223 loose bullet issues

[Ganderite]

I just loaded 2000 pieces of range pick up brass. Most is once fired. In fact, 1000 pieces came from the police dep't and was all once fired.

Cases were sized in a Lee carbide die.

When it came time to seat the 55 gr FMJ bullets I found that most would sit on the sized neck on the boat tail. About 1 in 40 would drop right into the case, or would go much farther into the case and be finger loose.

I ran a few of the cases back into the sizer just to make sure they had been properly sized. The bullet is still loose.

After the session I checked the headstamps of all the rejected cases. It was a mixed bag of all types. I was expecting it to be mostly one type.

Today I seated a bullet into one of the loose necks and measured the outside neck diameter. It is about 8 thou smaller than the good loaded ammo.

I have loaded several hundred thousand rounds of 223 ammo over the years, and never found a single case that was so thin in the neck it would not hold a bullet tight.

Am I missing something? And no, it is not undersized bullets. They measure 0.224"

 

[smak_daddy]

About 1 in 40 would drop right into the case, or would go much farther into the case and be finger loose.

I feel your pain. From someone who has reloaded thousands upon thousands of rounds in .223 I'll guess:

(1) Your die went bad. (I doubt it)

(2) The width of the brass on the neck is incredibly thin. (I doubt it, since the brass is once fired)

(3) Your resizing die has come out of spec? Removed and replaced? (my humble guess)

Good luck, I hope you fix it.

 

[dead meat]

Possibly somebody turned the necks down requiring a collet die with special collets. That is the only thing that comes to mind right now.

 

[Ganderite]

I can only think of 2 possibilities:

1) This batch of brass included some cases with thin necks.

2) My die has worn enough in the neck sizing area to now allow the thinner cases to not size down enough. I will keep some of the rejected cases and try sizing them in another die. I probably have another die.

 

[joe-nwt]

Measure the thickness of the brass at the neck. If it is that much thinner it should be obvious.

My bet is the Lee die.

 

[c-fbmi]

I'm betting it isn't all once fired and you have some that have been neck turned by some accuracy nut and then they didn't make the cut and got shot and dumped for you to pick up. This is the only logical conclusion especially with different head stamps and only 2 1/2% of all you loaded.
I'll bet if you weigh all the loose ones you find they all weigh within a grain or 2.
This would be my guess anyway.

 

[Canuck223]

After sizing, how does the OAL of the4 sized case compare? By any chance are the cases with loose necks noticeably different?

 

[horseman2]

I have found that "Police Contract" .22-250 rifle ammo had neck thickness in the 0.010 inch range. Extremely accurate but a standard die will not size the neck down sufficiently to hold a bullet. A Lee collet die solved the problem.

 

[Kryogen]

would the lee factory crimp die solve the issue?
or I guess, keep that brass aside and collet size it also....

 

[Ganderite]

It is not neck turned brass. The brass from the police also had some loose bullets.

But according to my micrometer, the OD is less than other cases, so the necks are thin.

I have several thousand cases, so am not fussed about tossing these cases. I am just trying to figure it out. never seen a thin neck before.

 

[Hotwheels81]

Strange... The only time I have had this problem was with IVI brass that had been neck sized with my Lee collet die... I turned .002 off the pin inside with some emery and 400grit and it seems to have solved the problem.

 

[c-fbmi]

It is not neck turned brass. The brass from the police also had some loose bullets.

But according to my micrometer, the OD is less than other cases, so the necks are thin.

I have several thousand cases, so am not fussed about tossing these cases. I am just trying to figure it out. never seen a thin neck before.

Must just be poor quality control then, imagine that!!!

 

[Ganderite]

I am not surprised that QC is such that the odd case has a thin neck. But I have never seen it before and now I find 50 cases.

Glad to hear you have seen it in IVI. This batch included IVI, LC, Win Commercial, Win Mil spec.

 

[Suputin]

Measure the thickness of the brass at the neck. If it is that much thinner it should be obvious.

My bet is the Lee die.

My Lee 223 die has sized tens of thousands of rounds and it still works just fine. Nothing wrong with Lee dies.

 

[joe-nwt]

My Lee 223 die has sized tens of thousands of rounds and it still works just fine. Nothing wrong with Lee dies.

Ben told me to post that.