[rrages]

I was polishing the ramp and chamber of my LCP yesterday and in dropping a Winchester Silvertip into and out of it (barrel out of the gun and in my hand) I noticed quite a bit of looseness. Wondering if this was normal, I pulled out some Cor Bon and Hydra Shoks for comparison and there was a very noticable difference in how easily each slid from the ramp into the chamber. If I propped the Winchester on the ramp and tilted the barrel just slightly it would fall into the chamber. The Hydra Shok required me to touch it repeatedly before it would fall in. The Cor Bon required still more encouragement before it would chamber. Each seemed to fit the chamber more tightly than the Winchester. I didn't have any PMC on hand to try, but have had repeated failures to feed with that brand.
I reads somewhere recently that running the rounds through a crimp die would guarantee, or at least drastically improve, the reliability of them in the LCP. Could it be (and please excuse the rambling here) that the LCP chamber is a little too tight? I have a 10/22 with a match chamber that will not function properly with lots of different 22 LR's. Could this be the cause of the failures to feed in the LCP we are hearing about? And is this one of the unspoken "improvements" Ruger is making to the recalled guns? Slightly more generous chamber dimensions would make the gun more reliable with a wider variety of factory ammo, if my conclusions are not pure BS. Comments?

 

[DesertPunisher425]

Crimp die won't do much for you as it only focuses on the mouth of the case and it's degree of contact with the seated bullet... unless of course your hang up is on the crimp itself and not the over-all diameter of the case.

For the case, you would need a sizing die, and that wouldn't be possible to use with an already seated bullet.

 

[jocko]

rrages: just don't worry about it. It if works great leave it alone. Ruger addressed the issue with more throating in the chamber. Best thing we can all do with these guns, ESPECIALLY if our is working great IT TO JUST SHOOT UM LIKE WE STOLE UM and not look for issues that are not there..

 

[rrages]

But that's exactly the issue. It works great with most ammo, but the slide fails to close completely without a little encouragement with some ammo. Just wondering if tight chamber dimensions are causing this or just poor quality control at ammunition manufacturers. Don't have the equipment to compare diameters of various loaded .380 cartridges. If anyone does and is motivated enough to compare, I would be interested in the results. I'm sure others would too.

 

[jocko]

But that's exactly the issue. It works great with most ammo, but the slide fails to close completely without a little encouragement with some ammo. Just wondering if tight chamber dimensions are causing this or just poor quality control at ammunition manufacturers. Don't have the equipment to compare diameters of various loaded .380 cartridges. If anyone does and is motivated enough to compare, I would be interested in the results. I'm sure others would too.

how many rounds have u through ur lcp??? I would think with a couple hundred rounds that slide issue will take care of itself. If not get a new set of recoil springs and see if that helps any..

 

[Ooben]

I was having that problem with Speer Gold Dot's before Ruger replaced my barrel. I found that the rounds were not all the exact same length, the shorter ones worked, the longer ones needed encouragement to close the slide. Remington 95gr FMJ were the same, shorter ones worked, longer ones didn't. Haven't had any problems since the barrel replacement.....
Mike

 

[bberg100]

A Lee crimp die does resize the filled case. All other crimp dies, including Lee rifle dies, only apply the crimp.

A better solution is to find what ammo your gun digests flawlessly and stick with it for CCW.

 

[MNBud]

A Lee crimp die does resize the filled case. All other crimp dies, including Lee rifle dies, only apply the crimp.

A better solution is to find what ammo your gun digests flawlessly and stick with it for CCW.

First thing welcome to the forum!!!
I just wanted to clear something up before people misunderstand it. The crimp die that comes in your Lee three set does NOT size full length. You must purchase a factory crimp die. This adds one additional step to your process,after you have seated the bullet to length you must then change dies and crimp with the factory crimp die which does size the case and then applies a taper crimp.

 

[DesertPunisher425]

A Lee crimp die does resize the filled case. All other crimp dies, including Lee rifle dies, only apply the crimp.

A better solution is to find what ammo your gun digests flawlessly and stick with it for CCW.

First thing welcome to the forum!!!
I just wanted to clear something up before people misunderstand it. The crimp die that comes in your Lee three set does NOT size full length. You must purchase a factory crimp die. This adds one additional step to your process,after you have seated the bullet to length you must then change dies and crimp with the factory crimp die which does size the case and then applies a taper crimp.

Well, all of this is new info to me! Of course, I use dillon dies...

 

[bberg100]

A Lee crimp die does resize the filled case. All other crimp dies, including Lee rifle dies, only apply the crimp.

A better solution is to find what ammo your gun digests flawlessly and stick with it for CCW.

First thing welcome to the forum!!!
I just wanted to clear something up before people misunderstand it. The crimp die that comes in your Lee three set does NOT size full length. You must purchase a factory crimp die. This adds one additional step to your process,after you have seated the bullet to length you must then change dies and crimp with the factory crimp die which does size the case and then applies a taper crimp.

