Reloading for my '66 45 colt Trying to avoid further problems

[Norseland]

Hello CasCity,  I'm new here.  And have been looking for anyone perhaps with slightly similar experience. I figure since action shooters fire a heck of a lot, maybe this is the right place.

   Bought a '66 uberti  almost 2 years ago.  It's a 24" Barrel. 
made around 2002 it comes with the flip ups which I like,  never was to good with buckhorns, but Im not competition shooting anyway. 

      So it's by far the most shooting than anything else I have,  real fun and accurate, the day I brought it home I was tagging at 92 yards to an 8" plate, mind you I don't think I'm any great shot.  I began to reload as I knew I'd be shooting a lot.

     First problem was trying to be as cheap as possible,  I bought a Lee classic loader, I have a lot of time on my hands, so the process wasn't all that bad as I'd do a bunch of cases for each step as opposed to 1 bullet start to finish. 

     My choice was 5.6 grains titegroup, a 250gr. LRNFP  I liked throwing the hunk down range to the plate and hearing the ring.
Starline brass.
The short of it was after firing 400 bullets this way, I was on my 4th reload of a particular brass and the head ripped off in the chamber and the remaining case wall was form fitted to the chamber. 

As the smith that worked on it told me the case he thought was extremely thin and the chamber being slightly larger there was nothing to grab to push with a dowel, not to mention what will you really get a bite on in a 24" barrel.  The brass was smooth to the bore so It took the man some time to extract it,  I don't think he tried a melted lead to remove it, and honestly I should get some of that stuff on hand and try that first, I'm thankfull the smith got the case out but it was a 150 bones.

    It's become my conclusion, obviously not to reload for the '66 with the Lee classic loading system as all the pounding may have weakened and thinned the cases, thus I'm a set of dies away from beginning  to reload on a Lee quick release single press.

    I'm also learning that case lubing may have been more important as all I had done was spray with WD-40.

So I'm asking prior to lubing get cases as clean as possible?  Now oddly enough because I'm shooting such a light load I have seen some black on the cases, blow by?    I imagine they must be cleaned better and lubed so as not to get stuck in my dies?

I ask this because Ive seen post about cases stuck in dies, I don't need that problem either! Ha! 

Being I was bitten so hard on this last problem, I feel as though I'll get new brass, shoot them and reload only once for use in this rifle,  at 20 dollars for a 100, that will affect cost a bit, but better than the alternative.  Any advice from experience is greatly welcomed.

john
   

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

This is the way you should go;   http://leeprecision.com/breech-lock-hand-press-kit.html

The kit includes dies, but the press is available at about $45.  Your favorite gunshop or online supplier will be able to get this one into your reloading set-up.

Get a reloading guide and read it through.  Paper books are widely available;- but so are online resources.

https://www.google.ca/#q=reloading+guide+for+beginners

[Norseland]

Thanks Charles,

     The breech lock is the one I had bought earlier in the year, I haven't touched because I don't start reloading to much till winter, and dies couldn't be bought almost anywhere at that time.  I've got the hornady book, plus some smaller ones as well.
   That gave me a lot of info, but it's the hands on from shooters that I love.  Never taking just one word for it either.

   Guess I was looking for anyone who had experience from ripped case heads, 45 colt reloading in general. And how much use they have maybe gotten from reloading 45 colt brass, plus maybe some preferences on different brass.

    I know the press will make all the difference in the world, the classic loader + 45 colt case, being shot in something that denies you the ease of extracting a bad scenario.  Wont be doing that anytime soon! 
Thanks again.

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[Abilene]

Norseland, in 45LC I have had a Winchester '94, then a Navy Arms '92, and for the past ten years an Uberti '73 (same barrel as the '66).  Never had a case separation (in any other caliber either, as far as that goes), and I have only seen it at a CAS match once (I think it was a .38).  I have reloaded the brass (various brands) many times and only toss it when there is a split.  Many others do the same.  I use Lee dies in a Lee 4-hole turret.  I don't lube the cases.  The black on the cases is from light loads, as you guessed.  But my smokeless load is a little lighter than yours, with 5.3gr Titegroup and a 250gr bullet.  My brass comes out almost shiny.  Perhaps you need more of a crimp (I use a Lee Factory Crimp Die).  And yes, the brass needs to be not necessarily shiny but clean before you reload it.

Good luck!

