45 acp shotshells

hawcer wrote:It looks like you could get away with using a 400 corbon sizing die to form the ogive in the case walls and crimp the gas check into place...as long as the die is set shallow so it doesn't start to form the neck.

possibly even a 308 sizing die that has had the bottom portion trimmed off so the case can reach the area of the die that sizes the shoulder.

Just a thought...

.308 die is a possibility...trimmed off and then bored out to the right diameter...good thinkin hawcer

how about a 30-06 trimed off? would you need the expander ball-decaping pin or could you take it out? i read on another forum there was a guy that used 41 mag dies that would probably be the easest

i just cant figure out how to round the end like bills?

dartfreak75 wrote:i just cant figure out how to round the end like bills?

I dont know how bill does it but a 40 cal bullets seat die would do it

yea that sounds like a good idea i got some 40 dies il try it and see what happens!

well the dies for this are out of my budget for the forseeable future ...

DW any interest in adding these dies to your TDL?

Anyone know of someone offering these dies for sale cheaper than the RCBS special order?

As much as I would love to load these, I cannot afford those dies so must make do without.

I am looking at loading a similar round in my .45 Win Mag and am looking at crimping a .45 cal gas check on top of the shot.

Here is the RCBS instructions from Midway's site - not much there, the information that DW posted is much more informative.

http://media.midwayusa.com/midwayusa/staticpages/pdf/Chart_PDFs/RCBS_45_ACP_Shotshell_Instructions.pdf

Gotta go with RCBS

RichBirdHunter wrote:Gotta go with RCBS

As much as I would like to, I cannot afford the price of the dies at the moment.

Maybe in the future, I can afford the RCBS dies but I am hoping that I can work something out without them for now. I may not be able to shoot .45 ACP in my pistol but maybe a round or two from my Contender barrels.

As much as I like these shotshells and as well as they shoot, no way on earth would I ever spend such a rediculous price IMHO on a set of RCBS dies to make them.

Might be worth the price.....just not for me...

As far as me making them, right now I doubt that I will. As others have suggested, might be able to do it with some regular resizing die to put a shoulder on the case. The length and the shoulder is the key to these. Get those 2 down, then it is a simple matter of placing the powder shotcup shot gas check and the crimp to hold the gas check in place....

Well I will have to experiment with my .45 Win Mag brass and see what kind of mess I make.

I appreciate the info this thread has provided & I agree with DW. As much as I love the idea of a 7 shot semi shotshell shooter while walking the coulees trying aliviate the spiney ray infestation - I just do not see the price of the dies as worthwhile.

Maybe I will start haunting the auction sites and see if I can find some used RCBS .45 ACP shotshell dies for a bit cheaper.

Yea I agree that its probably not worth it but its cool I'm gonna try to make some I got some old 06 forester dies I'm gonna work with

FWIW I see that CH4D offers .45 Colt shot shell dies for about half the price of the RCBS dies.

CH4D also offers .45 ACP blank forming dies - I wonder if a set of those could be repurposed to make shot shells?

That might be worth trying

scorge30 wrote:FWIW I see that CH4D offers .45 Colt shot shell dies for about half the price of the RCBS dies.

CH4D also offers .45 ACP blank forming dies - I wonder if a set of those could be repurposed to make shot shells?

Ok , this morning I tried forming cases with my 400 corbon die and it works well and I think a modified plug for the bullet die could be made for roll crimping . I do think that annealing the case mouth would help .
A blank forming die would greatly reduce the shot capacity as its a star crimp ( I tried it with poor results crushed a few cases ) .

If you send me your cases ( 308 /243 / 22-250 /7mm08 or other 308 family ) and return shipping , I'll form your cases for you , allow 10% for loss .

What is the diameter of the neck area after forming the bottle neck? Got any pics of the cases you were able to form?

