Help !! Brass shoulder problem???

saskhunter

saskhunter

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I am reloading for my 22-243 middlestead (243 necked to 22) should be easy but I am having some trouble with the brass not makeing a nice angled shoulder. Where the shoulder meets the main body of the brass the angle on most of my brass turns out to be more round than a nice steep angle. This is having an effect on me being able to close the bolt. I did about 70 brass and I can pick out the 10 that have a nice angled shoulder and they close the bolt easily. the rest with the round shoulder I have to push the bolt closed hard.
Is this something I screwed up when I formed them? I have bonanza dies? not sure if that makes a difference. Too much lube, not enough ? Are these brass screwed? what kind of procedure should I be going through?
 
Not to sure but make sure your sizing die is bottoming completely. Sounds like the brass is not going in to the die far enough. To much lube will usually dimple the shoulder. Bill
 
It's my understanding you are in the process of forming the cases but have not yet fired them. You may run into case neck thickness issues once the cases are fire formed in addition to the issue you feel you have now.

I would fire form the cases with the following load and then assess; 8 grains of a shotgun powder (red dot range) small tuft of cotton batten over powder (about 1 to 2 tenth of a grain) and then force as much canning wax as you can into the case before firing (the wax has to be forced below the shoulder to build enough pressure on firing). Repeat if necessary until all cases are formed.
 
Would just loading a light load achieve this? Or even my regular load ? Is this a safety issue. I can close the bolt with some pressure so From what I have read on the net it seems guys are fire forming with thier regular loads as long as they can close the bolt. Thier theory is that the case will expand to fit the gun? Not sure if this is ok or not? Also I have read alot on this caliber and most say there is no fireforming required. Just resizing ( or so I have read)???
 
"...Maybe the die is wore out?..." Highly unlikely as the dies would be custom dies, probaly made fairly recently. I suspect that pupzit is right. Your dies aren't set up quite properly and need to come down a bit. Or you're not running the case into the die far enough.
 
Make sure your die is coming down tight against the shell holder. If it is then check your shell holder or even try a different one, some are a few thou. deeper than others. If nothing else works, especially after fire forming, then maybe a machine shop could trim a few thou. off the top of the shell holder or the bottom of the die. I would try the shell holder first, just don't take off enough to weaken it. I would start at about .005 thou, shell holders aren't to expensive if you screw it up. Bill
 
Good idea pupzit, I will try a new shell holder. I have 3 I think for this size case. I did fire a few yesterday with regular loads 41gr 4064 and 50 gr v-max.
The shells that seemed to be good and had no trouble closeing the bolt shot excellent and the ones that were fire-forming (I guess) shot just as good, just had to force the bolt shut. At 100 yards 5 shot groups were all one hole(not in the same exact hole) but all touching. I also loaded same powder and 52 gr speer hp. They shoot about the same(not quite as accurate) and about 1.5 higher and 2 to the right. Fairly impressive for hp bullets.
 
Just guessing this brass is either brand new 243 or used from several different rifles. If the brass is not identical to start, you will not get an identical finished product. Any brass where the shoulder was high and is getting pushed back will end up with the rounded characteristics you mentioned. Brass where the shoulder is barely touched will look "cleaner".

Bet they all loked the same after you shot them.;)
 
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