Am I resizing correctly?

domyalex

domyalex

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[newbie alert]

So, I decapped and FL-sized my first batch of brass today.

I adjusted the Lee FLS die as per instructions (die touches shell holder, than 1/4-1/3 additional turn in).

Using once fired Federal .308 brass.

What bothers me is that *after* resizing, I can see a ring at the base of the case (~0.1" from the base); it's similar to the case head separation tell-tale ring but 1) it was not there on the cleaned brass before sizing it and 2) it looks more like an external discoloration caused by the friction with the die (instead of being white-ish). This shows on all the sized brass.

To test, I loaded a couple of dummy rounds (no primer/powder); while they required just a little bit more pressure to close the bolt, the seem to chamber fine.


Am I doing this correctly? Any clue?
 
Sounds about right to me.....my brass usually have the funny looking mark as well. One thing that I tend to do more the longer I've been reloading, is size less. When I size brass, I'll set the die to touch the shell holder and try that.

If five cases will chamber, I figure the rest will. Then after that (after firing, the next time around) I touch the die to the shell holder and back out about 1/2 turn give or take. This is partial full length sizing and works well for me so far.
 
Hi Alex. If the brass is from your own rifle you might want to just neck size instead of full length resizing. The brass is already sized to your own chamber, so you just need to resize the neck to hold the bullet in place. Back off the die a turn or so and size a case. you should see the marks on the neck of the case and the neck should be smaller, enough so that the bullet does not fall in the hole, heh. The advantage is that you will not be stretching the brass on the whole case, so you can reload the same case more times by just neck sizing. Just be careful to not run too hot a load because the primer seat will start to expand to the point where the primer will not fit snugly. That's the point where you throw the brass out.
 
"...seem to chamber fine..." That's the important part. You should be fine.
"...just neck size..." OK for a bolt action. A semi, lever or pump require FL resizing every time. New brass requires FL sizing too.
 
i have a friend who has the same problem with his lee die and brings to the conclusion that its the die, i have an RCBS for 308, 7mm and others and i don't have that problem.
 
This is fairly common with FL resized brass. An incipient head separation will tend to be a narrower, more defined line. If in doubt, run a dental pick or hook made from a paper clip into the case. If you feel a notch near the base, you have an incipient head separation.
 
I see this mark from all of my die brands, it is fine. Just remember to continue checking the inside of the case for head seperation signs.
 
Thanks all, seems the brass ring is normal.

Any idea about why my reloaded dummy round required slightly more force to close the bolt? Nothing crazy, but I can definitely feel the difference compared to factory rounds.

I tried seating a bullet waaaay deep, and it was the same, so it doesn't seem to be OAL/COL related, right?
 
Are you crimping? If the seating die body is screwed too far down, it will buckle the shoulder, causing its diameter to increase.
 
When you are full length resizing you are stretching the whole case. This means you have to check the case length, and if it gets too long, you will have to trim it back to proper specs. The advantage of neck sizing is that it only stretches the neck a small amount, so you can reload the case more often before you need to trim it again.
 
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