45 auto reloads KEYHOLEING

[gotglock99]

Shot my test rounds today and they are KEYHOLEING! What went wrong? Using xtreme 230 grn ball with, 4.6 grns of tire group.

[DJ Skillz]

Are you shooting them out of polygonal rifled barrel? Have you checked the barrel for lead fouling?

[huckberry668]

So many possibilities here. Some background would help. Has this gun ever keyhole before? Does this same load keyhole in other guns?

Someone i knew took the extra step of resizing his loaded rounds thru the sizing die with depriming pin removed. That was some onteresting groups his p220 shot.

[gotglock99]

Shooting them out of glock 21 sf. Borrowed it from friend. Have not tested the rounds in any other gun.

[CalTeacher]

Are these cast bullets? Have you measured their diameter? Have you tried backing down on your powder charge? Are you using a factory crimp die?

[Bill Steele]

Shot my test rounds today and they are KEYHOLEING! What went wrong? Using xtreme 230 grn ball with, 4.6 grns of tire group.

You are within spec for a plated bullet load wise. Off the top of my head I would look at your crimp. If the OD at the case mouth after crimping is less than .472" you are likely pinching the bullet.

Now, I have only had rounds keyhole from too much crimp when they were waaaay too much crimped, but something to check.

Another thing to check is if the bullets are at least .451", undersized bullets can keyhole.

[Turo]

Shooting them out of glock 21 sf. Borrowed it from friend. Have not tested the rounds in any other gun.

Cast bullets in a glock? Glocks don't have traditional rifling, most of them can't spin a lead bullet enough to stabilize it. Plus, you've also got the issue of excessive leading of the barrel when you use cast bullets.

Most Glocks will keyhole cast bullets, they can't stabilize them with their polygonal rifling.

[Audredger]

Most cast bullets in a 45 are .452"

[gotglock99]

The bullets I'm using at xtreme plated bullets! I am using a lee factory crimp, maybe I should back of the crimp

[CalTeacher]

Cast bullets in a glock? Glocks don't have traditional rifling, most of them can't spin a lead bullet enough to stabilize it. Plus, you've also got the issue of excessive leading of the barrel when you use cast bullets.

Most Glocks will keyhole cast bullets, they can't stabilize them with their polygonal rifling.

False. There is absolutely nothing wrong with shooting cast bullets in any polygonal barrel. This is an urban legend of sorts that was invented on the errornet.

As mentioned earlier, check your crimp and bullet diameter. Also, try loading some without the factory crimp die.

[mjmagee67]

You are within spec for a plated bullet load wise. Off the top of my head I would look at your crimp. If the OD at the case mouth after crimping is less than .472" you are likely pinching the bullet.

Now, I have only had rounds keyhole from too much crimp when they were waaaay too much crimped, but something to check.

Another thing to check is if the bullets are at least .451", undersized bullets can keyhole.

I have loaded 1000 of Xtreme 230 RN and i crimp with Lee FCD to .468-.469 have not had a key hole yet. Shot 200 today out to 25 yards.

You got any pics of these keyholes? Round Nose bullets don't exactly cut nice holes in loose paper, There is a thread here on Calguns where someone ask if his 9MM was key holing but it was just round nose holes.

[huckberry668]

Over crimping a heavy plated bullet could cause keyholes or worse. I over crimped a bunch of Rainier for 40sw and got bullet holes with petals. petals from the peeling jacket cut by the case mouth and rifling. That was an interesting target.

I agree polygonal barrels have no issues stabilizing lead bullets. I used to shoot lead out of my G19, G22 and HK USP all the time. I had a G21 that blew up on me on the 12th round of Sierra 185gr SWC jacket bullet at 750fps for reasons unknown.

[huckberry668]

The bullets I'm using at xtreme plated bullets! I am using a lee factory crimp, maybe I should back of the crimp

I'm thinking maybe the sizing ring of the LFCD is sizing your loaded rounds too small. Measure the pre-crimp rounds diameter at just under the mouth. Then measure again after the crimp. I'm thinking some of the thicker wall cases probably got sized too much the bullet become undersized.

Or, crimp them with the seating die on a separate step with the stem removed and see what happens.

[gotglock99]

I'll post some pics tomorrow

[Bill Steele]

I'm thinking maybe the sizing ring of the LFCD is sizing your loaded rounds too small. Measure the pre-crimp rounds diameter at just under the mouth. Then measure again after the crimp. I'm thinking some of the thicker wall cases probably got sized too much the bullet become undersized.

Or, crimp them with the seating die on a separate step with the stem removed and see what happens.

Funny you should mention that, the sizing ring on my LFCD in .45ACP was slightly small (for the OP the sizing ring is the shiney ring at the mouth of the die). It caused all sorts of problems.

I agree with Calteacher and Huck, try skipping the LCFD, just use the seater die and don't over crimp, just so the belling in the case is straight.