Hornady .45 Colt brass issue....

[Mus408]

Was going along smoothly reloading a batch of .45 Colt and noticed at the powder drop stage,in my Dillon 550,the case bell mouth was missing. Took the shell out and found the Hornady brass is .050 shorter than standard.
Now I must have bought some of this 3 or 4 years ago and don't remember it being Flex Tip .45 Colt.
Is all of Hornady brass just short? Now I'll have to sort through my brass for these and set them aside.
Good thing I caught the first one before I put the bullet in.

 

[okie44]

Hornady factory loads with FTX bullets are short. Bulk brass or factory loads with normal bullets are standard length.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I have heard that all the brass for flex-tip Hornady ammo has a shorter case length than normal brass. This has been discussed many times. I just got some 30-30 Hornady cases that I will have to measure before loading.

edit to add. The Hornady 30-30 cases I just got measure 2.030" and are full length.

Another topic that comes up often is the fact that some ammo (clean burn, etc.) has a larger flash hole in the cases for better ignition. Always be careful, separate and check brands of brass before loading.

 

[WIL TERRY]

FUNNY that Hornady, as a member of SAAMI, would sell brass of ANY caliber that does NOT meet SAAMI specifications on length. Just another good reason NOT to do any business with those people.

 

[Mus408]

I just don't remember buying any FTX in .45 Colt. Oh well just have sort them out while loading....check the head stamp.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

The ogive of the flex tip bullets require the crimp groove to be farther towards the rear. That ,in turn, requires the case to be shorter to allow a crimp and the overall length to be in spec. Those cases are intended to be loaded with the gummy tipped bullet only.
They can be reloaded without problem as long as the charge is reduced to compensate for the short case. To much trouble for me,so I just avoid them altogether.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

FUNNY that Hornady, as a member of SAAMI, would sell brass of ANY caliber that does NOT meet SAAMI specifications on length. Just another good reason NOT to do any business with those people.

I believe the 'brass' they sell is full size. I have not seen any advertised as shorter brass. I believe the only way to get the short brass is to shoot their flex-tip ammo. For a while they didn't sell the flex-tip bullets but they eventually gave in to requests from reloaders. Those that want to reload flex-tip bullets will have to trim regular brass and get a special seater plug for their seating die. Just another reason to admire and support a good company like Hornady. I know I have a lot of Hornady stuff on my shelves.

 

[dwayne]

Maybe it's just me, but I have found that Hornady's 45 Colt brass is more prone to cracking than other brands.

 

[K. Funk]

I just had this happen to me last night. Loaded 270 .45 Colt rounds and had one stinkin case that was short and missed the crimp groove. I have no idea where it came from.

krf