[Pettifogger]

WD-40 is NOT case lube.  WD-40 is oil and can deaden your primers or powder.  You don't want it around your loading area.  Use carbide dies and give the brass a spray of Hornady One Shot case lube.  Even with carbide the lube helps size the fat .45 cases.  The Hornady stuff sprays on and spreads by itself and when it is dry leaves no sticky residue and won't affect the powder or primers.

[pony express]

I've been reloading for 40 years and only had one case head separation, it was a .303 british, picked up some reloaded ammo and they had been loaded too many times. However, Lee-Enfields are known for that kind of problem, but pistol caliber lever actions aren't. Also, I think it cost me a whole $10 to extract the stuck case. Maybe the lee loader is part of the problem, I never used one of those. I have loaded .45 cases many times , they eventually get split necks, I've loaded nickel .38 cases till the nickel was worn off with no problems either. Can't comment on your load, I mostly only load BP for my '66.

[Cutter Carl]

I use a Lee 4 hole turret Classic press with their 4 die set.  Starline brass most of which have 12-15 reloads on them.  No lube with the carbide dies.  Have not had any problems with brass, no splits, heads coming off etc.  Starline makes millions of rounds of brass, probably a bad one gets by from time to time.  That is probably what you got.

[Norseland]

Great information! 

  Thanks again Sir Charles, Abilene, Pettifogger, Pony and Cutter.

    I seen some were big on cleaning the brass, I used to just wipe them down by hand, rubbing with paper towel.
I'll stay away from the WD!  Ha!  I believe I will try the Hornady spray, thanks PF.

   I'm really sure there was multiple variable's, but the classic loader required quite a bit of hammering case into the shank tool (resizer) so you can add your primer, the part of the brass taking the biggest stress during that is the area near the head as it's being beat down flush, I had some that went in nice but obviously something better of a lube may have helped as well.
Personally its a great fun little way to reload, neat to see the process down in a simple manner with very little equipment, but in the case of 45 colt brass in this rifle?  not worth the risk anymore.

     I'll be sure to get the 4 die set, an extra die process wont bother me as I'll be making a lot of time by way of the press anyway.
Again time was never an issue,  being how I was going about it!
Look forward to some more shooting this winter!

john

[Gus Walker]

   Never could use the lee loaders. There's just sumpthin unsettling  bout hittin a charged round wif a hammer to crimp it that i just couldnt do.....

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

  Never could use the lee loaders. There's just sumpthin unsettling  bout hittin a charged round wif a hammer to crimp it that i just couldnt do.....

That was my experience as well, with my first LEELOADER in 20 ga.  I did use parts of them, like the deprime rod for brass Magtechs, but???

In a local gunshop there was a partial .357 set for $2.00. 4&ll, parking is more expensive than that! I just loaded a .38 Spl apparently sucessfully, but no crimp;- Oh Well. BTW, I had all the missing parts in my bits&peeces box.

[Norseland]

Abilene,

    Actually I forgot to ask,  what size barrel is your '73?  I would have thought, or least in my case getting that bullet down a 24" barrel with as low as 5.3 grains might be asking for it.  Ive seen books state as low as 5.0  but I thought  since I need to keep pressures down on yellowboy in a 45 colt I just always went in the middle of 6.2 - 5.0.

     I certainly like the small charge even at 5.5 or 5.6  smacks a 1/2 birnell 500 rated plate hard enough.

    Gus, I did finally have a primer go off after about 300 or so reloads, but that's because I was not  necessarily level, but having heard that will happen I always cupped my hand over the shaft tool, I felt it but no such pain or damage! Ha!

john

[Abilene]

Norseland, my 45LC is only a 16" barrel, but any published load will have no problems with longer barrels.

[pony express]

Norseland, I bet if you switched to some real case lube, you'd not have to do so much pounding to resize even with your lee loader. Also, if you're shooting the brass in the same gun every load, there's no need to size it all the way down to the base, just the part where the bullet seats is enough, other wise known as neck sizing.

[Cutter Carl]

Never used a lube with my Lee Classic turret press.  Used the 4 die carbide set.  Never had to use a hammer, have a case come apart or stick.  The factory crimp die works rather effortlessly.  That's with 1000's of reloaded on new, once fired and multiple reload brass.  Mostly Starline but some Winchester and other assorted brass.  The only way I can see needing a hammer is if the die is adjusted to low or the crimp die is making way to tight a crimp.   

[Cliff Fendley]

I'm sort of surprised that half the primers even went off spraying the cases with wd40. The Hornady case lube is what I use and usually only on 44-40. With 45 colt I use Lee carbide dies and usually no lube. The lube would probably make sizing easier on some presses but with my Dillion I can't tell the difference if they are lubed or not.