I have recently purchased a Springfield Armony, National Match, 1911 in .40 S&W. My reloads will not feed or chamber consistently. The problem seems to be a .001†buldge above the max diameter approximately 3/8†from the base of the case.

The max specs. for the case diameter are .424 at the base and .423 at the neck. I am using once fired brass. After resizing the case I have a buldge of .425 approximately 3/8†from the base of the case. The case will not fully seat in a Frankford Arsenal .40 S&W Maximum Cartridge Guage, the last 3/8†sticking out of the guage. I have tried using both RCBS and Hornady die sets. I have tried cases from 6 different manufactures. I have taken factory ammo that fit perfectly in the guage, fired it, and then resized it with the same resulting .425 buldge. I have rechecked the die manufactures instructions for setting up the dies and they are correct.

Jim seeing as noone else has responded I will try. If you are having this problem with two different sets of dies then I suspect that YOU are doing something wrong. The first thing I would suggest is that the sizing die is not touching the shell holder. This is important as all play must be removed from the press handle.
Peter.

What Peter said, if you are adjusting the dies correctly you should be sizing completely. What press are you using? I use RCBS dies in a 550B w/o any problems.

This is not a response to your question, but an observation about the cause of the bulge. It shouldn't be there!

I had a similar issue with a Taurus 9mm a long while back, and sent the pistol back to the factory. It seemed to me that the timing was off, and the round was extracting while still under pressure.

They sent the pistol back to me, and it was cured. No more bulged cases. I would ask your gunsmith to look at pistol and sample cases. Kudude

The problem kudude, is many .40s&w have a partial unsupported case head, Glocks are particularly bad about this. The 40s&w runs near +p pressures & bad things happen w/ max. loads or when you get just a tiny bit of bullet setback. Keep the pressures below max. & the bulge pretty much goes away.

Is the brass once fired in your gun or some other gun? I suspect you have the famous 'unsupported case bulge' and a tight match chamber.

To guarantee good resizing away of the case bulge from factory fired brass in my Glock I shaved about 1/3 of the thickness off the shellholder. It allows me to lower the sizing die that much more and size the case that much lower. Presto, bulge gone. IF you have the sizing die screwed down to contact the shellholder in a good rigid press (my old turret press was sloppy enough that I needed another 1/4 turn to account for it flexing) then try this.

The only thing you need to fix this problem is a Lee Factory Crimp die for the 40S&W. It not only will crimp the case mouth but it also resizes the outside dimensions of the case. I use these FCDs on 40, and 9mm. I will use it on any semi-auto pistol that I will load for as I have never had a round that won't chamber and shoot correctly since I started using these dies.

i concur with dennis. the lee factory crimp die will remove the buldge from the loaded round. i've loaded 1,000's of rounds for my glock with no problems.

quote:

Originally posted by Luckyducker:
The only thing you need to fix this problem is a Lee Factory Crimp die for the 40S&W. It not only will crimp the case mouth but it also resizes the outside dimensions of the case. I use these FCDs on 40, and 9mm. I will use it on any semi-auto pistol that I will load for as I have never had a round that won't chamber and shoot correctly since I started using these dies.

Thank you all for responding and giving me some better insight into the problem. You have pointed me in the right direction, i.e, the bulge is being caused by the partial unsupported case head in my Glocks. To test this, I took factory ammo and fired 20 rounds in the Trophy Match Springfield and 20 rounds in a Glock. When I brought the cases back and resized them the cases from the Springfield fed into the max cartridge gauge perfectly, but the ones fired in the Glock all had the bulge that prevented them from fully seating in the gauge. Up until recently I was only reloading for the Glocks and the bulge didn't effect the feeding or chambering. I guess the tight trophy match chamber is less forgiving. So I will have to keep the brass separate until I can either shave about 1/3 of the thickness off the shell holder or get the Lee Factory Crimp die. Thanks again - Jim

The 40S&W SAAMI drawing for the rear of the chamber is .4284 +.0040" and .4274 + .004 at a point .2" in front of the breech face.

At .2" forward, the cartridge should be .424 - .003" in diameter.

Chambers are almost alway cut at the small end of the drawing, but not the Glock 22 40 S&W I own. It was cut at the large end.

My feed ramp intrusion is .235", not exactly 3/8".

With an aftermarket barrel, Glocks really shine as a reliable and light weight weapon, that if carried openly, is near optimum.