Pulling loaded rounds to adjust powder charge?

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sask3500

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I loaded a fairly large batch of .223 with Winchester 748 and discovered that in the summer there were pressure signs not present in cooler weather. I thought I was a bit under max but I was loading a light bullet and the load data varied wildly. Primers are flattened a bit, higher than expected muzzle velocity and a noticeable 'boom' not 'crack'. It's fine in cool weather, not so much in the summer. Enough that I don't feel good shooting them.

How should I go about pulling bullets, adjust the charge down and reseat the rounds? Collet vs inertia? I'd prefer to not unseat the primers.

About 300 rounds of a gopher/plinking load, not anything for bench rest or long range shooting.

Thanks in advance.
 
If I was dealing with that I would first measure the diameter of the exterior of neck of the loaded ammo and record the diameter. I would then pull the bullet with a collet style puller. That's all I own, have no desire to experiment with the inertia style. I would then measure the neck and record that measurement. If the difference in the two neck measurements, with the loaded bullet - the case without the bullet is equal to the desired neck tension, I would then recharge with powder and reseat the bullet.

If the neck tension is not where it should be or to be conservative and resize the neck only, the die can be adjusted to ensure the decapping pin does not reach the primer. I'd probably opt to remove the decapping pin altogether. I have Lee collet neck sizing dies as well, would use that to resize the neck if required.

Best of luck and wear safety glasses!
 
It will be a lot more fun to shoot them in cold weather than to pull them. But if you must pull- it will take a couple of hours with a collet puller. You don't have to mess with the primer.

Pull
Dump/collect powder
Adjust powder charge
Charge cases
Reseat.

It's unlikely you will need to neck size, you likely still have enough neck tension but if you don't, you could crimp them.
 
I would start fresh just due to the powder that sticks to the inside of the case and in the flash hole. You will have significant differences in charges and the results to match. But if you do just pull and try to reload. Get an expander mandrel to get your neck tensions reasonably consistent. Cheers
 
I’d be tempted to shoot the 300 loads in cold weather and load some more up for the summertime.
I’ve done the same thing myself, developed loads when it was fridgid and shot all winter just to have them get too hot in the spring. It had the unplanned benefit of having the ability of shooting the same drop chart while it lasted, but that was more good luck than good plannng.

If you do pull them down; I’d take the decapping pin out and size normally. At least you’d save your primers.
 
It's enough rounds to justify the cost of a Collet puller. I'll maybe measure/pull/measure a few necks and look inside for powder left behind after dumping them.

They will mostly get shot in the summer unfortunately... It's a bad setup that I have time to shoot in the summer and time to load in the winter.
 
What was your load? Would be interesting to know?.

I have winter and summer loads. Colour code each one and put them a side.

Have you run them through a chronograph? How fast are we talking. Also what is your home altitude?

What gun are you running it through?

For reference. I have some 45 grn bullets i run past 3400 fps they are snappy, but safe.

More details are appreciated
 
Hirsch Precision sells expander mandrels and window dies made by Short Action Customs. I currently use them on all my reloads and have seen exceptional increase in consistency coupled with the use of Lee full crimp dies.
 
redbirddog said:
What was your load? Would be interesting to know?.

I have winter and summer loads. Colour code each one and put them a side.

Have you run them through a chronograph? How fast are we talking. Also what is your home altitude?

What gun are you running it through?

For reference. I have some 45 grn bullets i run past 3400 fps they are snappy, but safe.

More details are appreciated
Click to expand...
I'll check when I get a chance. They're 40gr bullets in Sako cases. They are on the short side for capacity. Are you loading with W748?
 
sask3500 said:
I loaded a fairly large batch of .223 with Winchester 748 and discovered that in the summer there were pressure signs not present in cooler weather. I thought I was a bit under max but I was loading a light bullet and the load data varied wildly. Primers are flattened a bit, higher than expected muzzle velocity and a noticeable 'boom' not 'crack'. It's fine in cool weather, not so much in the summer. Enough that I don't feel good shooting them.

How should I go about pulling bullets, adjust the charge down and reseat the rounds? Collet vs inertia? I'd prefer to not unseat the primers.

About 300 rounds of a gopher/plinking load, not anything for bench rest or long range shooting.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Collet die is way faster, safer and easier.

Pull the pin out of your neck die to resize. Stay away from spray or other liquid lube. Die wax is the way to go. Simple cleanup and it won’t get inside the case.
 
OP - you have created a real mess for yourself with 300 rounds to deal with - I had done similar, but not with that many. An issue - if you just dump out the powder - how do you know it all came out - that nothing bridged or stuck in there? At minimum, you will have to look into each case to know. Or, dump one by one onto a scale and remove the amount of powder that you want to remove - that will also be tedious, time consuming and probably one case at a time. You have pulled the bullets - so now what happens about the neck tension if you reseat those bullets? As per Richard Lee's writing, if you were less than 0.002" neck expansion, then you were probably inside the "elastic" stretch of the brass - so there is probably no difference to re-seat the bullet - however, if you were over "elasticity limit", you probably simply enlarged the brass and had no tension - going really small does not make the neck grab tighter - seating the bullet will enlarge the brass, if you exceed the "elasticity" range of the brass neck. So what will you end up with - let's say, at worst, that you have to or chose to partially neck size to restore bullet tension - I doubt you will ever end up with as good as you could reload in the first place - that is not likely to be really good stuff - but who knows, until you try stuff.
 
Dogleg said:
I’d take the decapping pin out and size normally. At least you’d save your primers.
Click to expand...
And how do you plan to remove the case lube without potentially damaging the primer compound?


Potashminer said:
If you just dump out the powder - how do you know it all came out - that nothing bridged or stuck in there?
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REALLY? :rolleyes:

How about turn the case upside down and tap on a hard surface once or twice? Don't know why people have to make the most basic things so complicated? How do you get through the day, wildly overthinking things?
 
Choot ‘em.
Potashminer is right, it is surprisingly hard to get all the powder out of a case. Weigh some charges and put them in cases, then dump the known charges back on to your scale you might be surprised.
Detonation removes all doubt.
 
sask3500 said:
Collet vs inertia?
Click to expand...
For that many, collet. Used properly they will not mar the bullet. Pick a puller that gets tighter as you pull, like the Forster, and _not_ like the RCBS puller.

I would neck size after pulling. If your die has TiN-coated neck bushings, you can get away without lube. Or the Lee Collect sizer, as others have mentioned, will work without lube and is inexpensive. This part depends on your dies.

The powder will likely come out of the case easily unless your load is compressed.
 
Sask3500 it sounds to me like you have a lifetime supply of good coyote loads, I would shoot them in the winter instead of pulling them, load more with a little less powder for your plinking and gophers
 
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