45ACP

[Olsherm]

I just aquired a USFA 45 colt with the extra cylinder in 45ACP cal. I am not that familiar with th ACP round.If I reload for it is there any special problem with it in a revolver?Like the crimp for example. I know in autos you have to be careful about bullet type ect maybe? Thanks

 

[Gooseman179]

Yes ...the 45ACP's head space is determined by the overall lenght of the case ...so a heavy "crimp" can alter the over all length by allowing the cartridge go in the chamber PAST the end of the chamber

the solution is a very very light roll crimp but more preferable a light taper crimp ...especially if shooting cast bullets ...either of which must not allow the case mouth to pass by the end of the chamber and maintain the SAMMI over all case lenght specifications

The 45ACP is really one of the easiest loading hulls around and the brass is readilly available and cheap as compared to the 45LC brass so I encourage you to go for it!

Gooseman

 

[wizofwas]

I use a fast powder (Bullseye) and a taper crimp for all of my
ACP's and shoot them in both a revolver and semi-auto with
no problems at all.
Hope that helps some.

 

[VA Shooter]

I shoot factory 45 acp in my BH convertible and tried last night to reload 45 acp cast 230 gr sized .452 round would not fit in the cylinder going to try sizing to .451 taper crimp next

 

[wizofwas]

I shoot factory 45 acp in my BH convertible and tried last night to reload 45 acp cast 230 gr sized .452 round would not fit in the cylinder going to try sizing to .451 taper crimp next

I have the same problem but am going to ream the cylinders out first to see if that fixes it. A one size fits all attitude works better for me than having to resize for each weapon.

 

[Hammerdown77]

I shoot factory 45 acp in my BH convertible and tried last night to reload 45 acp cast 230 gr sized .452 round would not fit in the cylinder going to try sizing to .451 taper crimp next

That's probably not a crimp issue, that's a tight throat issue. All of Ruger's 45 cylinders have tight throats. On my BH convertible, the throats in the 45 Auto cylinder measured 0.448". Now I don't care how much you crimp, you ain't getting a .452" diameter bullet in there.

Send your cylinder out to be reamed to .4525". Then everything will chamber.

 

[Olsherm]

Info sounds good but,how can you tell if the cartridge goes past the chamber??I would think the shell would stop at the entrance to the cylinder mouth no matter how much you crimp the thing.Looks like the rim would catch before it went too far??But,I havent tried any shells in the chamber or looked at it up close yet.
Thanks for the info.

 

[mattsbox99]

The rim is a smaller diameter than the case head, so it won't catch.

I would be amazed if you could get one to go in the chamber too far. IMO nothing to worry about there. Even if it did, I'm not sure anything would happen, save for the hypothetical arguements.

 

[wizofwas]

You would really, REALLY have WAY to much of a crimp on an ACP round for it to go in to far. Even if your cylinder throats were sized for a .454 bullet. Just another reason to use a taper crimp on all 45 ACP's

 

[VA Shooter]

My cast rounds will go into the cylinder but stop right before the head stamp. About how much would it cost to get the cylinders reaned out

 

[wizofwas]

I would check to see if anybody did it locally but if not there's always the Cylindersmith that has been recommended by at least a few here in the forum. His website is

http://www.cylindersmith.com/

And he charges $30 plus shipping. Hope that helps.

 

[DGW1949]

As CDF pointed out, what works in some guns won't work in others. And that applies to crimping as much as it does to anything.

I don't personaly add extra "crimp" to 45ACP cartridges. I just let my RCBS dies do whatever they do because I figure that the folks that made them know more about reloading than I do.
The only time that that hasn't worked for me (in any gun) was when I was loading hard-cast .4525/255 SWC's into some USGI .45 ACP cases for use in a Colt Gold Cup. As it turned out, the finished cartridges wouldn't chamber because the longer-than-normal bullet that I was using was too fat for the ID of the case where the heel sat....so....some inside case-reaming was in order if I was going to shoot them particular loads through that particular gun.
Would one of today's new-fangled size 'n taper crimp dies of fixed that too?....yeah, probably. On the other hand, such a proceedure woulda also distorted the bullet to some extent, eh?

DGW