Need help sorting out 44 mag crimping...

[stilly]

So I was reloading for my Deagle and as it turns out the LAST round in the mag now is getting stuck. It goes UP and gets caught on the top of the chamber going in. All I have to do is point the gun down, and pull back a tad on the slide and it will drop in the chamber. IF I did not know better I would say it was getting stuck on the crimp.

I have been using the Lee FCD lately to make the rounds since it is supposed to be better. I also read that (someone else posted elsewhere) that the Deagle needed a firm crimp towards the top of the cannelure but the crimp did not need to be tight enough to make the brass flake off the edge of the rim.

ALL OF MY CRIMPS have been leaving brass flakes all over. I thought it was normal to have that flake off the top of the rim.

I load on a Lee Classic Turret press and after I figured out how to crimp I went out and bought a Lee FCD because I thought that it would make things better. I THOUGHT that the Lee 44 special dies that I have been using were putting roll crimps and I needed a taper crimp so I bought the FCD and turned off the crimper on the bullet seater/crimper. After reading the directions and Lee website I THOUGHT that buy buying the 44 special FCD that it would give me a TAPER crimp since the Lee factory 44 special die does a roll crimp.

In looking at the shells I think it is a roll crimp that is being produced because it looks like the top of the shell is bent in slightly.

There was a moment in time where I had no problems feeding but now it seems that this has popped up and I am not sure what caused it.

Any ideas on where I should start looking? I plan to compare my fiocchi factory ammo to the home made stuff the next time I go to the range.

IN the meantime, because I do not wanna shoot 44 mag in my garage in the middle of the city (might put a hole in my door) what can I do to test my ammo out safely?

Should I load a shell with a bullet and no primer/powder and put it in the mag and see how it loads and then pull it and reseat it after adjusting the crimp?

Someone else suggested micing the bullet but I tried and I am afraid that I suck at micing things because I overanalyze it all and I had to mic about 10 times to arrive at a solid number.

Thanks for any info.

OR, what is a good combination of crimping that works for your Deagle?

My rounds have been 1.610 OAL but lately I have dropped them down to about 1.575~1.600. Hmmm, could that be the problem? I thought that by making them shorter they would fit in the mag better and the factory stuff looks to be under 1.600 and even as low as 1.575 for Fiocchi 240gr JSP.

[Chief-7700]

.44 Mag needs a roll crimp. Have you used different mags?? Use a factory round as an Guide. Shorter is not always better!! An observation: your are over thinking the whole process, don't worry that will go away once you have loaded a few thousand round.
Chief

[mud99]

If it only happens on the last round, that would be an indication that it has nothing to do with your loading technique.

I would guess that you either have a weak magazine spring, bad follower, or maybe your loads are too mild, and the slide isn't coming back far enough to chamber the last round.

44 mag was never meant to be stacked in a magazine. It can be done, but chambering will never be as simple and straight forward as with a non-rimmed cartridge. The last round will likely have a slightly different angle sitting in the magazine than the rest.

Also, calling it a Deagle gives you an automatic

[stilly]

I am using a factory mag.

I got a pro mag once because it was CHEAP at $23.00 including shipping. But Right now I only use the factory mag. I have three of them.

I did not do this as much in the past. It was one here and one there. But now this is the ONLY thing wrong with it and my loads are NOT underpowered.

I am using 23.5gr H110 with 240gr Plated FP, and 16.2gr AA#7 with same bullet and 15.0-15.5gr of Blue Dot.

The ones that I shot with a 1.600oal had no issues. Perhaps it is too short so I will set them back to 1.600 oal.

I did not think that .010 could make that much of a difference though. It is such a small number. :\


As for Deagle. Deagle Deagle Deagle. I NEVER knew about this gun until I played the game Counter Strike 1.0 It was a fun gun to use and I NEVER saw them in real life until I was at Turners one day and saw them for $999 and I was like, WOW that is expensive... Fast forward to last October when I found one in Bright Spot Pawn and I JUST sold my Kodiak several months prior. I was like, hey is that a .44 mag? And Dan was like, Yep. I needed a 44 mag to replace my revolver. So he was asking $850 for it and I bought it. I love it and I figure that since I have shot over 300 rounds out of it and loaded about 90% of them myself I earned the right to call it what I want. I know that some folks do not like to call them Deagles but I do. And yes I am a gamer. A gamer with a Deagle... And hopefully in about 5 months I might also have my MP5 from Bright Spot also. I will call it my MP5 even though it is a Dakota Arms MP5 clone...

Now back to the issue at hand. I will try a different mag and see if anything changes. I will also roll crimp with the die set that I bought and remove the FCD out of the equation and see if that helps.

Thanks for the info so far guys. Any more will be read and considered in case I might have missed something.

[stilly]

Alrighty. I have loaded up about 50 rounds of H110 and 2400 (20/29 cause I dropped a primer on the floor and the dog ated it...)

now I am gonna make some imr 4227 loads and see how they will work for me at the range. I will take TWO mags this time and ALL of these have been roll crimped lightly instead of that FCD I was using... :\

[bfoosh006]

Give them a firm roll crimp, because of the action ( you don't want any bullet set-back )and .44 mag powders work better firmly crimped. Lee's FCD probably would work fine with a revolver, but be fussy in Desert Eagles, AutoMags, and possibly Lever actions.

And sadly , Pro Mag does not have a "sparkling" reputation for quality mags.

[Butthead]

Its because your "Deagle" is all messed up, something happened to the metal and turned it a funny color, probably whats messing it up. lol

Sorry about that. I run my deagle ammo at 1.580 and use a Lee FCD and have no issues at all. But I dont run plated bullets. I use 2400 and WLP primers and all is well. I am guessing maybe the spring is a bit weak.

[stilly]

Its because your "Deagle" is all messed up, something happened to the metal and turned it a funny color, probably whats messing it up. lol

Sorry about that. I run my deagle ammo at 1.580 and use a Lee FCD and have no issues at all. But I dont run plated bullets. I use 2400 and WLP primers and all is well. I am guessing maybe the spring is a bit weak.

Yeah, it is green with envy from others that shoot better.


I have found the problem. I have 3 mags and I switched to the mag dated 96 and it DID not hang up at all.

Using the mag from 2008 that I have been using all this time the last bullet hung on just about all of the ones that I tried.

SO it was a MAG issue. Wow, less than 500 rounds and the mag went bad on me?

Yeah pro mag sucketh but what good is a lifetime warranty if all you can have to send back is new garbage to replace the bad garbage that a customer bought...

My mag spring I THINK is not the problem though, I THINK I need to pinch the top of my mag a bit because the other mag that I used had slight issues putting rounds into it, it kinda pinched them towards the front where the other mag did not, but then again, the other mag also had NEVER pinched the rounds as far as I can remember... Lovely... Now I gotta chase down this issue. I have 2400, what load weight do you use?
I believe I loaded 2400 also but I forgot what the charge was.