HELP!! Resizing & Seating problems

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paladin

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Over a period of a couple of weeks I full length resized and primed my .222 brass. As I went to reload it now, some problems have arisen. A lot of the case mouths have been opened up so much the bullet will either slide right into the case or is a loose fit. As a result when I run it through my press the brass does not grab the bullet tight enough. I can pull it apart by hand quite easily. I am using old used rcbs dies and a rock chucker supreme press. These are my first attempts at reloading. What can I do about the "too large" case mouths?? If I screw the seating die down a bit further, will this help or cause other problems??
:p Thanks
 
I would suggest taking your die apart and using the calipers.. check to see the diameter of your resizer.. it should be the same as your bullets.
Sounds like its larger than the bullets.
seeing as you said "old, used RCBS dies" maybe someone replaced the depriming pin with one from a .223
this makes the bullet be a .224 which could explain it.... maybe....

your bullets should be tight. Bullets shouldnt be able to get seated or pulled apart by normal hand pressure.

get back to us with any new info you have.
 
When you say "screw the die a little farther" do you mean it ia a fair distance from the shell holder when it is in the upper most posistion? It should be close to if not touching when up. If it is too far away, you may not be sizing down the neck at all and the expander has nothing to re-expand.
 
Screwing down the seating die will usually result in crimping your bullets. That sounds like a solution, but it's not really, loose is loose.
The problem is in the resizing end of things. Are you sure you don't have some unsized cases in the mix?
Now that sounds unlikely, but it's possible. If your die is set high enough, the neck will not be sized.

Set the decapping pin so it protudes just enough that a seated case will lose it's primer, then set the die, so that the press ram will kiss it solidly without a case. This is a starting point.
Lube your cases, and run a few through. Did that resolve the issue?
 
You should be able to bring the ram up to touch the bottom of the die for full length resizing, try resizing completely(as above ) with the depriming stem removed and see if necks are tight. This will indicate to you if the expander is too big or worn.
 
For re-sizing, I put the ram all the way up, screwed the die down til I felt it touch the shell holder, backed the ram down a bit then turned the die down 1/4 turn more.
All the brass is used from my rifle.
One thing I noticed and I don't know if it's right or not. When I 've set it up as above and re-size /deprime case , the ram does not go high enough to get the shell holder up into the press. I mean the shell holder is about 1/2 to 3/8" below the press. Is it supposed to go all the way up and touch the case?? Forgot, decapping pin protrudes thru bottom of shell holder by 1'8 -1/4 "
 
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pull the depriming pin out and clean it off, make sure your entire die is clean. use brake cleaner to clean it, if not use water then dry it off. and apply a very light coating of lube inside the die with a que tip. Then only resize the neck of the casing and measure it. it might be possible you got a slightly larger mouth sizer. e.g might of got a .250 savage necksizer for a .243
 
Measured expander part of die. For .224 bullets it is not oversized. Measures
.222 What do I do with cases that have too large an opening?/ ie. won't hold a bullet tightly??
 
222

Hi: I thinkg that the expander ball should measure less than .224 so the bullets fit snug. I measured mine in the FL and neck die and both measure .223. If yours measures .222 the bullets shouldbe very snug -- tight as the bullet dia should be .224. Measue your bullets to be sure that hey are OK.
 
222

An other thing: When you start to move the case down in the die, do you feel some resistance as the case mouth is drawn over the expander ball. If not, the neck is not being sized down properly before being expanded (if made smaller in the upper most position in the die) to the size of the expander ball.
 
OK, I found some brass that I haven't FL resized yet. I'll go over this stuff and try a few. What about the shell holder/ram not going all the way up when I have a case in it for resizing??
 
paladin: It sounds like you are either not completing the ram stroke or can't complete it because the decapping pin is screwed down too deep and is bottoming inside the case. Remove the decapping pin entirely and see if you can run a case all the way up in the die. If it doesn't reach or goes too far adjust the lock ring until it will just contact when the ram stroke is fully completed. When you remove the case from the die you should see the neck actually sized too small . Remove it from the shell holder. Raise the ram until the shell holder is in contact with the die and the lever is fully raised or dropped as the case may be. Raise the ram and reinstall the decapping pin so it protrudes to the surface of the shell holder that the case head rests on when the ram is raised to the die. Try again with the same case as it will need to re-expanded to proper diameter and sized cycled again. You may have to tweak the die adjustments slightly for proper sizing for your rifle.
 
Like Stocker said, sounds like your decapper/expander assembly is screwed in too far. The decapper pin should extend about 1/8" below the bottom of the die body, the expander should be completely up inside the die. 0.222" diameter for the expander ball should be fine, an undersized ball would not cause the problem you are having.
 
Sizing 222

I have had the same trouble with 22-250,turns out it was the brass (imperial)
Maybe try a new brand of brass.
Reb.
 
paladin said:
For re-sizing, I put the ram all the way up, screwed the die down til I felt it touch the shell holder, backed the ram down a bit then turned the die down 1/4 turn more.
All the brass is used from my rifle.
One thing I noticed and I don't know if it's right or not. When I 've set it up as above and re-size /deprime case , the ram does not go high enough to get the shell holder up into the press. I mean the shell holder is about 1/2 to 3/8" below the press. Is it supposed to go all the way up and touch the case?? Forgot, decapping pin protrudes thru bottom of shell holder by 1'8 -1/4 "
Click to expand...
I'm so confused, the brass should be in the shell holder, at full stroke the shell holder and bottom of die should contact. Where is this 3/8 -1/2 " coming from? Remember at full stroke the die has squeezed the case smaller and on the up stroke pulling the button through the neck actually brings it up to size.
 
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