Can loaded ammo be re-sized?

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Cow Town Bill

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I was given some reloads by a good friend, who I trust, but I can't close the bolt on these cartridges. I know that I can pull the bullets, dump the powder, re-size without the de-primer and then load again. But is there an easier way? I have a body die but it won't work with loaded cartridges. Could I remove the entire de-priming assembly and simply bump the shoulder?
 
Cow Town Bill said:
I was given some reloads by a good friend, who I trust, but I can't close the bolt on these cartridges. I know that I can pull the bullets, dump the powder, re-size without the de-primer and then load again. But is there an easier way? I have a body die but it won't work with loaded cartridges. Could I remove the entire de-priming assembly and simply bump the shoulder?[/QUOTE]

No you cannot, since, with a bullet seated, the neck of the case will not enter the neck sizing section of your FL die.
Some body dies will accept a loaded round.
Regards, Eagleye
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if you have reloading equipment, why not give him his loads back and make your own?
or just pull them apart, resize them and start over.
 
Unless he gave you thousands, best to just pull and resize. take off the decapper rod and you could leave the power in place.

If it was me I would first try my body die, if i had one in that caliber.
 
what is the problem though, is it bullet seating? Is is necks that are too tight? is it in need of bump or are they fire-formed for his chamber? Since it is almost impossible to do anything to the round without affecting bullet run-out, I would simply not use.
 
Cow Town Bill said:
I was given some reloads by a good friend, who I trust, but I can't close the bolt on these cartridges. I know that I can pull the bullets, dump the powder, re-size without the de-primer and then load again. But is there an easier way? I have a body die but it won't work with loaded cartridges. Could I remove the entire de-priming assembly and simply bump the shoulder?
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Take a few apart and weigh the powder.
Measure the case O.A.L. and see if it's on
the money.
Then you will know for sure if you should really
trust his reloads.
Weigh the bullet as well to check if it's on par as well.
Before you face a grizzlie hovering over a kill, this is when
you don't wish for that trust to fail.
 
I have an RCBS trim die, the type where you push the case full in and file off what sticks out.
This works great for resizing the loaded cartridge. The neck is of the size where a loaded factory cartridge neck and bullet just fit in the neck, without force.
Sooner or later, we will all have loaded cartridges that won't fully chamber. If it is for any other reason than the bullet hitting the lands, this die will cure the problem.
 
Just thinking about the OP again.
First, make sure it is not just the bullet hitting the lands that is preventing the seating.
Take one of the problem cartridges, push the bullet a bit deeper and see if this does it.
Sometimes you get lucky.
 
I had a similar problem reloading my 300wsm. Hard bolt closing. Finally figured out that my cartridge was 1 thou longer than specs and that was causing the bullet to stick. I just bumped the bullets in a bit a problem solved. May be entirely different in your case but in my case it took me a bit of time to finally identify my problem.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. I solved my problem by removing the de-priming assembly from my Redding FL die and gently bumping the shoulder. It worked!!! Interestingly, it is physically impossible to use the Redding body die with loaded ammo---I have to assume there is a reason for that---probably liability issues.
 
Cow Town Bill said:
Thanks everyone for your input. I solved my problem by removing the de-priming assembly from my Redding FL die and gently bumping the shoulder. It worked!!! Interestingly, it is physically impossible to use the Redding body die with loaded ammo---I have to assume there is a reason for that---probably liability issues.
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Think of it this way. Any standard, full length sizing die, sizes the neck down small enough that the neck sizing ball has to open it up enough to take the bullet.
The outside neck diameter of a fully sized case is still smaller than the outside diameter of a loaded case.
Put an empty case through your die with the depriming assembly removed and measure the outside diameter of the neck.
Now measure the os diameter of a loaded cartridge and see if you still want to push your loaded cartridges through that die.
 
Odd, the reason I asked what brand of die you where using is because I use my Redding body die to do this. I had a large amount of ammo left over from a rifle I sold. New 308 was a little "snug" for this ammo, so ran it through Redding body die and problem solved. Why does your die not allow rounds to fit in it? What part of body/neck/bullet is preventing your using die?
 
back40sniper said:
Odd, the reason I asked what brand of die you where using is because I use my Redding body die to do this. I had a large amount of ammo left over from a rifle I sold. New 308 was a little "snug" for this ammo, so ran it through Redding body die and problem solved. Why does your die not allow rounds to fit in it? What part of body/neck/bullet is preventing your using die?
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By Redding "Body die," do you mean a trim die, where you file off what sticks out?
If you do, I described in an earlyer post how these work great for sizing a loaded cartridge.
 
H-4831, the body die I have from Redding is expressly made for bumping shoulder back/sizing case but does not touch neck. These are in a set from Redding with bushing neck sizer and seater. When you resize with just neck bushing sizer enough times eventually you need to bump the case back a bit. I am wondering why op's body die won't "physically" fit his ammo.
 
back40sniper said:
H-4831, the body die I have from Redding is expressly made for bumping shoulder back/sizing case but does not touch neck. These are in a set from Redding with bushing neck sizer and seater. When you resize with just neck bushing sizer enough times eventually you need to bump the case back a bit. I am wondering why op's body die won't "physically" fit his ammo.
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That certainly would work for sizing loaded ammo. I have never seen such a die, but it would be a good accesory to a loading outfit.
That is exactly how a trim die is made. It is a standard sizing die, but nothing internal to deprime, or open the neck, with an extremely hard surface on top which can't be filed, nor will harm a file, in filing the case to proper length.
The neck size on these is the same size as the external neck size of a factory loaded cartridge.
 
I stand to be corrected. There is a small hole at the top of my redding body die---I didn't think it would allow a loaded bullet to poke its nose over the top but it does and I just did it. Thanks guys.
This brings up another question---what is the difference between a body die and my FL die (the bushing type) with the de-capping assembly removed?
 
Cow Town Bill said:
I stand to be corrected. There is a small hole at the top of my redding body die---I didn't think it would allow a loaded bullet to poke its nose over the top but it does and I just did it. Thanks guys.
This brings up another question---what is the difference between a body die and my FL die (the bushing type) with the de-capping assembly removed?
Click to expand...

Not much, I do it all the time.
 
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