Resizing a finished round?

Well, after further analysis, my originally loaded rounds (that don't chamber properly) are definitely bulged at the mouth along the entire length of the bullet.

My personal opinion is that the .003" extra in their diameter (as compared with the Horandy bullets that works perfect) is what is causing the distortion. I will wait till the factory crimp die gets here and will resize all those defective rounds to factory specs then. There's no use to play with it now without the factory crimp die, as I will most likely do more harm than good.

Big thanks to all of you for the various info... it's nice to see that there are always people ready to help out other members on CGN! ;)

I will post a reply once I get the problem solved... or if I don't get it solved, lol! (that would really suck!). :eek:
 
I have a similar problem with 7.5x55 Swiss I assembled for my first time attemt at reloading. I used new brass which I full length sized (or so I thought!), checked for length and deburred/champhered the mouth. When I went to load the bullets, I did not set the seating die for crimp as I planned on loading and firing rounds individually.

Problem is I cannot close the bolt on these cartriges so I assume they are sized incorrectly. The case length and OAL are under max. length allowed.

I have a neck sizing die. Should I try running them through it or should I full length size them again (sans the deprimer pin)?
Should I run them through the seating die once more with it set to put some crimp or neck tention on them?

Thanks for any advice. I made 4 batches of 25 each with different bullet weights/powder grains and powders. I have a Redding collet type puller that works in the press for pulling bullets but I'd rather fix them than start again, if you folks think it's possibble.
 
Why did you resize the new brass? If the necks were visibly damaged from handling, maybe you had to. Otherwise that new brass is exactly the size and shape it is supposed to be. All you had to do was prime it, and put in powder and a bullet.
After you did mess with the new brass by sizing it, you should have done only one, then check it in your rifle chamber, to see if it was OK. Then you should have loaded only and tried it in your chamber, before you did any more.
OK, we don't want to put a live round in the chamber at your loading station. Therefore, it greatly pays to load the first one a dummy round, without powder and primer, while we see if it fits OK in the chamber.
As an aside, I would say you thought you had the seating die set not to crimp, but in reality it may have been set to crimp a bit, and without a cannalure in the bullet, and you bulged the case a bit.
 
H4831, I resized 'cause a lot of the necks and bodies were dented.

I made up a dummie round and candle/smoked the bullet to try to arrive at the best OAL, which is how I determined the depth to seat the bullets. The dummie round with the resized case fit fine ie the bolt closed with no problem, which of course is why I went ahead and primed, powdered and assembled the rest. It would be against the law where I live/load to chamber a live cartridge and so it wasn't till I got to the range that I discovered the problem.
Thanks for taking the time to reply anyhow
 
Pete04 said:
H4831, I resized 'cause a lot of the necks and bodies were dented.

I made up a dummie round and candle/smoked the bullet to try to arrive at the best OAL, which is how I determined the depth to seat the bullets. The dummie round with the resized case fit fine ie the bolt closed with no problem, which of course is why I went ahead and primed, powdered and assembled the rest. It would be against the law where I live/load to chamber a live cartridge and so it wasn't till I got to the range that I discovered the problem.
Thanks for taking the time to reply anyhow
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, also. And of course, I stated you wouldn't want to put a live round in your chamber at home.
However, something went wrong in your operation, and I can't quite follow you in what it was.
Is this the way it was?
You sized a case, then seated a bullet in it, using the smoke method to see if the bullet hit the lands, indicating how deep you wanted to seat it.
This dummy load then chambered normally.
You then went ahead and loaded, but found out later that the loaded cartridges wouldn't go in the chamber.
If this was the case, then something went wrong between seating the bullet in the dummy load and seating the bullets in the completed loads.
I think you inadvertantly had the seating die screwed in a bit far, and it was trying to crimp, thus bulging the case. This is actually a fairly common occurance, and is even more common in a small necked, quite large case, like your 6.5.
I mentioned in another thread that I once had an RCBS trim die, the type where you screwed the die in your press, like any other die. You then put in your empty case, pushed it full into the trim case and filed off any neck that protruded. The die was a full length resizing die, thus could be used to fully resize a completed cartridge.
In my 243, which is shaped quite a bit like your 6.5, I often had to resize completed loads, because I had fouled up the seating operation.
I found that trim die to be one of the handiest accesories I had around the loading bench. It saved no end of work when loaded rounds wouldn't seat. And once the cartridges went through that die, you knew they would go in the chamber.
 
RojamB21 said:
Don't try loaded ammo to resize and for rest of the problem listen to Mr.Jimbubba so you wouldn't be a burden on our already streched OHIP system
Click to expand...

Please tell me what is dangerous about resizing a loaded cartridge in a die designed for resizing loaded cartridges.
 
Yes H4831, you have the sinario correct. The dummie round fit fine but the finished round didn't.

