basic reloading question

Onagoth

Onagoth

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Just wondering if someone can help me out.

I just got finished reloading some rounds, followed all the specifications outlined in the book, remeasured all the finished rounds, no problems noted.

My question is that when I press on the top of the bullets, the will go into the casing with only a minimal amount of pressure, is this normal??

FYI, I am reloading 22-250, 55 grain Vmax's with 38 grains of H380. I also used a collet die to resize the neck only, the casings were previously fired from my rifle.

Thanks in advance
 
No--not normal--case neck was not resized enough. You probably should pull the bullets, dump the powder out (save and reuse) and resize the necks.--can you do this on the Lee die set without punching the primer out--I am not familiar with the dies.

44Bore
 
sounds like either your die was not adjusted correctly, or you did not use enough force on the press.
you may also have to polish off 1 thou (0.001") from the mandrel.
what type of die is it?
 
I hand load .223, I use the collet die as well, before I insert my bullet with the press I make sure the bullet does not just fall in. Sometimes I have to use my collet die twice before it allows the bullet to fit in snug. Some fit in alittle tighter then others. I figure if I can't pull it out by hand (there is no movement) it should be good to go... Maybe someone with more experience can confirm so we are not making mistakes. :)
 
Lee suggests using about 25 lbs of pressure at the top of the ram stroke to get proper sizing. They also suggest taking off .001 of the mandrel ( See above ) if required.

Make sure that the die is adjusted properly & that you are using enough pressure. If that fails then I would recommend reducing the mandrel size.
 
also make sure you are not bottoming out your press when your using the 25 pounds of force. you need to make sure the force is going to the ram and not into the stops for the handle.
 
Have experienced this problem myself some years ago. With the Lee decapping dies I have used, the pin is an integral part of the decapping shaft. So, as 44Bore suspected, you can't take the pin out in order to resize without knocking out the primer. You could cut the pin off, but you would need a new pin to deprime. If you are going to take off a thou as Bruno suggested I would begin by just chucking the mandrel in your drill press and polishing it with steel wool. This should take off a thou. There is a point where taking off more will not help. Lee used to mention this in their instructions with the die set or in their manuals. I can't remember which off hand. I have also found that old brass or overworked brass can sometimes cause this problem too. Sometimes I would anneal it, but usually I would get rid of it and buy some new stuff. Fred
 
I had a similar problem with IVI brass, and went to a Lee Collet die. The neck was quite thin much like the overuse of an outside neck reamer and thus the problem. The collet die is excellent.
 
You could always spend a couple extra bucks and pick up a Lee Factory crimp die. Run your rounds through it .. that would save pulling them all.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys, I ended up buying some factory brass and reloading some rounds of that, got a much better feel for it, and the bullets were much tighter.. I think the problem was that the collet die wasn't screwed in enough.

Also, I was trying to size the mouth to 0.254 inches, which is was the reloading manual said, but it seems it works better when sized to around .250-.252 inches. All the factory ammo that I had and the factory brass seemed to be in this range.

Anyways, once I produce some more once fired brass, I will try adjusting the die to resize the mouth to that size, and see how the reloads go then. I will probably also end up buying a FL sizing die, but who knows.

Thanks again.
 
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