Well - Last week I molded and lubed a bunch of BD45 bullets and went to load them this week-end. I loaded a couple bullets for dummys to adjust the dies and test for function and discivered that the BD45 cast of aircooled wheel weights gets a nice ding on the edge of the meplat from hitting the feed ramp. Seating a little deaper seamed to help but by then the casing was up past the start fo the ogive of the bullet.
I decided to check my other loads. I have some 200 grain SWC from Mid-Kansas adn they too get a little ding on the nose.

Is this ding going to effect accuracy? Should I heat treat the bullets to make for a harder bullet and minimize the ding. Or is there something I can do to the feed ramp to improve cast bullet performance??

BTW - The gun I tried was my Springfiled 1911 I bought used that had been tinkered with and a Para 14-45.

Thanks for any pointers

The BD acps are designed to be loaded to an OAL of 1.20 to 1.230. Small dings in the meplat won't affect much. the bullets heel has a lot more to do with accuracy. However, if your guns are feeding bullets hard into the feed ramp, you may want to look at your mag lips. the mag ought to be letting the bullets come up and out as they hit the ramp. IMHO "Late release" is indicated by significant dents in the bullet nose. Anyone else have some feedback? How are they shootin'? BD

Thanks BD

I didn;t even check the overall - ran into the dent problem first just seating them untill they would chamber and just quit till I talked to the wire here. Haven;t shot any yet either. But yes I think they are getting a good size dent in the edge of the meplat not on the face of the meplat. Its that edge that is hitting the feed ramp. The magazines I'm using are Chip McCormick mags I got from Midway. I don;t know how they shoot yet as I haven;t loaded any but I'll give some a try and see what happens.

It might take a knot or two to get me going - I'm not much up on a self chucker.

Any other advice would be most appreciated

It is the edge of the meplat which contacts the feed ramp. However the mag lips should be letting the nose of the bullet up and out simultaneously to it hitting the feedramp so the ogive rides the feed ramp and barrel ramp guiding the bullet into the chamber.

An interesting thing to do the next time you take down the gun to clean it is to reassemble the slide and stop to the frame without the spring and guide rod, (and without the firing pin if you're using live rounds, dummies are safer). Then bring the slide back and insert a full mag. Cycle the cartridges one by one using just pressure from your thumb on the back of the slide to chamber them. Look closely at what is actually happening. When "tuned up" just right you should be able to chamber a round like this with just light thumb pressure, and no hitch ups on the way in. You'll also notice that the rounds from the top of the mag may act differently from those in the middle, and the last round can be quite different as well. BD

Hey BD

I tried your test and the gun failed miserably - unless I gave the slide a good quick slap the round would stop the slide when it hit the barrel even If I put pressure on the barrel to keep it to the rear and down on the feed ramp. The bullet hits the barrel right at the joint between the barrel and the frame.

It was hard if not impossible to discern any difference between the rounds in the magazine as they would all stop when they hit the barrrel.

What is the fix to get the gun operating properly?

I realize it would be difficult to diagnose exactly but some information would help greatly so when I take it to the gun smith I can at least discuss it intelligently.

Thanks
West Creek

Charlie; You have a PM.

Charlie, Two common causes for this problem are: tight mag lips, (to check this out try a variety of mags known to feed well in other guns); and annular machining rings on the feed ramp, (you can usually see these, polishing is the cure). Your mag should be letting the bullet up and out by the time it hits the feed ramp and the feed ramp should be smooth enough to let the bullet nose slide up and into the chamber depite the nose profile. If you cycle factory ball by hand do you get a hitch up at the same point? BD

WCC - I remember buying a .45 for a VERY good price and taking it to the range, only to find that the bullet just stuck halfway out of the mag when the nose hit the feed ramp. So I took the moto tool (Dremmel) and highly polished the feedramp. That MAY help your situation. Past that it's a function of adjustment so the angle is such that the bullet slides. It seems the two variables you have to play with are the length of the round and the angle the bullet comes out of the magazine.

Thanks Guys

The feed ramp on my shooter is polished fairly good. All of my loaded, unloaded rounds just ride straight out of the magazine until they hit the barrel where they then hit the ramp and the nose is forced up and into the chamber. The gun has always been very dependable - I would say 100% until the chamber gets dirty after a few hundred rounds. I'm going to work on the magazines as I think that is the culpret here.

I'm betting on the mag lips, also.
For what it's worth, when I did some testing with the BD's last winter, the only function problem that arose was the bullet would sometimes engage the slide lock on the 1911's. A little diamond stone on the offending areas did the trick. And they turned out to be the most accurate bullets I had shot in either of the pistols. Once hunting season gets out of the way, I'll cast up some in my virgin mold.

As this bullet was designed to maximise the meplat while still funtioning in 1911 pattern pistols, those mags and guns with tight tolerances relative to the bullet nose diameter may show up these issues. As the meplat is larger the bullet will hit the feed ramp earlier and a bit lower than other designs loaded to the same OAL. This will show up late release issues with the mag lips. In addition as the nose diameter is larger, it is more likely to hit poorly finished slide stops which will readily pass the reduced nose diameter of a SWC design. To check your slide stop: insert the stop in the lower reciever without the slide installed, then insert a loaded mag while watching to see if the top round hits the slide stop knob on the way up. If it does, some honing of the face of that knob may be in order so that the bullet can pass by without rubbing the slide stop up causing a premature slide lock back. You don't want to reduce the lip which catches the follower on an empty mag, just smooth up the machining on the face of the knob so the bullet ogive doesn't catch and push up the stop. After finding this issue on one of my Kimbers while using Hydroshocks I now routinely hone the inner face of the slide stop knob as part of the reliability tune up I give any new 1911. BD

trk (me) wrote "It seems the two variables you have to play with are the length of the round and the angle the bullet comes out of the magazine."

Let me add to that the third variable, that of the height at which the round is presented by the magazine.

We've all had mags that just don't feed right in one iron or another. Some that won't latch in.

So the first thing is to try every mag one can get one's hands upon (no cost in trying); and then try modifying.