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Old March 28, 2010, 04:36 PM   #1
Tacoma
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Crumpling necks!!

I'm new to rifle reloading but not to reloading.

So today I started out with some brand new Winchester brass and tried to make a few test loads for the new(old) 96 Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55. Since the brass was brand new, I didn't re size it. I just primed it and ran a deburring tool on the case mouth to clean it up a hair. Powder was added directly from stand alone powder measure ( and loads were weighted.) From there, I adjusted the die set so I think I was ok then started trying to seat a few of the 120gr A-Max (boat tail) bullets I had. The first 5 went smooth with a uniform finished OAL of 3.08. I wanted to try to get the next few down to 3.05 or so and ever so lightly tweaked the bullet seating adjustment. What happened from then on out was that every case crumples right at the base of the neck in the final few degrees of the stroke. So what am I doing wrong? Do I need to lube the neck? Bullet? adjust the seating die differently? I'm at wits end and ruining brand new brass fast!
Dies are C&H and I have no other info on them but they look pretty standard.
Any thought appreciated!
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Old March 28, 2010, 04:43 PM   #2
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Sounds like you turned the whole die in rather than just the seater stem? That could have run the case mouths into the roll crimp lip in the die. The solution is to back the big threads out a little and turn just the seater in deeper. Or, it could be a coincidence and the crimping lip was already too close for some cases, but not others? New cases aren't usually all that tightly dimensioned for length.

I would back the die body out a full turn and screw the seater in to compensate and get the length you want.
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Old March 28, 2010, 04:56 PM   #3
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Quote:
Sounds like you turned the whole die in rather than just the seater stem
Looks like it too.
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Old March 28, 2010, 05:16 PM   #4
Tacoma
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Thanks, I hadn't touched the die mainbody but will give it a try!
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Old March 28, 2010, 05:26 PM   #5
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Seatin & crimpin

I run a peice up to the top then screw the die down till it bumps , then turn it back (up) a turn & lock it then seat a bullet to specs .

After that step screw the seater plug up Then set my crimp.

You can seat all your bullets then crimp or after gettin the crimp set run the seater plug down against the bullet to set depth& do both in one step .

I prefer seat & crimpin in seperate steps
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Old March 28, 2010, 05:54 PM   #6
Tacoma
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I'm going back to square one and reset everything.
btw, should I be lubeing the inside of my necks for bullet seating or is dry ok?
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Old March 28, 2010, 07:15 PM   #7
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Thanks gents, just backed everything off and reset it all. Problem gone. Ammo looks and measures as it should.
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Old March 28, 2010, 08:38 PM   #8
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For jacketed I flare a slight amount so the bullet does`nt get scraped durin seatin , while seatin cast I flare more & the bullet is lubed already !


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Old March 28, 2010, 10:51 PM   #9
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BTW Tacoma, did you look at that pic before you posted it? It's just a pic of trees and a road with two fuzzy shells between them.
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Old March 29, 2010, 05:24 AM   #10
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Glad you found the problem.

No lube is necessary to seat bullets. Also, I have NEVER crimped ammunition to be fired in a bolt action rifle. Heck, I don't even crimp cartridges for my Garand! Now, the AR15's DO get a crimp from the Lee factory crimp die.
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Old March 29, 2010, 05:35 AM   #11
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The seating/crimp(if needed) die CAN be tricky to set up. It's rather common for a new reloader to have the 'crimp' feature set to low & mess with the case. 1st read the instructions carefully, but basically run an empty case to the top of the stroke, screw the die until you touch the case, then back off a turn or so. Now lock it in place & the rest is done with the seating stem adjustment, for desired COL. Like the above I seldom do any real crimping, especially not bolt rifle loads. There are some case/bullet combo's that may leave you with less than needed 'neck tension'. If that's the situation you have to investigate further. Most of the time that bullet is held very firmly in place.
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Old March 29, 2010, 06:00 PM   #12
Tacoma
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Thanks, I set it up to avoid the crimp. The bullets don't seem like they are going anywhere as seated.


Yes, I looked at the pic. Light was fading, wife had the good camera somewhere else. That was the best of 6 pics as bad as it was and I figured it was better than nothing. You can see the case deformation if you look good.
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Old March 30, 2010, 09:05 PM   #13
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Did you run the expander ball thru the cases? Case neck might be a little tight without the expander doing its job, causing the bullet to collapse the case. Had it happen to me, and I HATE to ruin brass.
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