Casing Dents from a 9mm Luger Lee Deluxe Carbide 4-Die Set

ambishooter

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Just finished another 200 rds over the weekend. I had 3 dented casing by the Powder Through Expanding Die. What I noticed was during the initial feed, entry was rough on these 3 casings. Then after powder feed, it was even tighter to release during the downstroke. Visible dent by the rim that you cannot miss. Any idea what might be the cause? Die was clean and no evidence of damage.
 
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Just finished another 200 rds over the weekend. I had 3 dented casing by the Powder Through Expanding Die. What I noticed was during the initial feed, entry was rough on these 3 casings. Then after powder feed, it was even tighter to release during the downstroke. Visible dent that you cannot miss. Any idea what might be the cause? Die was clean and no evidence of damage.
The length of the casing may have been too long?
 
I've had that happen to me before. It's because your casing is hitting the side of the die and/or you're flaring too hard. When it's getting caught too much when the ram is going down, you need to back the die out a bit. If this is on a turret or progressive, you're a little out of alignment. You don't actually need much of a flare to seat a bullet, I find the minimal amount makes reloading smoother and reduces run out for some reason. This is my experience loading cast 124g 9mm on a Lee turret press with carbide dies for about 4 years. I think I've loaded upwards of 10k+ now.
 
This is similar to what I got.

http://leeprecision.net/support/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/615/14/powder-through-expander-die-sometimes-leaves-a-cutout-dimple-on-case-mouth

The edge of the case is catching on entry to the die and being torn back. You need to be a bit more careful on the lever right as the brass goes into the expander in case it starts to pcik up. From my experience, this usually happens due to a slight misalignment of the case mouth as it hits the expander die. I would also check the die components to make sure there isn't a rough edge that is causing your problems.


Mark
 
Another thing that I do is gently raise the ram into the die. Go slow on this part, simply because if you jerk too hard on this part you can dent your case or spill powder. You can make up for the lost time while seating and crimping. I'm guessing your 4th stage is a roll crimp or factory crimp die right?
 
Another thing that I do is gently raise the ram into the die. Go slow on this part, simply because if you jerk too hard on this part you can dent your case or spill powder. You can make up for the lost time while seating and crimping. I'm guessing your 4th stage is a roll crimp or factory crimp die right?

Factory Crimp die. Also, I will try to find a fine grit stone or a buffing disc and try to polish the entry port of the powder through die.
 
It is probably the floating expander die( inside the powder thru die) which is often roughly machined causing the problem, needs to be polished with fine emery. One-time inside neck chamfer on your brass may help. The two step Lyman-rcbs expander or powder thru expander dies are much better.
 
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