45 acp bullet setback
Quote from Reloader on December 19, 2010, 2:41 pmI am just curious if anyone else has had a problem with the 550b 45 funnel/neck expander being to deep or too long in 45 acp cases. I have been fighting major bullet setback issues with short jacketed bullets, I am ashamed to say for years, but since I rarely use jacketed bullets in the 45 acp I have not attacked the issue until now. My .452" lead bullets don't usually have a setback issue. With 185 JHP bullets at .451 I was having fits. I tried heavy crimps, that helped but swaged the bullets down. Strangely, I was not getting the problem out of my old style set of RCBS dies so it finally dawned on me to measure the depth of the neck expander plug, not just the diameter. The RCBS was only .200" deep but the Dillon was .400" deep. I shortened the Dillon to .200 and Voila!...set back went away almost completely. If I run the same round thru the mag several times it will move a little deeper...like .010 or so after several cycles.
My question is, does Dillon make a special/shorter funnel for the 45acp? Is there a different/better solution than this? BTW, mostly WW, R-P, PMC brass. Some Federal, Speer also. I have also had this problem with Sierras and Speers with the short bullets, less out of the 230 grainers. The bullets I was using this time were from Zero.
I am just curious if anyone else has had a problem with the 550b 45 funnel/neck expander being to deep or too long in 45 acp cases. I have been fighting major bullet setback issues with short jacketed bullets, I am ashamed to say for years, but since I rarely use jacketed bullets in the 45 acp I have not attacked the issue until now. My .452" lead bullets don't usually have a setback issue. With 185 JHP bullets at .451 I was having fits. I tried heavy crimps, that helped but swaged the bullets down. Strangely, I was not getting the problem out of my old style set of RCBS dies so it finally dawned on me to measure the depth of the neck expander plug, not just the diameter. The RCBS was only .200" deep but the Dillon was .400" deep. I shortened the Dillon to .200 and Voila!...set back went away almost completely. If I run the same round thru the mag several times it will move a little deeper...like .010 or so after several cycles.
My question is, does Dillon make a special/shorter funnel for the 45acp? Is there a different/better solution than this? BTW, mostly WW, R-P, PMC brass. Some Federal, Speer also. I have also had this problem with Sierras and Speers with the short bullets, less out of the 230 grainers. The bullets I was using this time were from Zero.
Quote from Reloader on December 20, 2010, 3:23 pmWe do not make any shorter funnels for 45 caliber. In our experience if the size die is at proper dimension, you shouldn't see setback with bullets of the correct diameter. The expander diameter should be .448" +/- .001" for 45 cal.
We do not make any shorter funnels for 45 caliber. In our experience if the size die is at proper dimension, you shouldn't see setback with bullets of the correct diameter. The expander diameter should be .448" +/- .001" for 45 cal.
Quote from Reloader on December 21, 2010, 5:01 amThe dies are sizing the cases down to .445-6 on the ID and about .466-8 on the OD. The Dillon expander/funnel is .447, which should work. I found it strange that I was not getting the set back with the Sierra and Zero bullets (which are .451) when using the RCBS expander die since it was .449! The only difference was the length. The RCBS was not opening the case up as deeply, only about .2". The Dillon goes about twice that. I shortened the Dillon to about .2" and now I can seat my bullets to 1.215 OAL and they are staying there. I really can't explain it either but I worked on it all day Saturday...ruined a lot of bullets and cases, really worked out the RCBS kinetic puller too, figuring this out. I will post and update after I have a chance to shoot a lot of these loads instead of just cycling them.
The dies are sizing the cases down to .445-6 on the ID and about .466-8 on the OD. The Dillon expander/funnel is .447, which should work. I found it strange that I was not getting the set back with the Sierra and Zero bullets (which are .451) when using the RCBS expander die since it was .449! The only difference was the length. The RCBS was not opening the case up as deeply, only about .2". The Dillon goes about twice that. I shortened the Dillon to about .2" and now I can seat my bullets to 1.215 OAL and they are staying there. I really can't explain it either but I worked on it all day Saturday...ruined a lot of bullets and cases, really worked out the RCBS kinetic puller too, figuring this out. I will post and update after I have a chance to shoot a lot of these loads instead of just cycling them.