.45 Colt Expander Button

[RUFFBIRD]

Hi Folks....

I loaded some .452 cast bullets to shoot in my Rugers & a Marlin rifle today & found that there didn't seem like much bullet pull on them. I measured the expander button which was found to be .450

This seems to me to be a bit on the large side. I was thinking perhaps one sized more like .447 would be better. Should I order a new one or just take the emery cloth to it in a drill?

Have any of you noticed this with your Lee dies?

Thanks for your thoughts! :)

 

[flhr62]

I have used the drill before with success.

 

[Dale53]

If you are using "normal" loads in your .45 Colt, the Lee expander is just fine. If you are loading "Ruger Only" loads with slow burning powders like H110/296, then you might want to reduce the expander button and couple of thousandths. You CAN overdo it however. Since you are doing it yourself, reduce the button two thousandths and try it again.

Softer bullets can be deformed by a TOO TIGHT combination of case mouth and bullet size. You might want to keep that in mind.

Dale53

 

[J Miller]

Here is something I found some years ago when I had some troubles with neck tension on my .45 Colts.

I measured the .45 Colt expander and thought as you did it was too large. So I pulled the expander out of my .45 ACP die set thinking it would be smaller. It wasn't. Crazy as it may seem the .45 ACP expander was a thousandth + larger than the .45 Colt.
So I ordered a new ACP expander from RCBS which was smaller.

Now when I load warm to hot jacketed bullets I use the ACP expander and a tight crimp. Works great.

When I use cast lead I use the Colt expander and what ever crimp is appropriate.
When I use soft swauged or cast bullets that are .454" or larger I use the RCBS .454" cowboy die expander. Works great.

I didn't reduce the size of my expander because I don't always use the same size and type of bullets. Reducing your expander down to .448" will make it work great for jacketed and perhaps hard cast .452" bullets, but with anything else it would lead to deformed bullets as Dale53 said.

I have three sets of .45 Colt dies and several extra expanders for different types of loads. Sometimes kind of confusing, but this works great for me.

Joe

 

[Boxhead]

Just drop by a local machine shop and have it turned down. Years ago I swung by Alan Harton's shop and had him turn down 4 dies for me in about 5 minutes. Mine all run .006" under nominal bullet diameter.

 

[Bucks Owin]

What J Miller and Dale said...

I have two die sets, an old Lee carbide for .454" cast bullets and an RCBS for .451-2" J-word...(which gets little use, my BH much prefers the bigger cast fodder.. :wink: )

 

[RUFFBIRD]

Thanks for all the great replies! I have 2 sets, so I will reduce one of them to .448 & try it.
Some of those bullets could be seated by hand & that has me concerned when loading them in the Marlin with the spring tension in the magazine pushing on them. Therefore a heavy factory roll crimp was in order!

Happy Shootin & thanks again..... 8)

 

[J Miller]

Ruffbird,

You might also have a sizing die on the large side. I have three carbide sizers for the .45 Colt and all of them are tight, but the RCBS is the tightest.

When I get to the point I want the heavy loads, that's the sizer I use.

Joe

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Different brands of brass can have different brass thickness at the case mouth, sometimes batch to batch there will be variations. I have some brass sorted that I use only with lead bullets and some that I only use with jacketed bullets. Also many firings will harden the case mouth and you will loose some neck tension. 8) 8)

...Jimbo

 

[Bucks Owin]

Older die sets (at least Lee) size appropriately for .454" bullets. Some new cases are too, a .452" jacketed bullet is a loose slip fit in new WW cases if not resized first.... :wink:

 

[btrumanj]

Older die sets (at least Lee) size appropriately for .454" bullets. Some new cases are too, a .452" jacketed bullet is a loose slip fit in new WW cases if not resized first.... :wink:

Don't know about the newer Lee dies but my older Lee Die wouldn't size the .45s enough for a tight fit and good bullet pull. Sent the die back to Lee with a note describing the problem. Their answer was to send me a .45 ACP sizing die that I've been using ever since. Works just fine. :)

 

[Bucks Owin]

Older die sets (at least Lee) size appropriately for .454" bullets. Some new cases are too, a .452" jacketed bullet is a loose slip fit in new WW cases if not resized first.... :wink:

Don't know about the newer Lee dies but my older Lee Die wouldn't size the .45s enough for a tight fit and good bullet pull. Sent the die back to Lee with a note describing the problem. Their answer was to send me a .45 ACP sizing die that I've been using ever since. Works just fine. :)

Like I said, older Lee are for .454"... :wink:

.45 ACP are for .451-2" as are newer .45 LC dies...

 

[flatgate]

I concur.

Lee .45 ACP carbide sizer die.

Slightly turned down expander plug.

Seat and crimp lightly with Lee .45 Colt 3 die set seater/crimper.

Firm crimp applied with Lee FCD (or Redding Profile crimp when loading .32's)

.454's loaded with RCBS dies but the Lee FCD gets the final say..... :D

Single Stage Press and a slow pace, watching all operations carefully.

flatgate

 

[BCB]

The explander plug in my RCBS 45 Colt dies is 0.449"...

I don't have any problem with cast sized 0.454"...

I have pulled several of them for various reasons and they are quite difficult to get out of the case with a moderate, minimal, crimp...

Good-luck...BCB

 

[RUFFBIRD]

Like some of you stated, there was a .004" difference in my two Lee resizer dies, older vs newer set. I also installed a custom Lee .447" expander button in the newer set. This is 3 thou smaller than the origonal.

I haven't tried loading .45c cartridges with it yet, but this should give plenty of bullet pull when using .452 cast bullets....

Thanks again for all your fantastic replies folks! :)

 

[Pocketfisherman]

Another option might be the Lyman M Die. It uses a stepped expander where it opens up the edge of the mouth a bit more to hold the bullet centered, but does not expand the rest of the case so much. Might get one of their seater plugs that measures 450 and turn or polish it down a few thousandths:
http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_LymanMDies.htm