Went to reload some 308 this weekend and found something strange. All of the brass I was using had been previously reloaded and then preped by me. (cleaned, trimed, and neck sized) This was to be the second reload. I neck sized them because I have been told that it would increase accuracy, and extend the life of the brass. The problem came when I went to seat the bullets. Some of the case mouths (about 1/2 of the total 40) were so loose that the bullet literally fell through without even touching. I VERY LIGHTLY touched the rims in my factory crimp die to give enough tension to hold the bullet long enough to fully crimp at the proper C.O.A.L. The bullets are now tight (wont move in or out) but I can turn them in place. Like a 22 longrifle bullet. Is this normal, or should I be concerned? Thanks!
Try turning your die in farther. Are you using a collet die? You can also use a regular FL sizing die and back it out just far enough to size the neck but not push the shoulder back. It will still allow you to increase the life of your brass by not FL sizing.
another thing, are you using a bullet of the correct diameter?
hope your going to put those shells back in the same gun they were originally fired in or you may have a problem.
what kind of gun are you shooting? semi's and lever guns need full length sizing.
what kind of gun are you shooting? semi's and lever guns need full length sizing.
Sorry didn't give enough info. Dies are the Lee Delux rifle and a matching Factory crimp Die. I only have the one 308 (Savage 16 FHSAK), Neck sized because read if they will alwayse be used in the same chamber you can, and will get the afore mentioned benefits. They seem to work through the action and chamber perfectly. Bullets are the same loaded the first time, Hornady 150gr. FMJ BT #3037, but did not actually put the calipers to them.
I've run into this problem before, pretty simple fix actually. I was preping a mess of brass for a p-dog hunt and was doing it in batches of 50, got to dumping powder and seating bullets when out of the blue the bullets fell onto the podwer charge ??? I measured the necks and ya know what granted I had the decapping rod long enough to knock out the primer the die was not far enough down to size the necks! I just removed the decapping rod and ran them back into the die after screwing it down a bit so that it would size the neck to the correct dia. I bet the look on my face after that was priceless the look of confusion. Oh well we all do things loading that we swear we were paying attention but a few can sneak by. Later,
Kirk
Kirk
Thanks, I think this is it. I can not run them back through because I now have a bullet firmly crimpped in place. Should I pull, or do you think they will be ok to shoot and then redo? They chamber fine, I can't think of a reason (other than accuracy), but as you can see I didn't think of this either.
If the necks let the bullet fall in how did you crimp them? if you had to put that much crimp on them for them to hold the bullet in my opinion I'd pull the bullets and trash the rest or if you were feeling like an overachiever you could always try to resize the brass again but your gonna loose the primers but hey .02 compaired to a loaded round is not bad.
One thing to think about if your just going to neck size is to get a de-capping die and remove the expander ball from your die, with brass fired from you rifle you can just run them into the die and it will size the OD of the necks, since it was fired you don't have to run the expander ball. Now brass that is new or you picked up I'd run it thru the expander ball first but after you shoot it I'd not use the expander ball. Later,
Kirk
One thing to think about if your just going to neck size is to get a de-capping die and remove the expander ball from your die, with brass fired from you rifle you can just run them into the die and it will size the OD of the necks, since it was fired you don't have to run the expander ball. Now brass that is new or you picked up I'd run it thru the expander ball first but after you shoot it I'd not use the expander ball. Later,
Kirk
I ran the brass (without the bullet) up to and just touched the case mouth to the crimp die. This gave the mouth enough tension to then seat the bullets, and crimp them in place good. I just know that there is not uniform contact between the bullet and the entire case neck. Dont know what problems that may cause.
As to part two, this is something I have wondered for a while. How to safely remove a live primer from a case? I know you wouldnt want to go after it with the de-primer. I guess you could simply fire it off then do it, but was wondering about soaking in a solution of water overnight or something similar. But is that good enough?
1. For neck sizing highly recommend turning necks, different neck thickness will result in different neck tension ... or none.
2. Make sure everything that die is setup right.
3. Don't use expander ball - in Lee's case, just put it in a drill and run it on a stone half a thou under.
4. Brass might be just too stiff and needs to be annealed.
2. Make sure everything that die is setup right.
3. Don't use expander ball - in Lee's case, just put it in a drill and run it on a stone half a thou under.
4. Brass might be just too stiff and needs to be annealed.
