How much case bulging is too much?

Cdamen

Cdamen

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New to the reloading scene so this might sound abit newbish. Finally got around to depriming/sizing some fired brass and noticed that there was consistant bulging on my cases. My remington brass wasnt as noticable as the federal. This brass is all from the same rifle (tikka T3 Hunter) and is 3006 calibre. The question is, what is acceptable bulging for once fired brass to reload? My manual says to discard excessively bulged cases but doesnt delve further into whats "acceptable"

Cheers

-Craig
 
Please post pictures of brass cases

Hi, please post a pictures of your brass with some detailed shots.
Your bulges might be totally insignificant but a picture is worth a thousand words!

Alex
 
Federal brass has a reputation for being soft. As for how much is too much, if it came out of the rifles chamber with an intact primer, odds are it's OK.

I tend to guage the case just ahead of the extractor groove, comparing virgin to fired. They will grow in size, but after the first firing they should not grow much in diameter. It will have been blown out to the chamber walls. Neck or partial sizing should leave that area of the case alone.

After a number of firings, the neck or partly resized case will need to be full length resized or retired, as it will begin to be too tight in the chamber to feed properly. Until that time, the amount of growth just ahead of the extractor groove should be relatively small.
 
"...consistant bulging on my cases..." Where on the case matters, but if the cases easily fit in the chamber you're fine. If the bulge is at the shoulder you have the die down too far and it's pushing the shoulder down. Set up all the dies so the shell holder just kisses the bottom of the die with the ram all the way up.
Federal brass is softer than other brands too. Just means it won't last as long.
 
First is just the Federal brass

269048_188813854506987_100001351228041_453996_3735453_n.jpg


Second is Remington Brass

263609_188813947840311_100001351228041_453997_4763937_n.jpg


Third is both side-by-syde

269475_188814131173626_100001351228041_453998_2947861_n.jpg


On another note, i noticed the Federal brass was a little more stubborn on neck resizing on the return swing on the press... like i said im a reloading virgin, and the manual doesnt answer ALL my questions, the help is appreciated CGNers.

Cheers

-Craig
 
Doesn't look that bad, case head expansion is a known way to measure for excessive pressure, Fed. is softer and would expand more. I'd think that as long as you can FL size that area(case goes fully into FL die) you should be okay, watch also for primer pocket expansion.IMHO
 
Looks like you're worried about the pressure ring, you need to measure with a 1" mic. Maybe someone else knows the limit of acceptable expansion with a factory load.
 
Federal ammo is excellent but their brass cases are soft: not the best for reloading.
Remington and Winchester are 2 companies which make really good and affordable brass cases.

If I were you, I would not reload the Federal cases and would only use the Remington ones.
Keep the number of reloads to 4 times per cases (you can increase that to 8 times per cases after getting some experience).
Don't hesitate to throw away any questionable cases or ammo.

Again Federal is great ammo (except for American Eagle which is I would never use in any of my rifles) but Remington and Winchester cases are proven values when it comes to reloading.

Alex
 
I am right in that the case head is not bulging, but it is the chamber walls above the head?

It looks pretty normal to me for a factory rifle. Many chambers are on the large side of saami spec. It appears that the case is bulging, but it is only expanding to fit your chamber. The case head is much thicker and not supported in the chamber, and it should not "bulge" when the cartridge is fired. If the case walls are pushed out and the case is ran into a full length resize die will come out looking exactly like that.
 
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As the others have said, the cases in the pics 'look' fine.
You can use a bent paper clip to check the insides for the beginnings of case head separation.
If it's there, you will feel it with ease. I doubt you'll find anything on those.
 
Those should drop right into the chamber. Try 'em in the chamber just the way they are. If there's a bulge it's very small. What your seeing is the die polishing the case a wee bit. Nothing to worry about.
 
For factory loads completely normal. When using new brass, you can compare the expansion you see at the pressure "ring" of your loads to the expansion you see in your rifle with factory loads.
 
You could try cleaning your rifle with a good copper solvent. It isn't likely that a Tikka would have a real nasty bore, but it can't hurt to clean it anyway. If it is fouled a bit, sometimes you'll get a few pressure signs. This alot more common in 22-250's and smaller bore rifles of that sort.
 
Those lines you are looking at, which you call bulging, are not caused by excessive pressure, but caused by a wee bit too much head space in your rifle. If you are reloading that brass, just neck size it only.
If factory loaded brass comes out normal, then either just neck size, or set the sizing die to just "kiss" the shoulder of the brasss and you will have long life from your brass.
There are ways to fireform new brass to fit your chamber, so they can be loaded without showing these rings, where the brass has thinned, just above the solid part of the base.
If the worst comes to the worst and the case breaks all the way around when fired, it is not a catastrophic event. The only way you will know it happened, is when you go to eject the case, only the short, broken off base will come out.
I have mentioned on here before that old time target shooters and some hunters who went on long hunts, carried a stuck case remover with them, to remove the piece, if this happened.
These stuck case removers are still available and only cost a few dollars.
 
Not excessive headspace IMO, but a combination of large chamber and possibly small cartridge caseheads - both likely within spec. Very common - just neck-size or partial full-lenght size as already suggested. I have not found a bulge of even 10 thou leading to premature brass failure, unless they are full-lenght sized after each firing, which over works the brass.
 
All good points above. I agree that if those fired cases chamber, just neck size only and go for it. It all really depends on how many rounds you plan to go through or if you are just making good ammo for a rifle that will be relegated to hunting only.
I had a case separation with the first round of 20 that I had FL sized (second firing). The brass was Win., fired once with reasonable loads, the hottest of which was close to a full grain under what was max in the Lee book. There was very excessive bulging on the cases when first fired. They were difficult to resize. At the same session at the range I fired off some very old ammo, Dominion, Imperial, Winchester and DC Co (older Dominion?). None of these rounds exhibited the bulging that the Win. did. I FL sized some of that older once fired factory brass and as would be expected it was very easy to size. Chronoed speeds were not out of whack with either my reloads or the old factory fodder. I had the headspace of the rifle checked and it was OK. As it is a lever, the next best guess is that the chamber was made on the wide side and the Win brass may have been on the minimum side of the SAAMI spec. I had not considered neck sizing at all for a lever but that is what has been recommended by Jerry at Mystic, after fireforming new brass with a light pistol load. The once fired factory rounds that I did not resize chambered without issue. I wish I had tried to chamber some of the Win. brass that was fired before I resized it....
By the way, I did try the paper clip "hook" to feel for the depressed ridge in the cases and they felt OK. The brass had definitely been worked too hard and did separate. It ejected without problem but there was not much holding it together.
 
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