Lee Depriming and Decapping and 45 acp question

[slas]

I just started reloading 45 acp and have only sized and loaded virgin brass up to now, so this was my first time working with fired 45 acp brass. I always decap before cleaning my brass so I started running my fired 45 acp brass through my lee universal decapper. I noticed a small amount of resistence but not much so I went ahead and did about 100. After cleaning I started to run them through the sizing die and notice there was absolutely no resistence at all. It appears that the decapping die also did some sizing on them. The crimp has some resistence still. I went ahead and put a bullet in one of the empty cartridges to see what the bullet tension was like and if it would properly chamber and it appears to. It required normal push to seat the bullet and it appears to chamber OK in the pistol. I even double checked the info on the Lee die to ensure it was OK for 45 acp and it covers 22-45 caliber.

So, my question. Has anyone else had this happen? Any ideas as to what's up with this?

 

[swampratt]

The 45acp is very easy to resize anyway especially using a carbide die.
I do not use any lube on my pistol cases.. If you do it will be even easier to resize.
Measure the ID of the universal decapper and the OD of the 45acp I bet you find the decapper is no where near small enough to touch the case walls.

45 acp is just a low pressure easy to reload round.

 

[FreeSpiritBalloon]

I just tried a few in my Lee universal decapping die and they don’t touch the inside of the die anywhere.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DRC458]

Yeah, there is no way my Lee Universal Decapper is gonna' do any sizing on a .45 ACP! You sure you grabbed the universal decapper?

 

[Cowcatcher]

@slas is this the first time you've reloaded any handgun/straightwall cartridges? I ask because you may just simply be noticing how much less effort is required to resize a straightwall case vs a bottleneck case.

 

[slas]

You guys are right...I had actually pulled the Lee universal and replace it with the 45 acp resizing die and you are right, it takes little to nothing to resize. I guess I should have actually pulled the die out and checked it closer. My mistake since that's the first time I've actually ever pulled my universal decapper die from my Redding turret press.

Sorry for putting this post out there without doing my due diligence, but thanks for all the input. I'll do better next time.

 

[DRC458]

Hey, no sweat! Glad to hear it! Figured it had to be something like that. Don't you feel much better now?!?! LOL!

 

[slas]

Hey, no sweat! Glad to hear it! Figured it had to be something like that. Don't you feel much better now?!?! LOL!

Other than stupid for not realizing what I'd done....yes.

 

[DRC458]

Hey, look at it this way ... at least it was a low pressure, easy to resize .45 ACP, and you were probably using a carbide die. In other words, thank goodness it didn't get stuck in the size die! If you reload long enough, it will happen. Trust me. If you start loading some high pressure, bottleneck cases, it will eventually happen.

 

[slas]

Been reloading rifle for 5 calibers now for about 4 years and I've worked to be very diligent in the process, and have had good successes so far. I've made many non critical errors like most, bullet seated wrong, trimming too much, donut in my brass.......But, reloading isn't something you should ever become sloppy at, so that's why I need to get onto myself a bit. It's become one of my favorite hobbies, along with shooting those custom loads and chasing the "nodes" of course.