Reloading IVI .308 brass

IM_Lugger

IM_Lugger

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So I got some surplus .308 IVI ammo a while back and was planning on reloading the brass. I used a drill bit to open up the crimp and primed the cased, changed them and when I tried to seat the bullet it simply dropped in!! :eek:

Out of about 50 only 3 were 'normal' the rest were looser than a cheep hookers p****!:p

Anyone knows why that would be??
 
Did you use a .308 sizing die or a universal decapping die? Next silly question is, do you have the proper size button on the stem of your resizing die?
 
The IVI brass I used was heavier ( thicker) than regular brass so it seems for some reason that your dies did not resize the neck. I once accidentally swapped my 303 expander with my 308 and got similar results to yours, since the I have only one die set out at a time.
 
I have been using IVI brass and haven't had to do anything to the primer pockets to reuse it, what year is yours? Mine is 82
 
YES I resized them, that's how I got the old primers out. I guess I should've mentioned it.

I have Lee Deluxe dies and used the full length sizer.

Edit: I just tried a few cases and they seem to work fine after going thru a resizing die, so I'm not sure what happened the first time. MAybe I used the neck sizing die but that should've worked fine right?

So now I have a 50 primed cases filled with powder. I guess I'm going to have to shoot the primer off and resize them again?
 
Try your collet die and see if the same thing happens. If so get a micrometer out and check the diameters and call lee.
 
I just reloaded some IVI .308 brass tonight and everything worked fine. I decapped/resized the brass with no problems. Well the primers took a bit of effort to seat but other than that everything went fine.
 
the bullets are .30 caliber and as I just mentioned after resizing a few more everything seems to work. :S I know I resized the previous batch with .308 sizing die but not sure of it was the full length or the neck sizer...
 
Get yourself a factory crimp die, a slight pressure and the neck will hold seat the bullets and crimp firmly. You won't have that problem again. I discovered that when I switched from a Lee Loader to Lee Neck collet that the collet was slightly looser than the Loader. A slight crimp and bob's your uncle.
 
A Lee collet die makes great ammo, but it is a bit miserable to use - you don't really get much "feel" with it, since it is so stiff at the very end of its travel. I always worry that I might miss sizing the neck enough on one or two cases.

BTW you could easily and safely have deprimed your live primers with either of your sizer dies. Or you could have adjusted the decapping stem to be about half an inch higher, so that the primer was not removed when you had another go at sizing your brass that somehow didn't get done the first time. When you're done, remember to put the decapping assembly back to the correct position ;-)
 
IM_Lugger said:
how do I adjust the pin??
honestly I wouldn't want to decap live primers....
Click to expand...

There should be instructions with your die set telling you how to adjust the length of the de-capping pin. Even if you do de-cap a live primer nothing bad will happen, but doing so gently will reduce the "sharp-bang-in-the-house" issue. Once upon a time I used to seat primers with a punch and a hammer on a steel plate, and occasionally one would pop when I got a little wild with the hammer, and I still have all of my fingers, and both eye-balls. I don't recall ever popping a live primer I was de-capping.
 
Ooops, I was wrong - with Lee collet dies (in the middle, below), you can't adjust how high or how low the decapping pin is.

For the FL die (on the left, below), you loosen the split nut at the top of the die, slide the decapping pin/rod up, then tighten the split nut.

I have never had a primer go off by decapping a live one. Primers are mostly *impact* sensitive, and there is very little shock and impact involved in decapping a primer.

408836.jpg

(hmm, I just noticed - this picture is backwards! It looks as if the dies are left-hand threads ;-)
 
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