Reeder Custom Guns - Well ... THAT DIDN'T WORK!

I cut down one of the aluminum .45 ACP shotshells to standard .45 ACP length with the idea of loading them with cast bullets for practice ammmo.

Cutting the thing down was not easy. The .45 caliber pilot for the case trimmer would only go into the case about 1/8 inch. The case walls get thicker the farther you go. A .44 caliber pilot would not go much further.

I finished shortening it by hand ...
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Good enough for a test run.

I ran the case into the neck expander and then tried to seat a 230 gr. Berry's Plated bullet. The case walls get too thick and the bullet was distorted, ripping the plating off.

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So just for grins I decided to try and seat 230 gr. cast RN bullet. That did not work well either.

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To seat bullets into these cases you would need a heel bullet with about a .40 caliber heel and a .45 caliber nose.

I am not sure what I will do with these. Whatever I do it will be something different than making shot loads. I prefer the 12 ga. for shot. :-)

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I’m good at that. I can’t wait to get home and see what my mischief provides. Aluminum is a real strange customer. I know the guys that do Paintless auto repairs will NOT attempt to pull a dent in modern truck hoods etc. that are aluminum. Also the beds on new Fords are strange. We mounted an antenna right behind the cab, it flipped right over. Was not designed for rigidity in that particular stress direction!

I could tell it was fighting me belling to seat. It opened then closed back, until a very gently reached that certain point. I sure didn’t push it either. We’ll see how my .45 Magnums do.

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Well ... THAT DIDN'T WORK!

Lol, you can learn stuff even with goof ups.

I found out quickly that the cases will split and peel ..