WesC

So what did Sinclair set you up with? I just got a set of these dies and I have the same problem, especially since I have a whole bunch of different brass that measures all over the place. I don't know what to get!

I'm really starting to love swc too. Now that the Kimber is nice and broken in, it seems to feed anything. Right now I have some 185gr swc I'm using with good accuracy... and I'll be testing some 200gr swc this coming week.

Yeah, I mean they have a really big community of customers... and not so much as an explanation. Its weird and sad. They made great bullets.

I don't get what the point of loading max+ loads is... I mean for competition you're very likely to have a heck of a lot of recoil, smoke and muzzle flash. None of that is going to help you improve your speed or accuracy. And for self-defense you're more likely to kill your eardrums than an intruder. Anyway, people will experiment. Just glad you didn't get hurt or lose your gun.

I've had to cut back my practice to once a week and only 100 rounds. With all my sources drying up I either need to won the lottery or give up shooting. I'm really saddened by all this.

FWIW, my Eclipse has an external extractor and I've never had any problems with it. 6,500 rounds and still running like a well sprung clock. I shoot with several other guys who have Kimbers with EEs and they all work fine. 1911s jam for many reasons whether they have EEs or not. IEs aren't foolproof after all as they require proper adjustment. Just get a couple of different recoil springs and see what happens... they're cheap and you don't have to send your gun away. If that doesn't help then contact Kimber, ask for Dennis in the Custom Shop and see what he can do for you. But if you go that route, be prepared to be without your gun for a while. BTW, for Kimber to replace your slide they would have to determine that it was an extractor issue, or at the least not be able to rule it out. They won't swap it if you just ask them to.

I have the same problem with 200gr Rainier plated SWCs... they just won't feed in my Kimber no matter what I do. I just had to give up on them.

We have very similar setups... I shoot a lot of 230gr Masterblasters from my Kimber 1911 and Wilson 47D mags. Now when I first got the pistol I was having FTFs about once out of every 20 rounds and it was pretty frustrating from a brand new gun. Even after 1,000 rounds (well past any break-in nonsense) I was still getting one FTF out of 75 or so. I thought certainly the recoil spring in a brand new gun should be fine, right? Well, I swapped it out for a new one, just 1lb heavier, and I haven't had a single feeding issue since... in more than 4,000 rounds. My Eclipse came with a 16lb spring and I put in a Wilson 17lb one. Now, I do load my 230gr rounds a little shorter than you at 1.230" but even factory ammo at 1.250" hasn't been a problem since I changed that spring. its a cheap enough fix and sounds like you're due anyway, so go for it.

Thanks, that is a good price. I might give it a try... I'm mostly using moly to keep down the smoke and leading and to make cleanup easier. I haven't had great luck with hard cast bullets like the Oregon trail laser cast.

Update! Well, I'm happy to say that the test of these rounds at the range yesterday went well! Unfortunately it was VERY windy yesterday so I couldn't set up my chrony without it getting blown over. But I was pleased that I didn't have a singe issue with these rounds, every one of them fed flawlessly in my Kimber and in my XD-45. Accuracy was improved as well. I was able to hit 50 yard steel targets at least half again as many times as I was able too with my regular round nose load--in spite of the wind. In fact, I had one string of 15 consecutive hits on a 50-yard steel target. My best so far. Interesting to note this round absolutely sucks for accuracy in my XD-45. I never made a single hit with them in that gun... but the XD did well with the round nose load. Might have a deeper throat in that pistol--needing a longer OAL or something. I'll have to check. Anyway this was focused for the Kimber, and in that respect its a positive step forward. I'm going to make 100 more of these and chony them this time to see how the velocity holds up. Thanks for the recommendations!

Thanks, that's an interesting idea! I tried it and it gave me a seating depth of around 1.165-70" That's sort of the same situation I'm running into. Yeah, I try not to scrape off any coating. I'm belling just enough for that not to happen any more. Just out of interest, what sort of problems are you referring to? Smoke? Leading? FWIW, here's how the round looks now that I have it setup. Its Remington brass, Winchester primer, 4.6gr of Clays, .469" crimp and an average OAL of 1.168" Looks a little long, but it cycles and chambers in my Kimber. Now all I have to do it get to the range tomorrow and see if I actually run into any function problems and see how accurate they are.

