[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Help needed in reloading. (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 7/9/2012 4:31:45 PM EDT
|
I hate to interrupt your threads about attractive female criminals and whatnot, but I'm a n00b and I'm getting my ass kicked. What is causing this?
 |
|
Where do you think that link in the OP goes? I'd like to get a batch of reloads done tonight so they'll be ready to roll when I get back in town next week. If I rely on the original thread itself, I'd be lucky to get any response tonight.
|
|
Quoted: Oversize bullets by chance? These: http://www.missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=119&category=5&secondary=10&keywords=  |
|
Quoted: Probably not the issue but it never hurts to check.Quoted: Oversize bullets by chance? These: http://www.missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=119&category=5&secondary=10&keywords= Hope you get things figured out. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Are you sure you're not pushing the case too far up into the die? LC I'm trying to meet the OAL requirements. Minimum is: 1.550 Maximum is: 1.600? How are you crimping the case, seperate die, or with the seating die. looks like either the bullet is oversized or you are trying to seat the bullet to far in. |
|
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Are you sure you're not pushing the case too far up into the die? LC I'm trying to meet the OAL requirements. Minimum is: 1.550 Maximum is: 1.600? How are you crimping the case, seperate die, or with the seating die. looks like either the bullet is oversized or you are trying to seat the bullet to far in. I'm using these dies: |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Are you sure you're not pushing the case too far up into the die? LC I'm trying to meet the OAL requirements. Minimum is: 1.550 Maximum is: 1.600? How are you crimping the case, seperate die, or with the seating die. looks like either the bullet is oversized or you are trying to seat the bullet to far in. I'm using these dies: Back off the seating die, and then re-adjust the seating depth, see if that might help. you may be going into the seating die too far. |
|
So is the crush happening with the seating die or the crimping die?
If the seating die, as I suspect, then you may not be belling the cases mouth enough, so that the bullet is hanging on the case mouth and pushing it down, causing a buckling. Alternatley, you may simply be seating the bullet too much - really, those are almost two sides of the same coin. If these are for a revolver or lever rifle, OAL isn't terribly important and you may be able to easily load a tad longer and avoid all this. If these are plinking loads, you odn't have to crimp them. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
OP, Have you tried putting a spacer under your .38 seating die and then readjusting it? Have your cases been trimmed? What is their length? I do not have a spacer. I have not trimmed my cases. I am using once-fired Remington brass that's ~1.26. the brass sounds ok, how much belling of the case mouth are you doing, also like I said earlier, back you seating die out a little and then readjust your seating depth. see if that helps. |
|
I had the same thing happen on .223 with lee dies. Back off about a half turn on your dies, and the crimp won't be as tight, but I still haven't had a bullet pull/fall out.
PS Stop being superman, you don't have to pull the lever all the way down for it to seat and hold the bullet. The farther you pull does not equate to a tighter crimp. Oh, and invest in a bullet puller, your gonna need it. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/215517/frankford-arsenal-impact-bullet-puller Not mine, but look familiar? 
http://www.reloadingtips.com/pages/crimping_rifle_bullets2.htm |
|
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: OP, Have you tried putting a spacer under your .38 seating die and then readjusting it? Have your cases been trimmed? What is their length? I do not have a spacer. I have not trimmed my cases. I am using once-fired Remington brass that's ~1.26. the brass sounds ok, how much belling of the case mouth are you doing, also like I said earlier, back you seating die out a little and then readjust your seating depth. see if that helps. Is this good? The brass is .376" down by the rim, and .389" at the lip.
 |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
OP, Have you tried putting a spacer under your .38 seating die and then readjusting it? Have your cases been trimmed? What is their length? I do not have a spacer. I have not trimmed my cases. I am using once-fired Remington brass that's ~1.26. the brass sounds ok, how much belling of the case mouth are you doing, also like I said earlier, back you seating die out a little and then readjust your seating depth. see if that helps. Is this good? The brass is .376" down by the rim, and .389" at the lip.
