Time for me to show my ignorance...

[AFJailor]

A few months ago I bought a big box of .45 cal, 200gr, .452 sized LSWC from Shooters Choice Bullets. I have the Lyman and Speer manuals to get load data from. I am having a heck of a time loading these.

The bullets I have are Lead semi wadcutters with a beveled base and a single channel with a blue band filling the channel.

The Lyman manual has a round that looks very similar to it; its description is, #452630, 200gr (#2 alloy) and the load data is as follows:
1.235" OAL
Bullseye Powder 4.9gr suggested start, 6.0 max

The Speer manual also has a bullet that is extremely similar if not the same, its description is, 45 LSWC .452" 200gr and the load data:
COAL tested: 1.190"
Bullseye powder 4.2 min, 4.6 max

As you can see both manuals have drastically different data. I tried loading up some as the speer manual has laid out, but the OAL just seems too short. When setting up my seating Die to 1.190 it pushes the round so far down into the case that the mouth of the case extends past the shoulder of the bullet. Then when crimping the round, the mouth of the case is pushed slightly over the shoulder of the round. (by shoulder I mean the part of the bullet where it first starts to curve inward towards the nose) I have tried using less crimp but it wont stay put if I do. The bullet doesn't really lock in place no matter the extent of the crimp, it can be pushed down or pulled out with little effort.

I am using a Dillon 550b to reload.

I know this may sound pretty stupid to a lot of you, but I need some help. I have reloaded about 1500 rounds of 230gr FMJ's but I have never used hard cast lead before and I really hope that I am just doing something stupid and that someone can point it out to me, otherwise I've just got this big box of lead paper weights.

If anyone can tell me what I am doing wrong or point me in the direction of some different load data I would appreciate it.

[dave_in_austin]

A few years ago I loaded 500 rounds with this bullet. The Lyman data you quote is similar to the loads I found to work well, but I never went over 5.1 grains of Bullseye. I found the best accuracy at about 4.0 grains. I was using them in conventional pistol matches, so accuracy and function were my main concerns. The 1.19 OAL is much shorter than I ever have used. I suspect it would not even feed well in my pistol if it were that short.

[MoJo]

You are seating the bullet way too deep. Go with the Lyman data on OAL. A general rule of thumb is to keep your .45 ACP reloads to an OAL of 1.26 for good function. Try belling the case mouth a little less this might help with bullet tension.