My cast reloads work fine in my revolvers. I tried cast bullets in my Kimber 10mm this weekend with lousy results. This is the first time I have ever loaded cast bullets for a semi-auto so I dug out the reloading manual. The manual (Speer vol.13) says that an improper crimp is often the cause of inaccuracy. The manual says to test for over crimping by placing a cartridge into the chamber (removed from the gun), tip the muzzle end up and the cartridge should fall out. This works fine with my jacketed bullets, but my cast bullets are staying in the chamber. I've tried backing the crimp off but no luck. Also, how far should I be seating the bullet?

Any tips on reloading cast bullets in semi-autos?

The gun shoots great with jacketed bullets.

Properly loaded ammo should slide in and out of the chamber of your pistol. I load cast in my Kimber 45acp and haven`t had any problems to date.
What bullet are you useing?
Do your cases need trimming?
You state the loaded rounds wont fall out of the chamber. Have you seated the bullet deep enough to clear the rifling leade? It`s true that too much crimp can bulge the case, try dropping them in the chamber and see if they fall all the way in. If they hang up half way or so the crimp *might* be too heavy, if they almost go all the way I`d bet on seating depth.

I'm using bullets that I cast using a Lee 175gn mold using wheelweights. The bullets are semi wadcutters. The cases are new. I feel that the problem is in the bullets because my jacketed reloads work fine. I'm starting to think that the bullets need sizing. When I drop them into the chamber they don't fall all the way in. I just tried seating the bullet further, so far that the entire shoulder was in the case. Only then did the sticking go away. With the bullet seated all the way in the gun would not chamber from the magazine.

If sizing your bullets does not help, I would suggest that you try backing off on your crimp some more. What happens if you over crimp is that the front band of the bullet becomes larger from the swaging action of the taper crimp. That in turn prevents the round from head spacing on the case mouth. You should be able to see this, with close inspection.

With the same crimp setting, cast bullets can often be over crimped, while no problem is noted with jacketed bullets.

If you are not sizing your bullets, another fix is the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp die. It adds an extra step, You seat the bullet in the case with your regular seating die but do not crimp. The Lee FC Die taper crimps the bullet and resizes the case when you use it as the last step. I use it in the .45acp and .40S&W. I shoot Lee Tumble lube bullets in the .40 and don't size the bullets. I use a Lee RNHP in the .45 and don't size them. The Lee FC Die costs about $9.00 and IMHO is money well spent for auto pistol loading with cast bullets. It's cheaper than suying sizing dies and easier than taking the time required to size bullets.

You didn't say what kind of dies you are loading w/ but a good taper crimp is needed. Also the bullets need to be hard cast for best results in the shallow rifling of most semiauto pistols. Soft cast or swaged will cause you all kinds of problems. I shoot a hard cast 170gr bullet in my 10mm Delta & S&W w/ 2"/25yd accuracy. OAL is what works thru your mag. Good shooting!

I'm using the Lee Factory Crimp as well as the other Lee dies. I've tried applying no crimp, just letting the LFC resize the cartridge but no luck. I've added a little bit of crimp with no luck. The cartidges are still slightly sticking in the chamber. Sometimes they can be removed in the same manner that you use to get ketchup out of a bottle, but usually you have to pull on the rim. The jacketed bullets slide in and out.

The bullets are not hard cast either; they are just dropped straight of the mold onto a towel.

Are you sizing them to the correct diameter? It sounds like you be a bit oversize. Also how you are casting isn't really the measure of how hard the bullet alloy is. For me bullets cast of linotype or sim. hardness work better in the semis.

I tried some 230 LRN in my 45acp sized to .452 and ran into similar problems. I switched to .451 and the problems went away. I would definetly size your bullets.

I use Lee 230gr RN as cast and then taper crimp. No problem in my Govt 1911.