Help Troubleshooting this...

[SteepandDeep]

Dear All,

Thanks for the look. 1st attempt at reloading .45 acp. Attempted to press bullet in charged/expanded case and the case gets crushed. Bad.

I am on a rockchucker press and lee 4 die set in .45. I screwed the top of the expanding die in all the way. I don't think the cases mouths are getting opened up enough. The bullets are Nosler 230gr. FMJ, cases are once fired PMC and Winchester. Note. I have not cleaned/tumbled/lubed these cases. I can't upload a picture for you. Basically crushed case with a bullet at the top of the crush.

Thanks for your help.

[Amp Mangum]

Sounds like you need more bevel on the case mouth.

[TomD]

You should be able to see & feel the flare on the case mouth & a bullet should sit in the flare. Too much flare will overwork the case mouth causing early failure. Keep adjusting, you'll get it right. You do have a reloading manual?? Should be pics of correct flare.

[WBAR]

Without more info/pictures it's hard to tell, but you could have your seating die set wrong such that it is crimping before seating. If this is the case, you can back the seating die off several turns. Good luck on resolving your reloading issue. :)WB

[SteepandDeep]

Hi All Ya'll,

Thanks for your replies. I figured out how to get pictures uploaded. I am new to this, yet I feel I am expanding them adequately (the expanded .40 I did last week looked the same and worked out). I will mess with the seating die's adjustment and add some more bevel to that case mouth.

Thanks. I totally appreciate it.

[shootist~]

Go back and carefully read the setup instructions for all dies. Something is way out of whack or out of order. Possibly the seater die is turned all the way down on the shell holder when it should be off a full turn or so. Run the expanded case into the seater due, sands a bullet. See if it's still has a bell on the case mouth.

I've never seen anything similar and .45 ACP is the easiest round to load.

[762xIan]

Agree with the above assessments, either not enough bevel or the die is turned in too far.

When I am messing around with my single stage presses doing a small batch run, I will get a "known" round to help set up my seating die. So if you have some factory or other .45's on hand that will help.

[Boxerglocker]

Not enough flare, there should be a minimum of 0.010 difference between a properly flared case and the original measured case mouth prior to flaring. Personally I give it a generous visible flare that a bullet placed withing can sit comfortably straight without having to juggle it.
Crimp only enough to just remove the flare maybe slightly under 0.001-2

[JStor]

It looks like the die is not expanding the mouth of the case enough to accept the bullet. As the others noted, carefully check the die settings. You should be able to just barely slip a .45 bullet into the mouth of the case before seating. Also make sure the seating die is backed off enough, as the taper crimp feature should be adjusted after the initial seating of the bullet to the correct overall length.

I would also get a case gage. The .45 ACP headspaces on the mouth of the case, so you want to make sure to only taper crimp enough to produce the correct case diameter.