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Posted: 12/20/2008 3:22:32 PM EDT
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I'm loading up some twice fired LC 5.56 brass and I'm noticing my Forster mircometer seating die is leaving a much larger than normal ring around the bullet tip. My first thought was the necks on my brass have shrunk while they were in storage, but I ran a few of them over an expander ball in my RCBS sizing die and it didn't make any difference. The bullets were still receiving a noticeable indent on the tip where the seating stem meets the bullet.
The inside diameter of the case necks is around .220-.221. The bullets are Hornady 75 gr. BTHP Match, all from a lot of 1,000 that I've been loading from lately. It's not the bullets, I've loaded them in once fired LC brass that only received a hardly noticeable mark on the tip. What would cause the bullets to require more seating force if the case necks are correctly sized and the bullet OD is consistent and correct? Any other ideas? Or should I not be concerned? I use this ammo for Service Rifle short line. |
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Question: is the same effect observed with other kinds of brass?
FC's really only good for one reload. It's not properly heat treated like LC, WCC, R-P, etc. You get major primer pocket expansion after one reload; may have other problems as well. I reload FC once and then recycle it. I'd see if this is a problem with other headstamps known to be good. |
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If you haven't changed or increased loads,, it may be carbon in the inside of the neck.
You didn't say what load you are using. If the indent is not a scraped ridge,, they'll do fine for short line loads. When I was using Varget, I would get that ring, so changed to RE15,, you might also take the seater plug out and break the inside edge of it. 'Borg ETA he says LC, not FC. |
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Quoted:
If you haven't changed or increased loads,, it may be carbon in the inside of the neck. You didn't say what load you are using. If the indent is not a scraped ridge,, they'll do fine for short line loads. When I was using Varget, I would get that ring, so changed to RE15,, you might also take the seater plug out and break the inside edge of it. 'Borg ETA he says LC, not FC. Thanks for the reply. I'm loading 24.5 grains of RE-15 and a Federal 205M. I do crunch a bit of powder with this load. My issue isn't that there is a ring on the bullet, but that the ring is much more pronounced than it used to be. What could have changed that I'm not seeing? As far as carbon, I hope not. The brass gets tumbled twice and I run a neck brush through each case before it's loaded, to remove any tumbler residue. |
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Quoted:
I'm loading up some twice fired LC 5.56 brass and I'm noticing my Forster mircometer seating die is leaving a much larger than normal ring around the bullet tip... I've loaded them in once fired LC brass that only received a hardly noticeable mark on the tip. And on three times fired brass, the nasty ring mark will be deeper still. Each time you fire and resize a case, it gets work hardened. It gets more difficult to seat bullets. the more difficult it is to seat them, the deeper the tool marks. How do you fix this? Use bushing dies that apply less tension, or a Lee collet neck die in conjunction with a Redding body die. |
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