Outside neck dia. is .410 but could be expanded out with a plug die . No I don't have pics , don't own a digital camera and wouldn't know how to post anyhow . Getting too old to learn and with my poor memory isn't worth the effort .

Thats cool, was just curous how it looked. Now the 400 cor-bon, I am trying to teach myseld this, that is pretty much a 45 acp necked down to accept a 10mm bullet? Excuse me if I am wrong, won't be the first time. I don't have any knowledge of that caliber.

I wonder if it really matters how big the neck area is... Prob could keep it there for what it is worth, if not like you said, a plug of some type could take care of that. Maybe a universal expander with a little effort? Prob could turn one on the lathe to the right diameter and polish with no problem at all....

Sounds like you got a winner with that 400 Cor-Bon.....Sorry Dart, not trying to hi jack your thread here, you have brought up a very interesting item and I think we may have gotten you an answer almost....

do not anneal them i read that annealing them makes them too soft and like bill said the end of the case sit in the barrel where the bullet should be if it opens to much it can get in the rifling and it want feed i read annealing them causes this and it can even break the end of sending it down your barrel no good

You are correct DW the .400 Corbon is the .45 ACP knecked down to accept 10mm bullets.

Using better brass such as .45 Super or brass made for .400 Corbon loading is much better than using any ol' .45 ACP brass.

.400 Corbon can be loaded hotter than the 10mm or .40 S&W when loaded in the correct brass, and in a gun built to take the pressure.

Most .45 ACP frames and slides are designed to operate at a max pressure of about 29,000. I've seen some .400 Corbon loading in the mid 40k's range. Wrong brass and you will have case head seperation and blow by around the primer as well as batter a fine weapon from the slide slamming into the frame.

I have always wanted a .400 Corbon barrel for my .45 - now maybe I have a good excuse to order one with the dies.

lol i found a 400 barrel yesterday and started a thread over in the gunsmithing area and now it found it way here yall gonna talk me right into a 400 cor-bon lol i wanting to build a whole new pistol just for the 400 barrel i always liked my 40 i love the 10mm family so what could be better that a 40 in a 45 case?? oh crap im gonna have to work some more overtime lol!!

I am not sure about owning a Cor-Bon, just checking out notenoughguns using the Cor-Bon die to convert a case to make a 45 acp shotshell out of....

I always like when I can get more than just one use out of a set dies.

If I can use the .400 Corbon dies to make .45 ACP shotshell - that is just gravy to me!

Amen to that scorge Im gonna try to mod them old 06 dies I was looking at it today I think I can make it work

In my quest to try to make my own 45 acp shotshells without spending alot of money, I found this on another site:



The RCBS .45 ACP Shotshell dies are mentioned in an article “Shot Loads for Big Bore Handguns” in Handloader’s Digest, 11th edition. The procedures outlined, credited to C. E. Harris of the NRA Technical Staff, use various .45 ACP, .41 Mag, and .38 dies, but said that the RCBS die set speeds up production.

Basic procedures:

Cut a .243, .308, or .358 rifle case to 1.250, and trim to 1.180.

Size and decap in a .45 ACP die, do not expand.

Neck size in a .41 die to establish a shoulder. The shoulder should be located so the base of the brass is even with the barrel tang. The shoulder sets the headspace, and too much will lead to misfires.

Prime (The table showed a CCI 300).

Powder charge with 6.0 grains of Unique.

Trim a .410 wad to 11/16 inches and insert.

Add 90 grains (approx) of shot.

Set a .38 gas check skirt down, and lightly crimp with the .38 die.

The text said 6.0 of WW 231 would also work, and that a paper overshot wad could be used in lieu of the gas check. You can make an over shot wad using a sharp-mouthed case. It indicated the .45 ACP shot shell was the most difficult of the cartridges in the article to make.




Now, if I can find a .41mag sizing die. I am guessing that the .38 die is .38 special?? If so, then I am ok there.... Anyone have an extra .41 mag die or die set a man could get off em? LOL