I'm thinking you might be onto something there... these swc's do see to me pretty short-nosed. compared to some others I've seen. I think the one's I loaded to 1.165 like you did might be a good middle ground to try out. Like I said, all the dummy rounds test cycled in my Kimber perfectly. Thanks for your suggestion too, revchuck, its makes sense and sounds like a reasonable idea to try a few out. I'll think I'll pick a lower charged load and make 10 of each from 1.185" down to 1.145" and see what the chrono and the targets say. I'm still open to other opinions too

Hi folks, I'm having some issues with semi-wadcutters... I've only tried SWC ammo once before in my Kimber 1911 and it didn't like it at all--couldn't chamber a single round in fact. I thought maybe it was the quality of the ammo (gunshow re-manufactured stuff) so I decided to try and make my own. Now this gun runs reliably with a variety of stuff. Hardball, flat point, hollow point, truncated cone... jacketed, plated, lead, and moly... in everything from 230gr down to 162gr. So anyway, I have a small quantity of 185gr SWC Masterblasters moly bullets I'm giving a try... and I have been testing different OAL and crimps with dummy rounds. But they keep failing my case gauge unless I set the OAL down to around 1.145". This is with a Wilson gauge. The bullet is clearly keeping the mouth from reaching the end of the chamber. These are the bullets... The weird thing is that all the test rounds I've made from 1.190" to 1.185" to 1.165" and 1.145" all seem to chamber fine in my Kimber running it manually. But I'm still afraid to go ahead and make them if the OAL needs to be that low to confirm feeding reliability. The bullet is just seated down too far for my comfort, even though the lip is above the rim... just. I'm wondering if I should I make a few rounds at 1.185"--1.190" and see how they feed? I'd at least feel better about the pressure at that OAL. I really like the accuracy and lower cost of 185gr SWC over 230 ball, if I can swing it. Thanks in advance for the advice!

This is why I bought a Dillon.

You will want to weigh your Masterblaster bullets, the last 230's that I got from them were 221gr. I emailed and asked what the deal was and they said that they shoot for 226 when they cast. A lot of variance with their alloy if they shoot for 226 on their 230's and end up at 221. Yep, I'm aware of it. And its not just MasterBlasters. I get the same off weights with LaserCast, and Precision as well. The MB 230s I have right now are all hitting around 224gr-225gr. Their 185gr SWC are actually pretty close though. About the only pistol bullets that I have found to about nail weights across the whole lot are Sierra match bullets.

Why don't you make a dummy round and play around with the seating depth until the round feeds and ejects reliably?

Clays is awesome. But what do the magnum primers do for you with so little powder? Are you not getting clean burns? I had the problem for a while, but I solved it by seating the bullet a little bit deeper and tightening the crimp just a tiny bit.

I would have to agree... I have no problems with the LFCD on my 550b either. In fact, I find it to be a very useful die, I wouldn't load pistol without it now. Seems like some folks do have trouble though, and I wonder if it has to do with the FCD working best with a LEE resizing die. Might be that with a different sizer the FCD has to work harder.

Corn cob and Flitz. Two to three hours has cleaned the dirtiest brass I have. I suppose it its really bad overnight would do it. Seems like overkill to me though. Flitz made all the difference.

Me too, out of my Kimber. Seat them a little lower (book recommends 1.20" I do 1.22") and crimp them a little tighter and you'll burn cleaner and edge over the PF minimum.

Clays and WST here... my favorite load is 3.8gr of Clays under a 230gr Masterblasters moly bullet. Very clean, consistent, and no muzzle flash.

Hahahaha! I think I actually found 94 of them once!

Hey did you weigh the bullets before loading? Last time I bought some 230gr moly bullets they averaged about 224gr... and the last batch of Speer 230gr TMJs I bought were slightly heavy. Its possible that might explain the difference you're seeing.

Ironic that the day after I post about this I get my shipping notice. Hahaha. I should have mine in a couple of days--being in the same State. I'm really looking forward to trying these bullets out.

Well that would be good news... maybe I'll hear from him on Monday. Thanks. I'm almost out of ammo!