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Posted: 9/8/2011 4:51:26 AM EDT
| Hey everybody! I got into reloading about a year ago and now im having an issue with my later made 45 ACP cartiges. To give you a little history first, I have loaded close to 1800 rounds of good ammo out of my Dilon 4 stage and my Dilon dies using once fired Remington brass and twice fired Starline brass and Hornaday FTX 230gr JHPs, the reloading gear however I purchased used and I have no clue how many rounds those dies have touched. Now the issue im having is that on my newest batch of ammo (once fired Remington using FTX 230gr JHP) I can press the bullet down into the cartrige with my fingers! I have tried tightening up my dies but its not helping. I am also seeing waves in the sides of the cases after they run through the press. Is it possible that dies are worn out? Anyone have this issue before? |
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Quoted: Im not sure if the dies are carbide, I dont think they are, and the I use a minimal bell but I never knew there was anything to that, I just didnt like flaring the cases that much for no reason. If the dies are not very old they ARE carbide. That said if you wearout a set of dies in your life time (w/o abuse) your a reloading stud.. |
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Crimping a too large case mouth won't help the problem, in fact it can cause more problems. A correctly crimped case should just return the case sides to parallel. You don't want the case mouth to roll into the bullet because 45acp indexes on the mouth of the case, not the rim. I'd start by verifying your adjustments and go from there. First verify that you have the resizing / depriming die set correctly. This reduces the case diameter down to spec. Make sure that it is set up per Dillon's instructions that came with the die set. If you don't have the instructions, you can view them HERE. Resize a case and then take it out and try to put a bullet into the case to verify that a bullet will not just drop in. If the bullet drops into the case, check your bullets to ensure that they are at least .452" in diameter. If it doesn't drop into the case then look at your Expander Powder Funnel. It is the caliber specific part in the Powder Die that slides into the case and flares out at the top. Look at it to see if there are brass 'stripes' around the end that slides into the case. Brass from the cases will build up on this and cause the case to stick when lowering the ram and if they are thick enough, will increase it's effective diameter so that it will oversize the case mouth and/or wrinkle the cases if it drags too much. If you see any brass on it take it out by removing the Powder Measure and then push it up from the bottom of the Powder Die to slide it out. Then remove the brass 'stripes' and polish it smooth. I've found that the stripes come off best by sanding them down with emory paper. That way you'll both reduce the OD of the belling die as well as enable it to slide more smoothly into the case mouth. Reassemble your Powder Measure and verify the adjustment. You want as little belling as possible to not overwork the case mouth. |
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