Temporary Mods to a 1911 for Light Loads

I just got back from the range and found out that a batch of 600 rounds I made this last week are too light. I loaded 3.9 of WST with Berry's SWC, 1.19" OAL, with a 0.470" crimp. This new batch of rounds are closer to 3.9 rather 4.0 - previously I found that I could load about 3.975+ and have the rounds cycle one after another. My old 550B powder funnel has been failing on me, so I upgraded to a RL1100 (havent used it yet). 

Are there any temporary modifications I can make to my 1911 to allow these rounds to cycle? I've changed recoil springs from 16 lbs to 10 lbs which resulted in no change. 

I have a feeling I'll need a Hornady bullet puller die, which I already ordered..

Try increasing crimp to .463

shoot308 wrote:Try increasing crimp to .463

The original crimp for this batch is @ 0.470. 

Does crimping support empty brass cycling out of the pistol?

What pistol are you using? Gunsmithed?
In my tight builds I can run that charge with 0.463 crimp, 10# recoil spring and 19# mainspring.
Jon

Crimp absolutely does that with lower charge weights.

Jon Eulette wrote:What pistol are you using? Gunsmithed?
In my tight builds I can run that charge with 0.463 crimp, 10# recoil spring and 19# mainspring.
Jon

Hi Jon, I'm using a Les Baer Hardball, which KC turned into a wadgun.

What powder / bullet are using?

shoot308 wrote:Try increasing crimp to .463

I crimped a few to 0.465 to take to the range tomorrow.

I typically use Bullseye. I can run my 13 twist frame mount down to 3.0 180/200. My slide mounted 16 twist down to 3.4 180/200.
I’ve hardly used WST but your 3.9 load should function most guns with tighter crimp. My pistols have pretty hard lockup, I doubt your pistol is as tight. I’ve ran 3.8 WST through my slide mounted optic guns with no issues. I leave my crimp tighter because I’m shooting/testing many guns and many loads.
Jon

Take a look also at the bullet seating and make sure the bullet isnt jammed into the lands.  SWC bullet have a shoulder and a lot of reloaders sometimes don’t seat them deep enough.  A good rule of thumb is to have the shoulder govern your OAL.  So, measure the base of cartridge to the shoulder of the SWC.  This dimension should be x.910-.915 inch.  A bullet jammed into the rifling can have a symptom of not enough power to run the gun.  

Also Berrys aren’t the best bullet out there in the accuracy arena.  You can get all the benefits of plating with Hi-Tek coated.

Tighter crimp worked, thanks for the insight

Edit: Not sure this worked, my sample size was too small. Crimped a batch at 463 for the range today.

I run 4.0 of WST all the time with 180 swcfb using 463 crimp.

Clip a coil off your recoil spring if need be. I'm using 3.3 or 3.4 WST with 200 gr zeros . 10 lb spring I think a 16 lb main. This wont run on 185's. Very accurate. Stick with the 463 crimp.