Crinkled shoulder on 348 ackley cases after resizing (pics added)

Finger Toes

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Crinkle looking shoulders after cases are sized after 3rd firing. The case mouths were annealed before fire forming the first go. I pulled the die apart and scrubbed with solvent and a brush. The cases are minimally lubed on the body only. Still crinkled up.

I've also had a problem with the lever popping open slightly when firing. The lever pops open even with starting loads.

Thoughts??
 
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Those dents are cosmetic. Annoying, but not very important.

In your quest to stop getting them, don't let an underlubed case get stuck.

I have a standard way of lubing my cases. Initially I got a lot of dents but for each batch I used a bit less lube until I got to the point where there are no more dents.

Be careful.
 
Finger Toes

Make sure you wipe the lube off the neck and shoulder before sizing, sometimes depending on case body taper you may have to wipe the upper case body also.

I have to do this with my home made lanolin and alcohol spray lube on 30-30 cases with more body taper.

If you are sizing large batches of cases Hornady One Shot dry film lube does not migrate upward in the die and onto the shoulder.
 
I have been using Imperial sizing wax for decades. No shoulder dents, but I do not
put any lube on the shoulder or neck either. Powdered graphite for the inside/outside of the necks.
Dave.
 
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Crinkle looking shoulders after cases are sized after 3rd firing. The case mouths were annealed before fire forming the first go. I pulled the die apart and scrubbed with solvent and a brush. The cases are minimally lubed on the body only. Still crinkled up.

I've also had a problem with the lever popping open slightly when firing. The lever pops open even with starting loads.

Thoughts??

The lever popping open slightly is a common item with the Model 71 but presents no problem. I have four of them and all pop a bit.
 
OP - are you wet tumbling the cases? The reason I ask is that I have found that wet tumbling with stainless pins gets the cases "too clean" as it removes the carbon inside the case neck that acts as a bit of a natural lubricant. I have had case shoulders get crinkled as your photo shows in other calibers during the press upstroke when the case enters the resizing die...the neck is not lubricated enough and the friction places downward pressure from the neck onto the shoulder and collapses it like in your pics.

Solution: lubricate the outside of the case neck very sparingly, and also lubricate the inside of the case neck - I use a caliber-appropriate brush that has been sprayed with Hornady One Shot and voila - no collapsed shoulders.

Hope this helps...
 
OP - are you wet tumbling the cases? The reason I ask is that I have found that wet tumbling with stainless pins gets the cases "too clean" as it removes the carbon inside the case neck that acts as a bit of a natural lubricant. I have had case shoulders get crinkled as your photo shows in other calibers during the press upstroke when the case enters the resizing die...the neck is not lubricated enough and the friction places downward pressure from the neck onto the shoulder and collapses it like in your pics.

Solution: lubricate the outside of the case neck very sparingly, and also lubricate the inside of the case neck - I use a caliber-appropriate brush that has been sprayed with Hornady One Shot and voila - no collapsed shoulders.

Hope this helps...

The cases are just tumbled in walnut shells. Makes sense about the super clean cases binding though.
 
Over the years, I've used a number of re-sizing lube products including a number of 'homemade' and factory available varaitions. By FAR the best on the market I've found is Imperial Sizing Die wax. It's worked well in case forming applications as well as in the average case resizing process. #1 consideration, a little goes a long way so apply sparingly. For neck sizing only applications, and as/already mentioned products, Imperial Dry Neck Lube works VERY well. Powdered graphite, available from an auto parts supply shop, isn't too shabby either.
 
Imperial Sizing Die Wax now marketed by Redding will eliminate your shoulder dents as previously mentioned.

Remove your fingers out of the lever loop & place them on the outside of the lever & that issue will be non existent.....also.
 
I thought I would update this thread. I found the reason that the lever on my model 71 was popping open during firing. The lever itself was prematurely contacting the lower tang before the friction stud on the front of the lever clicked into place in the bottom of the receiver. If I closed the lever slow enough the friction stud would remain out of battery on an empty chamber, even more obviously on a sized case. If I cycled the lever hard enough it would sometimes have enough inertia to allow the friction stud to engage. Luckily, being a hoarder I have another model 71 to compare it with, there is no contact between the lever and the lower tang and the friction stud clicks into place before the lever stops traveling towards the lower tang. A gap remains between the closed lever and tang on the 2nd rifle, not so on the lever popping gun. Some slightly over the line loads in the 2nd rifle have never caused the lever to open. I bent the lever away from the tang with manual force and it has so far resolved the popping open issue.
 
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