Master Blaster Bullets

[Rising Sight]

I'm not sure if I am seating my bullets too long or not. I am using master blaster bullets 200 grain spire point, 5.5g of Winchester 231 with an OAL of 1.237 in .45ACP. This pistol has never had any problems feeding until now. I can't find any information on a seating depth for this bullet. Tom from master blasters told me that he just does it by eye. I tried that and now I'm having problems. I e-mailed him back and asked him for a number to use for an OAL. I was wondering if any of you had any experience with this. Thanks.

[davidwiz]

It would really help to know what caliber you are referring to. If it is a .45acp, it can vary from anywhere from 1.155 to a little beyond 1.200 depending on bullet. SAAMI for a .40 S&W is 1.135 with people going out to around 1.200 w/ a properly reamed bbl. For a 10mm, it is around 1.260

[Sac Law Man]

For 45 ACP you might want to load a few bullets at 1.250 OAL.. Your problem may be the loading the round tto short..

Also, have you shot the spire point before? It may be the shape of the bullet doesn't feed well in your gun.

[Rising Sight]

Sac Law Man....This is my first time trying the spire point. I shot this load and it seems to be very clean and feels pretty good too. I am very new to reloading and would like to stay with this load for a while if I can get it too work more reliably.

davidwiz...I edited my post to show that this load is for a .45 ACP.

[raz-0]

I recently had some feeding problems after installing a new aftec extractor. OAL was killing me because the tenstion was a bit too much.

I had been loading to 1.261 OAL with a fairly mild crimp. Too much tension on the extractor was making them slam into the top of the chamber, and the edge of the brass would sometimes hang up. I adjusted my OAL to 1.270 and it was a lot better. I added some more crimp, and it improved more.

However, after about 500 rounds, the springs on the aftec seem to have mellowed a bit, and today I ran through 300+ rounds without even a hint of a problem. Thing is they were all at the old 1.261 length with a light crimp that had been relegated to the practice bin for various reasons.

Max OAL for 45 is 1.275 according to my books.

Deprime a few cases and seat a few bullets without powder and hand cycle them through the gun while keeping a close eye on it. You really have to know how they are failing to fix the issue.

[Gun Geek]

Gear Head:

I use the MB 200gn spires exclusively. I just measured a couple and they come out to 1.260". 1.237" seems a little short. Remember, as raz said, that the spec on a 45 is ball loaded out to 1.275" so to me you need some nose out there to feed right.

My OAL was determined by setting the bullet out as long as would reliably fit in my mags (CMC 8rders).

This gives me a small shoulder of bullet protruding up from the case by about 0.030"

I use 4.3 gn of Clays, Winchester primers and I crimp with a Lee FCD. I fire it all from stock barrelled Kimbers. I have never had a FTF with this combo.

Hope this helps!

[Rising Sight]

It sounds like I need to try loading them a little longer. I'll load some tonight after work and let you guys know how that works out.

Thanks.

[Rising Sight]

Well, thanks guys. I loaded one hundred of them to 1.261 OAL and had no problems with feeding. Thanks again for all the help.

[SteveZ]

I'm running mine at 1.247" This results in the shoulder of the bullet being just slightly above the case mouth; I'm also using a Lee Factory Crimp Die. I've run thousands of these rounds through my Springfield. It eats them up!

[froglegs]

I've recently discovered a problem with feeding and failure to extract I was having was do to a dirty chamber since a good polishing of the chamber I have 4 matches with no jams!!! whew!