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Posted: 1/20/2013 11:15:16 AM EDT
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This might be stupid guys and I'm sorry if it is. But I usually use new brass to reload my 223 and have never had a problem. Well since brass is scarce I am now using my once fired brass, which is Winchester. My problem is when seating the bullet in the once fired brass It almost falls right through, and has no tension on the bullet.
I am using a RCBS Rock Crusher, RCBS sizing dies, and Hornady V-max 55gr. Do I need to buy a crimping die? I figured the neck sizer would take care of this. Anyone that can help me out would be great. Thanks in advance guys. Rob |
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Im not home right now so I cant mike anything at the moment. How would it get out of spec if it was working fine with the new brass? Ive made at least 600 rounds with this set up with no issues. Im using the same brass I shot only once, neck sized them, trimmed, deprimed, tumbled and cleaned just like I do for all my other brass. (308,9mm)
Im no expert here so excuse my lack of knowledge. Thanks for the replies guys. Rob |
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Quoted:
Im not home right now so I cant mike anything at the moment. How would it get out of spec if it was working fine with the new brass? Ive made at least 600 rounds with this set up with no issues. Im using the same brass I shot only once, neck sized them, trimmed, deprimed, tumbled and cleaned just like I do for all my other brass. (308,9mm) Im no expert here so excuse my lack of knowledge. Thanks for the replies guys. Rob I must have missed the part that you have used it with new brass. Then it can't be out of spec. I cannot think of any other reason that this would be occurring except that you do not have the die set low enough, contacting the shellholder. |
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Quoted:
Ill have to make sure. So the bottom of the die should be in full contact the top of the shell holder? I was thinking that I needed to crimp them but I really dont want to if I dont have to. yes. Raise the ram completely, then turn the die down until it contacts the shellholder. Then lower the ram, and turn the die down another 1/4 turn, and tighten into place. |
| Once you solve your neck problem (John87 probably has solved the problem -- he just isn't accustomed to sizing brass... the new brass was not a learning experience!), realize that new brass has a much shorter headspace than once fired brass. Before reloading, make certain that your cases (i) fit into your chamber, (ii) fit into a case gauge or (iii) exhibit adequate measured case headspace. |
| If it were me I would slow down and read more before I loaded another round. There are guides to loading 223 tacked at the top and are very helpful. If your sizing die is not set correctly then you are not sizing the brass enough and will likely run into excessive headspace issues if you happen to get some bullets to seat. Neck-only sizing is generally for bolt guns and definitely not recommended for a new re-loader to try on an AR. I am willing to bet you never noticed your die was not correctly set because you were using new brass. Slow down and read. |
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Quoted: Ill have to make sure. So the bottom of the die should be in full contact the top of the shell holder? I was thinking that I needed to crimp them but I really dont want to if I dont have to. Use a case gage to adjust your sizing die, screwing it all the way down to the touch the shell holder may or may not be oversizing your brass. You don't know unless you use a gage |
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Originally Posted By Assault Rifle:
Quoted:
Ill have to make sure. So the bottom of the die should be in full contact the top of the shell holder? I was thinking that I needed to crimp them but I really don't want to if I don't have to. Use a case gage to adjust your sizing die, screwing it all the way down to the touch the shell holder may or may not be oversizing your brass. You don't know unless you use a gage I think he should set it up according to the standard directions before attempting this advanced technique. |
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Quoted: Originally Posted By Assault Rifle: Quoted: Ill have to make sure. So the bottom of the die should be in full contact the top of the shell holder? I was thinking that I needed to crimp them but I really don't want to if I don't have to. Use a case gage to adjust your sizing die, screwing it all the way down to the touch the shell holder may or may not be oversizing your brass. You don't know unless you use a gage I think he should set it up according to the standard directions before attempting this advanced technique. I was thinking of a drop in case gage like from Dillon or Wilson when referring to the case gage. Using one isn't all that advanced. Just screw the die down till it touches the shell holder, then back off one full turn, size, check in gage, keep turning the die down 1/4 turn increments until the sized brass falls between the high and low steps on the bottom of the case gage. Pretty simple |
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Are you sizing the cases full length, or only the necks? Size full length.
Since the necks of the "loose" cases are round, size a few without the expander ball installed, then seat a few bullets, that will give good neck tension. An expander ball is not necessarily required. Don't be afraid to experiment. |
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Not sure how we transitioned from bullets falling through neck, to case head space issue in this thread. Anyway, to the OP, did you "feel" any resistance on the upstroke of handle, downstroke of press ram? Does it feel the same as the new brass?
New brass might be smooth inside the neck, while older reused brass might have some rough soot on the inside of the case neck. Sometimes we just do a rudimentary tumble or vibratory cleaning of the brass before we size it. Do you lube the interior of the case neck with something like flaked graphite or mica before sizing? Have you disassembled the sizing die and cleaned and polished the sizing button on the center stem with something like Flitz, cleaned and polished the exterior case neck forming section of the die? Are these once fired only cases you are dealing with? Sometimes, many times fired, many times sized cases can develop work hardened case neck material that does not react to neck forming as one might normally experience with new or 1X cases. |
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your chamber may be out of spec....
....as others have said, measure your expander ball .....on bolt guns I used to partial neck size with full length sizing dies before I used neck size dies only. I think your issue is NOT that the die is contacting the shell holder, because it is not screwed all the way "down".... ..think about it this way.....remove your decapping rod/pin/expander ball from your resizing die. The die ALONE will SIZE the case neck DOWN in dimension, and push the shoulder back Now, if you insert the decapping rod/pin/expander ball back into the die and resize, on the UPSTROKE as the expander ball pass UP through the neck, it will bring the outside neck dimension back to spec. If you neck thickness is TOO THIN...your bullet will "drop" in and not contact the neck walls.... Something is wrong here........If your expander ball's diameter is correct, I suspect the neck wall thickness on your brass is too thin... here is an example for you: on my 6.5x61Super Loaded Round outside dimension = 0.292", my chamber is reamed to 0.294", for a neck wall clearance of 0.002" bullet is = 0.264" 0.292" - 0.264" = 0.028" / 2 = 0.014" neck wall thickness.......I neck turned the necks to even them up.....Factory Norma Brass was 0.015" nominal neck wall thickness |
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Hey guys thanks for all the help. I'm a freakng idiot. I figured it out, I was using .223 bullets that I had sitting around forever not .224. I saw the bag and didnt even think twice about it. Atleast I figured it out and nothing bad happened. Thanks again.
Rob |
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