My first hand loads

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Stu1987

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Picked up a Hornandy Lock-n-load progressive a few weeks back, my first press. Got it running great until I broke the decapping pin. A new on is on the way. These are my first loads, I'm finding the right powder weight. Using Hodgdon Titegroup and Dominion small pistol primers. 180gr TMJ bullets and used brass. I have some noticeable case bulge on most of the loads, I'm hoping a factory crimp die will help. The rounds cycle fine in my gun. Anyone here use a factory crimp to take off case bulge? I don't want to run every casing through a bulge buster...
http://imgur.com/bibJg8y
http://imgur.com/a8ohpP6
http://imgur.com/XMDzlkM
 
If you are talking about the bulge half-way down the case where the base of the bullet is, running it through a crimp die is unlikely to take it away. It's not going to effect anything anyway.

Welcome to the dark side...
 
Ain't it a thing of beauty to see that first box of shiny reloads. Congrats and welcome to the life.
 
On some tight bores, you might run into some feeding issues. I loaded up some 9mm and they chamber without any issues on my Sig 226 and Beretta 92FS but I'll get a couple that don't chamber in my Glock LoneWolf barrel. If I run the problem ammo through the factory sizing die, they pass the plunk test on that LoneWolf barrel. If it wasn't for that barrel, I'd skip that step.
 
Stu1987 said:
Picked up a Hornandy Lock-n-load progressive a few weeks back, my first press. Got it running great until I broke the decapping pin. A new on is on the way. These are my first loads, I'm finding the right powder weight. Using Hodgdon Titegroup and Dominion small pistol primers. 180gr TMJ bullets and used brass. I have some noticeable case bulge on most of the loads, I'm hoping a factory crimp die will help. The rounds cycle fine in my gun. Anyone here use a factory crimp to take off case bulge? I don't want to run every casing through a bulge buster...
http://imgur.com/bibJg8y
http://imgur.com/a8ohpP6
http://imgur.com/XMDzlkM
Click to expand...


Yes. The Lee Factory Crimp die also sizes the loaded round enough to guarantee it will fir a chamber. Most times the bulge is cosmetic, so does not get touched, but some brass is thicker and the bulge can prevent chambering. The Factory crimp die will take care of that.

After having some bulge problems with some makes of brass salvaged on the range, I have installed the die on all my pistol caliber tool heads. Works well.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone, I picked up a factory crimp die and did some testing...
A very bulged case won't chamber after going through the factory crimp. The inside diameter of the die is larger than that of the sizing/decapping die. I adjusted the sizing/decapping die so it touches the shell plate and then some, this seems to have fixed the problem at least the caliper says so. I'll be testing the loads soon and then fixing a hundred others:/ I am debating getting a bulge buster and running all my brass through. Does anyone here use that? Can you put rounds through that are already loaded and then put them back through the seating die?
 
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