I guess my real questions are;
Should I disassemble the cartiges and start over? I don't mind as it is my first attemt at loading and I'm hoping I don't screw it up every time in the future! LOL

Or should I run the finished rounds through the neck sizing or the full length sizing dies to try to smooth out what may be an inadvertant crimp/buldge from the initial loading?
Thanks in advance.
 
This is a good example of how bad advice steer you the wrong way on the internet. Resizing a loaded round is fine. I like the Lee Factory Crimp dies but you don't need it, just pull your decapper and run it through your sizer.
 
I resize my 9mm Luger all the time after I seat the bullet. I am forever getting bulging in the case from where the bullet bells the casing (darn taper casings & non-tapered bullets). From what I have read, this seems like a rather common problem with the 9mm Luger round. To fix it, I resize in the Lee sizing die, however, after this process the bullet is allowed to spin within the case (sometimes). Sort of like what you get from cheap .22LR ammo. To fix this, I factory crimp again. It adds a little time to the entire batch but it makes for nice ammunition and after all, isn't that the point?

Good luck!
- Dan
 
I tried re-sizing the completed rounds with the full length sizing die and also with the neck sizing die but the shoulders are collapsing and OAL goes from 3.035" to 3.010 and less. The neck OD is 0.329" from 0.335. Anybody have any suggestions?
 
Pete04 said:
I tried re-sizing the completed rounds with the full length sizing die and also with the neck sizing die but the shoulders are collapsing and OAL goes from 3.035" to 3.010 and less. The neck OD is 0.329" from 0.335. Anybody have any suggestions?
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I reload a lot of several times fired 40S&W brass collected at the range. A lot of this brass is fired from a Glock, so you get your typical "Glock" bulging at the rim. I recently purchased a special decapping/resizing die from Henning Walgreen's shop. It's slightly tighter than the regular 40S&W die, and the finished rounds come out perfect, all bulging is gone. He makes those dies for 2 calibers only for now - 38 Super and 40S&W.

After I started using this die, I had no problems with the rounds chambering properly in all kinds of super-tight competition barrels (Schuemann, etc.).

I still had about 35 previously loaded 40S&W rounds that were bulged at the rim and weren't fitting through the case gauge. Seemed kind of waste to dispose of them; so, I purchased a Redding XR resizing die (they make it only for 40S&W at this time), screwed it in the cheapest possible single Lee reloading press and ran all 35 finished rounds through this setup. The results were amazing - each round was falling through the case gauge with absolutely no problem. Just to make sure I had a correct OAL and crimp, I ran those rounds through the bullet seating and crimping dies on my Dillon 550B once more. The whole process took maybe 15 - 20 minutes.

Highly recommend this for anyone who is experiencing problems with chambering of the slightly bulged 40S&W rounds.
 
COMMON SENSE ALERT!!!

You've been warned.


How's about removing the cylinder from the gun, then seeing if the loaded rounds will chamber in the cylinder with no gun attached. There, you've function checked your ammunition, and at no point have you loaded a firearm. Same process works for Semi-auto's, remove barrel from slide/frame, and drop loaded rounds right in.
Unless, like me, you live 2 minutes from the range, it's gonna be a first class PITA to drive all the way to the range, just to find out your ammo doesn't work.

Also, sizing loaded rounds, is no more dangerous than crimping. Could someone please explain using logical reasons why it would be? There is nothing near the primer, the round can not go off.

End Common Sense Alert, please return to discussing sizing dies setting off ammo, driving to the range to function check ammunition, and firing off unused primers just for the sport of it.
 
I am 67 years old and have loading dies for 50+ calibers. I have made every mistake you can imagine and a whole bunch for which you do not yet the experiernce required to imagine the possible screw ups.

Your problem is a no brainer. Yes, you can size the loaded case. But not in a 44 die. You want a tapered case that will touch the mouth at some point and smooth it out.

Not that I have ever screwed up a 44 Spl, but if I did I would just run it into a 35 Rem die set at the depth that just kissed the case mouth.

I am sure some namby pamby will follow with a warning this this could make your #### fall off. My #### is high-mileage and I don't care any more.
 
Ganderite said:
I am 67 years old and have loading dies for 50+ calibers. I have made every mistake you can imagine and a whole bunch for which you do not yet the experiernce required to imagine the possible screw ups.

Your problem is a no brainer. Yes, you can size the loaded case. But not in a 44 die. You want a tapered case that will touch the mouth at some point and smooth it out.

Not that I have ever screwed up a 44 Spl, but if I did I would just run it into a 35 Rem die set at the depth that just kissed the case mouth.

I am sure some namby pamby will follow with a warning this this could make your #### fall off. My #### is high-mileage and I don't care any more.
Click to expand...

There's a very select few Gunnutz who have my absolute rapt attention any time they post. Ganderite and H4831 are two of them. I only hope I live long enough to experience half what they have relating to firearms.
 
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