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I had problms with slide not closing on reloaded amo i was having topalmsmack itto go into battery on over 1/2 the rounds,so i took the deprimer out of my sizing die after i loaded a bunch and ran them back through to resize them after loading.I noticd some resistance on most of the cases and after taking them to the range and having 0 failure to feeds I realised i was over expanding the case mouth in the expanding die and backed it out to where it just barely takes a bullet.

dukalmighty wrote:I had problms with slide not closing on reloaded amo i was having topalmsmack itto go into battery on over 1/2 the rounds

What caliber, and what dies are you using?

For pistol ammo, some calibers are very tolerant of overexpanding (.45ACP can pretty much look like a trumpet and still be fine) and others are less so. Of course, a seater that will also taper crimp should knock the flare back where it needs to be if you have to expand more for certain bullets.

Of course, for bottleneck cartridges, not getting a full stroke on the sizer will leave you swearing as you're pulling bullets after an aborted range trip.

You've already discovered your problem.

Now.... taper crimp to .471 and all should be good.

Several years ago I would have around 15% of my 38Super and maybe 10% of my 45acp that would not gage correctly in my case gages. I started using the Lee Factory Crimp die and my problems went away. The LFC die does a secondary resizing while it crimps. It was so successful that I stopped gaging my range loads. I have not had a failure to chamber since.

I use chamber gages, which can be bought from Dillon and others.

Others use the actual barrel from your firearm.

When setting your die, keep trying one of the rounds in the gage or barrel.

When it drops freely all the way in and drops freely out, that will be the correct setting.

I use lee dies and was having troule mainly with 9mm and 45acp,and the barrel test is a good one,I wanted to ost this in case other people were having problemsand get some experienced suggestions to fix the problems,nothing worse than havin ammo that won' chamber right at the gun range when your practicing double taps,it's like bang ...slap...bang then bang...@#$%**# slap...bang

FWIW - I have found that using the "U" die from EGW has eliminated all FTF's with all of my loads. It is a Lee die that is undersized slightly. The biggest key is to have all of the stages on your press set up correctly. The flare from the powder die should be taken out at the crimp station if you have the die set properly.

Good luck!


P.S. the use of a spell checker on your posts will make them much easier & more pleasurable for us to read. I use: http://www.iespell.com

dukalmighty wrote:I use lee dies and was having troule mainly with 9mm and 45acp,and the barrel test is a good one,I wanted to ost this in case other people were having problemsand get some experienced suggestions to fix the problems,nothing worse than havin ammo that won' chamber right at the gun range when your practicing double taps,it's like bang ...slap...bang then bang...@#$%**# slap...bang

Thing is, if you can push it into battery, that sounds more like a gun issue; your ammo may be just barely within tolerance, and your chamber could have some buildup. I think it's Wilson Combat that makes a slightly oversize brush especially for the .45ACP chamber, but I don't know of anyone making one for the 9mm. I don't have my 9mm handy to measure the chamber, but the case specs show .380 at the mouth and .391 at the base, so if you can find a nylon .40 brush, it might work; you want to be able to get it in to the full depth of the chamber with solvent and twist to get any buildup loosened, let it sit for a minute and give it a couple more twists, then wet patch and proceed with normal cleaning. Use a good rod, though, as you might end up having to shove the oversize brush all the way out the muzzle if it refuses to come back out the breech, and that can take a lot of force to accomplish. For that matter a brand new 9mm brush might do the job; metal brushes tend to approach bore diameter with use, but a new one is probably oversized enough to clean the chamber, and of course, you can never have too many extra brushes for the .35x calibers.

The other possibility is that your recoil spring is getting marginal; as with the chamber buildup, good factory ammo is likely to be in the middle of the tolerance range for both size and power, (or more likely, a bit on the small side of the size range) while your reloads may be anywhere within the range. Wolff springs, if they make them for your gun, are cheap enough to buy them as a test. (1911 spring kits are under $20 for one of every spring in the gun.)

[quote][/P.S. the use of a spell checker on your posts will make them much easier & more pleasurable for us to read. I use: http://www.iespell.comquote]I'm sorry i spell well, but my keyboards been eating letters and i don't catch them all

Lee Factory Crimp Dies are wonderful at preventing these problems.

I"ll 2nd (3rd?) the recommendation for separate crimp dies. I've gone with them for
all pistol calibres I load and also use a case gauge. For rifle calibres I also use an
"RCBS precision mic" to properly set the dies for each calibre.