Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 45 ACP wadcutters help

Way too much crimp and not quite enough shoulder.

Montana is paying attention, staggered feed, MecGar P14 mags. I am playing with the length, I backed off on the crimp. As far as the suggestion to buy different bullets, where can I find them?

That has nothing to do with the feeding issue.

Likely the mag lips & the timing of the release. Looks like it's not releasing from the mag is is going in to high into the barrel hood.

You can work on the lips of get a different magazine; check the barrel throat as well

MM

Nope. All 1911s bounce the cartridge high off the barrel hood - thats the biggest flaw in the 1911 design. The way we get around that is bullet profile/materials.

The crimp/shoulder problem is that brass is sticking on the hood. Guilding metal is more slippery (lead is better yet). Need more shoulder so the shoulder hits the hood, not the brass. Also that much crimp usually negates the neck tension that actually holds the bullet, increasing the chance of setback (and he shouldn't be using the FCD that way).

You can get some improvement by tweeking the feed lips, but the OP would get more by just correctly reloading SWCs in the first place. Also, a switch to Hitek coated SWC would improve reliability as lead is much more slippery.

Btw, did the OP try feeding empties from the magazine?

Just my opinion...

Agree with that statement and too much crimp. As I found out years ago SWC are not plug and play, there is a trick to em.

Yes, there's too much crimp, & of the wrong type besides, but that's not his main problem.

The round is not releasing with the right timing from the magazine. The angle is too steep as the mag is likely hanging on to the round too long.

MM

I will admit I just dropped them in the progressive so my settings are not optimized.

I did a few adjustments, they look better.

Lots better. Crimp looks great. 👍👍👍

so do they feed now, or same-same?

MM

A little better, but I have shot in limited numbers. Its snowing.

Well, the crimps weren't as they should have been from the beginning, but as I've said previously, I don't really think that the crimps are causing the feeding problems for the most part.

Round is at too high an angle, & the mag lips are hanging on too long................may not cause a problem all of the time, but surely will some of the time, been through that way too many times with a standard 1911.

Unfortunately, you don't have a lot of mag options that I am aware of.

MM

Hopefully the bullet shortage will not force me to shoot these forever.

If it were me I would start by putting that FCD in a drawer someplace.
Then I would let the Lee taper die take care of crimping and see if that was adequate.

Then start on some of the solutions offered by others here for the jamming issues.
Sounds like your gun/magazines do not like the fully loaded mag.

I am extremely lucky, I had always heard about jamming issues with 1911's, I have only worked with two, mostly with lead projies and they fed everything I had to feed them, 195-230 grain lead and very limited number of230 hardball match.

All with flat followers in "mil-spec/mil-surp" magazines

Might be the shadow, but the loaded round in the right ( staggered) mag has a higher angle than the single stack top round angle. The higher angle of the round in the staggered mag would seem to be more likely to hit the chamber further back and cause a feeding (FTF) jam.

Can you bend the front end of the staggered mag's lips down more, lowering the angle of entry to the chamber, then try shooting it?

It is feeding the SWC that is having trouble, round nose work well.

That is exactly what I would expect. The round nosed fmj round is "smoother" from nose to case side, and it will slip into the chamber seven with a higher launch/feed angle into the chamber. A SWC has a shoulder /step on it , making it "not smooth.". With a higher feed angle, the ledge /shoulder of the SWC will " catch" on the entry of the barrel ( top rear of the chamber).
it's
You need a lower feed angle to have the shoulder of the SWC round to enter the chamber further in, to minimize/prevent the shoulders from catching on the rear aspect of the barrel/chamber. That is why I recommended bend the front part of the mag lips lower, to reduce the feed angle...to minimize the SWC shoulder from catching upon entry to the chamber.

This what happens when you compare single stack 1911 mags: "GI " lips for fmj rounds feed fine, but don't always feed SWC rounds. That is why "hybrid" or "wad utter" lipped mags feed SWC better, as they have a lower feed angle. Fmj rounds feed fine too from hybrid mag lipped mags.

Try lowering the load angle ( have the bullet point flatter/lower on top of your double stack mag by bending the front part of your mag lips DOWN. Loom at the pictures in the link I posted earlier in this thread, comparing single stack 1911 mag lip design. The shoulder of your SWC is hanging up on the barrel upon clambering/release from mag, due to hitting the top of your chamber, having the ledge catch...and jam.