Whoa! You're killing your brass with that much belling. 
|
|
Quoted: So is the crush happening with the seating die or the crimping die? If the seating die, as I suspect, then you may not be belling the cases mouth enough, so that the bullet is hanging on the case mouth and pushing it down, causing a buckling. Alternatley, you may simply be seating the bullet too much - really, those are almost two sides of the same coin. If these are for a revolver or lever rifle, OAL isn't terribly important and you may be able to easily load a tad longer and avoid all this. If these are plinking loads, you odn't have to crimp them. I know my GP100 will probably run just about anything, but I'd like to feed my Marlin 1894c which I read is limited to 1.600 OAL. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
So is the crush happening with the seating die or the crimping die? If the seating die, as I suspect, then you may not be belling the cases mouth enough, so that the bullet is hanging on the case mouth and pushing it down, causing a buckling. Alternatley, you may simply be seating the bullet too much - really, those are almost two sides of the same coin. If these are for a revolver or lever rifle, OAL isn't terribly important and you may be able to easily load a tad longer and avoid all this. If these are plinking loads, you odn't have to crimp them. I know my GP100 will probably run just about anything, but I'd like to feed my Marlin 1894c which I read is limited to 1.600 OAL. Try to cycle one that's a tad longer. I've never shot an 1894 so I can't speak from experience....but try to cycle one before you give up on long loading, if you end up forced to load long. I think we can fix your problem without changing your OAL though, if your OAL is within the suggested range. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
OP, Have you tried putting a spacer under your .38 seating die and then readjusting it? Have your cases been trimmed? What is their length? I do not have a spacer. I have not trimmed my cases. I am using once-fired Remington brass that's ~1.26. the brass sounds ok, how much belling of the case mouth are you doing, also like I said earlier, back you seating die out a little and then readjust your seating depth. see if that helps. Is this good? The brass is .376" down by the rim, and .389" at the lip.
As others have said that is way too much. Need to back that die off also. shouldn't bell the case mouth much more than needed to start the bullet without crushing the case. |
|
Quoted: Whoa! You're killing your brass with that much belling.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPWM36_ZuLkI figured as much, but I was trying to get the creasing to stop. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Whoa! You're killing your brass with that much belling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPWM36_ZuLkI figured as much, but I was trying to get the creasing to stop. Again,, try backing off the seating die one full thread then re-set the seating plunger to sppec. |
|
Quoted: I had the same thing happen on .223 with lee dies. Back off about a half turn on your dies, and the crimp won't be as tight, but I still haven't had a bullet pull/fall out. PS Stop being superman, you don't have to pull the lever all the way down for it to seat and hold the bullet. The farther you pull does not equate to a tighter crimp. Oh, and invest in a bullet puller, your gonna need it. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/215517/frankford-arsenal-impact-bullet-puller Not mine, but look familiar? http://www.reloadingtips.com/allimages/Crimping/223crimp-settings/223bullet-crimp-7eights.jpg http://www.reloadingtips.com/pages/crimping_rifle_bullets2.htm  If I don't take the lever all the way down, how do I get a consistent seat? |
|
I use those same Lee dies on those rare occasions when I reload .38/.357. The case mouth bell you showed in your photos is a bit excessive. You should set it so you can just detect the bell starting by feel. You can actually see a sort of rub mark inside the case from the belling die. I usually set mine so that the mark is about 1/4" or maybe 5/16" deep into the case when reloading cast lead bullets. You can get away with less if you use plated bullets.
When seating, unscrew the bullet seating plunger all the way. Put an empty, belled case on the ram and move it all the way to the top. Screw the die down until you can feel the crimp shoulder contacting the case mouth. Then back it off about 1 full turn. Lock the die down with the locking collar. Now screw the seating plunger in a small amount, and try seating a bullet. Keep adjusting the plunger down until you get the seating depth you want. After you seat a bunch of bullets and want to crimp, unscrew the seating plunger again. Loosen the lock ring, and repeat the process of putting putting a cartridge (this time with loaded bullet) on the ram and move it to the top. Screw the die down again until the crimp shoulder contacts the case mouth. Move the ram down a little for clearance, and screw the die in about 1/4 turn and lock it down. Then move the ram all the way up. You should be able to feel the crimp. It feels like a bump in travel of the ram. Check the loaded round. If you want a little more crimp, loosen the lock ring and move the die down another 1/4 turn until you get the crimp you want. I think you were trying to put a crimp on while seating, which some reloading manuals encourage. I've never had good results trying that, especially with plain lead bullets. Leads to problems with case mouths and shaved bullets. |
|
Like said, I would start over again setting the die according to the instructions. I've never had a problem with my Lee dies unless I have something set wrong.
