Errrr Uhhh Nobody Warned Me About This...

Redhouse

Redhouse

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So...once fired 7mmRM (belted, obviously) brass. Neck sized only - suspect #1. Anyways, I'm seating bullets and a few felt 'tougher' than the others when pulling the handle. I did 40 cartridges, and about 6-8 showed varying degrees of this:

IMG_1650.jpg


Pardon the fuzzy cam, but what's happening is that the mouth of the die is shaving the case. These 2 are the worst, I can feel a ridge at the bottom and it's obvious that 3-4 thou of brass have been shaved off at the bottom of the spot.

1. Why? Case expansion from firing? I don't think the die is out of round or center, it only happens 20% and most of those are just 'a touch' that I have no concern over - just these 2 (5%) show a real shaving. Never happened before with unfired brass (Remington, fwiw).

2. Are they safe to fire?

3. Does this mean I have to full length size every time?

:confused: Thanks.
 
If these were length trimed before seating then only one thing really comes to mind.

It could just be that the cases werent fully in the shell holder when it went up. Causing them to go in at a slight angle and get nicked at the bottom.
 
Dents on the shoulder(too much lube) will iron out when you fire them, but with dents that far back I would pull the bullets and chuck them in the garbage.
No idea why they would dent where they did, but when the handle gets a little tough to cycle-stop. It does not take much pressure the seat bullets.
Brass is cheap so if you screw a few up, no big deal. If you are loading for an auto loader or hunting ammo it is always good practice to full length resize or of course if the rounds were fired threw another rifle.
 
Seal, I'm new at reloading and therefore (well, hopefully I always will be) very careful and cautious. They were all the way in the shell holder, no question. However, they were not length trimmed - fired once and then neck sized, period.

Dunno whether it's coincidence or not. Both of them DID have small dents in the shoulders, I assumed from hitting concrete when I didn't catch them on eject. You can sorta see the shoulder dent in the one on the right. In fact, what twigged me to the shaving lower was that I had written 'SHOULDER' on the case, you can see where 'LDER' are still there, I was wondering why 'SHOU' disappeared when I discovered the problem.

Ya, I'll chuckem I guess.
 
BabySeal said:
It could just be that the cases werent fully in the shell holder when it went up. Causing them to go in at a slight angle and get nicked at the bottom.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what is happending. There is a also a big difference in fit between shellholders.

Just make sure you push the case all the way into the shellholder to make sure its cented

My Redding shellholders tend to be "tighter" There are some 223 cases I have that will get stuck in the Redding. The RCBS are pretty good. The Lees are the the sloppiest

The reason your unfired brass does not show this is typically its not as large above the belt . Once fired it will have expansion above the belt. Generally this would not interfere with the seating die except if the following happen

1. The case off center in the shell holder ( this is the most common )

2. Combination of the above and your chamber being cut a bit sloppy . To verify this use a good micrometer and measure around just above the belt on a virgin brass and once fired in your gun. Also check for concentricity by taking multiple measurements. Oviously you want the dia same all the way around , with no "bulge:

I have a factory 257Wby . My buddy has a "custom" 257 Wby . His chamber is noticably larger than mine. He can chamber my fired brass, I cant even get the bolt half way down on his fired brass. I have never had your problem with brass fired in my gun. I have had the odd shave like yours with his brass
 
Could be a bogus shell holder. I have a set of 7.65 Argentine dies that aren't quite right. I forget now what is wrong, but I get to know whenever I reload any.:p:p
 
like the other guys have said...looks like the case is way out of line with the die. Could be the shell holder isn't seated into the ram properly. I've seen a piece of powder in the slot cause this.
 
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