the early 90's.

[rsrocket1]

The best case gauge is your gun since you are probably loading for just one 1911, take the barrel out and put a sized case into the chamber.

Look at the picture in this post here. After seating a bullet, test again. This is called the "plunk" test. It will let you know that you may need to run the seated bullet through the FCD resizing ring, put a slight taper crimp to remove the bell, or seat the bullet deeper if it is slightly oversized and has a "shelf". Be careful with seating deeper. Pressures go up quickly as you reduce the case volume. Mid range loads are usually OK.

You'll probably see that you'll almost never have to trim a straight walled pistol case and that with 45ACP, you'll probably lose the case before you wear it out.

[HighLander51]

The best case gauge is your gun since you are probably loading for just one 1911, take the barrel out and put a sized case into the chamber.

Yes, you should always chamber check your loads in your guns, but the value of a case gage is that it is made to SAAMI standard dimensions whereas barrel chambers vary slightly, depending on how many times the reamer has been used and the initial quality of the barrel. Custom barrels are short chambered, so you can finish ream them to match your load dimensions. If it fits a case gage and does not fit your barrel chamber, then it needs a finish ream. Loads may not fit the case gage, but may chamber in your barrel. That's the difference. And if you change bullet type, weight and shape ie, full metal jacket, versus moly lead, truncated cone versus round nose, or 185 gr versus 230 gr, everything else changes.

http://www.saami.org/

[Bill Steele]

Some terrific advice in the previous two posts.

I always chamber check every single round when I am loading lead. I use a Dillon case gauge for my .45 ACP and it works great for all but one of my 1911's. This one has a slightly tighter chamber, so when I want to use it, I have to check my lead rounds with that barrel.

Yesterday I was at the range and brought some 225gr LTC rounds for load testing. Unfortunately, at the last minute I had switched guns I brought and had not checked the rounds I brought with that one "tight" gun, I had only used the case gauge.

The first round went bang, the next round would not chamber. All the rest were the same, no go.

Case gauges work great, but if you absolutely, positively have to have reliability, using the actual chamber/barrel is a good idea.

[IrishPirate]

Some terrific advice in the previous two posts.

I always chamber check every single round when I am loading lead. I use a Dillon case gauge for my .45 ACP and it works great for all but one of my 1911's. This one has a slightly tighter chamber, so when I want to use it, I have to check my lead rounds with that barrel.

Yesterday I was at the range and brought some 225gr LTC rounds for load testing. Unfortunately, at the last minute I had switched guns I brought and had not checked the rounds I brought with that one "tight" gun, I had only used the case gauge.

The first round went bang, the next round would not chamber. All the rest were the same, no go.

Case gauges work great, but if you absolutely, positively have to have reliability, using the actual chamber/barrel is a good idea.

thank you, i'll be sure to chamber check whatever I press on this go around...my 1911 could use the practice anyways