When I have crushed a case or two, it's because the die was crimping the case mouth before the bullet has fully seated. Driving the bullet down that last bit of stroke with it crimped to the case crushes the case. Proper adjustment of the die fixed it. |
|
You may be on to something here.
I think the seating/crimping die is sett for .38spc, i.e. set too short for .357, and you're over-crimping.
The Lee dies I got from Midway say "38 Special" in large font followed by "can load 357 Magnum" in smaller font. Back off the seater/crimper adjustments, and re-adjust per directions using .357 brass to adjust the setting. |
|
Quoted:
Aren't you supposed to swage cast bullets before loading? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile It's bullet sizing you're thinking of, and with some molds you don't have to but it's not a bad idea. I think it could be your crimp. Set your seating die where it seats the bullet but doesn't crimp then see what it looks like. I use the factory crimp die after I seat the bullet. |
| You also have to have the die adjusted right in the first place. Set it so it can't crimp when seating the bullet. You want your preferred seating depth to occur at full stroke of the lever. Make crimping a separate step and readjust the die so that the seating plunger won't contact the bullet at all during the crimping step. |
|
Quoted: You also have to have the die adjusted right in the first place. Set it so it can't crimp when seating the bullet. You want your preferred seating depth to occur at full stroke of the lever. Make crimping a separate step and readjust the die so that the seating plunger won't contact the bullet at all during the crimping step. That's what I thought, but if I set it according to the instructions, the brass gets crushed. I took the die out to look at it, and I don't see what does the crimping.
It'll be slow going, but I think I may have a setting that'll work as long as I don't push the lever too far. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just wondering, is the marks only on one side of the brass or does it go all around? One side. OK your bullet is not entering the case centered. I have had this problem with LEE dies before. I now will only use Dillon or RCBS dies. Maybe you can try a friends dies? |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
You also have to have the die adjusted right in the first place. Set it so it can't crimp when seating the bullet. You want your preferred seating depth to occur at full stroke of the lever. Make crimping a separate step and readjust the die so that the seating plunger won't contact the bullet at all during the crimping step. That's what I thought, but if I set it according to the instructions, the brass gets crushed. I took the die out to look at it, and I don't see what does the crimping. It'll be slow going, but I think I may have a setting that'll work as long as I don't push the lever too far. That is how LEE dies work. Crimp is at the end of the seating. RCBS and Dillon dies crimp at a different station |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just wondering, is the marks only on one side of the brass or does it go all around? One side. OK your bullet is not entering the case centered. I have had this problem with LEE dies before. I now will only use Dillon or RCBS dies. Maybe you can try a friends dies? Not necessarily. It's fairly common to have one side of the case buckle and relieve the pressure off both sides of the case. I'd blame his dies LAST and his adjustment thereof first. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just wondering, is the marks only on one side of the brass or does it go all around? One side. OK your bullet is not entering the case centered. I have had this problem with LEE dies before. I now will only use Dillon or RCBS dies. Maybe you can try a friends dies? Not necessarily. It's fairly common to have one side of the case buckle and relieve the pressure off both sides of the case. I'd blame his dies LAST and his adjustment thereof first. I have tossed dies because of this. Not plinking ammo but my match stuff. I cannot have the bullet entering the barrell off centered. Heck not even for my USPSA ammo. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
You also have to have the die adjusted right in the first place. Set it so it can't crimp when seating the bullet. You want your preferred seating depth to occur at full stroke of the lever. Make crimping a separate step and readjust the die so that the seating plunger won't contact the bullet at all during the crimping step. That's what I thought, but if I set it according to the instructions, the brass gets crushed. I took the die out to look at it, and I don't see what does the crimping. It'll be slow going, but I think I may have a setting that'll work as long as I don't push the lever too far. If your trying to adjust with how far you pull the lever, you're doing it wrong. Go back up and read Imdelaw's post carefully. |