Well, all of this is new info to me! Of course, I use dillon dies...

Thanks for the correction, I did leave Factory out. FWIW I think the factory crimp die is about the only thing Lee makes that will ever be on my loading bench.

Dillon 650 in 9mm, 45 ACP, and 45 LC. I tried Hornady 9mm dies in it for a bit, not near as smooth as the Dillon dies, didn't take long to change them out. Otherwise, the Hornady dies are great for single stage use, I have less bullet runout than with RCBS dies, they just hard to find around here.

 

[MNBud]

A Lee crimp die does resize the filled case. All other crimp dies, including Lee rifle dies, only apply the crimp.

A better solution is to find what ammo your gun digests flawlessly and stick with it for CCW.

First thing welcome to the forum!!!
I just wanted to clear something up before people misunderstand it. The crimp die that comes in your Lee three set does NOT size full length. You must purchase a factory crimp die. This adds one additional step to your process,after you have seated the bullet to length you must then change dies and crimp with the factory crimp die which does size the case and then applies a taper crimp.

Well, all of this is new info to me! Of course, I use dillon dies...

Desert punisher,this was all new to me also. I had bought Springfield EMP, and there were certain brands of brass when reloaded were hanging up it the muzzle and wouldn't allow my gun to go into battery.The brass was oversize at the base of the round. My RCBS dies did NOT size to the very bottom of the case.Long story short,I purchased a set of Lee dies and they actually crimp to the very base of the shell. That solved my problems with the EMP but during this process I learned about LEE factory crimp die.It is a crimp die that you use after you have seated your bullet but the crimp happens at the end of the stroke. The opening of the die has a carbide ring,that as it passes over the round it sizes the length of the round and at the end of the stroke is where it does the taper crimp. This die came in very handy for hundreds of rounds that I had previously loaded for 9mm that would not chamber in the EMP and had to be separated to use in my Glock nine or Sub 2000.I hope this is clear,it is a handy die.

 

[rrages]

I guess the questions I really have are:

How generous should chamber dimensions be in any gun? I mean, those Silvertips rattle around in the same chamber that the Corbons fit snugly into. How loose is too loose? Is accuracy affected? Can there be so much play that it becomes dangerous or do all cartridges swell to fit the chamber at the moment of combustion? Interesting questions anyway.

 

[kraigster414]

I guess the questions I really have are:

How generous should chamber dimensions be in any gun? I mean, those Silvertips rattle around in the same chamber that the Corbons fit snugly into. How loose is too loose? Is accuracy affected? Can there be so much play that it becomes dangerous or do all cartridges swell to fit the chamber at the moment of combustion? Interesting questions anyway.

The short answer is in a close, upfront and personal weapon like the LCP, some chamber "slop" is not only normal but preferable. In a target gun, a tight chamber will theoretically provide greater and more consistenct accuracy at the expense of reliability - all things being equal. Yes, keep in mid that with tighter tolerances (i.e., tighter chambers) you are giving up some reliability - that means the gun needs to kept clean and well-lubed. Case in point were the old military issued 1911's, a lot of barrel slop but they kept on shootin under some pretty bad conditions.' Accuracy however was never anything to write home about. None of the rounds you mentioned are going to cause any safety problems in your LCP. Instead, your goal is to enslure reliable functioning.

 

[DesertPunisher425]

A Lee crimp die does resize the filled case. All other crimp dies, including Lee rifle dies, only apply the crimp.

A better solution is to find what ammo your gun digests flawlessly and stick with it for CCW.

First thing welcome to the forum!!!
I just wanted to clear something up before people misunderstand it. The crimp die that comes in your Lee three set does NOT size full length. You must purchase a factory crimp die. This adds one additional step to your process,after you have seated the bullet to length you must then change dies and crimp with the factory crimp die which does size the case and then applies a taper crimp.

Well, all of this is new info to me! Of course, I use dillon dies...

Desert punisher,this was all new to me also. I had bought Springfield EMP, and there were certain brands of brass when reloaded were hanging up it the muzzle and wouldn't allow my gun to go into battery.The brass was oversize at the base of the round. My RCBS dies did NOT size to the very bottom of the case.Long story short,I purchased a set of Lee dies and they actually crimp to the very base of the shell. That solved my problems with the EMP but during this process I learned about LEE factory crimp die.It is a crimp die that you use after you have seated your bullet but the crimp happens at the end of the stroke. The opening of the die has a carbide ring,that as it passes over the round it sizes the length of the round and at the end of the stroke is where it does the taper crimp. This die came in very handy for hundreds of rounds that I had previously loaded for 9mm that would not chamber in the EMP and had to be separated to use in my Glock nine or Sub 2000.I hope this is clear,it is a handy die.

Sure sounds handy!! Fortunately for me, I've not had any problems with chambering on any of my pistols. Should the problem arise, at least now I know how to fix it!