Smashing 45acp brass

[trappy]

Hi, I am new to reloading handgun ammo. I believe I have adjusted the dies wrong. when I seat the bullet I am having two problems.1 is the copper skin of the bullet is scrunching up around the edge of the brass. 2 the brass is smashing in the center of the case.I though I read the instructions from rcbs but I am doing something wrong .......Please help

[okiefarmer]

First suggestion is to back your seating die up in the press. There was another newby on the forum having a similar situation as yourself. If you cases have been belled, then place a case in the shell holder, run it up into the seating die with the die threaded as far up as possible. Then with the case pushed up toward/into the seating die, begin to thread it back towards the case intil you feel a little pressure (this will be the die body trying to straighten out the bell. Press handle must be all the way down and cammed over. Play with the die until you just take the bell out of the case (if ya don't bell your cases but use BB boolits, then it's a little harder to do this step) Now, lock the die into the press with the lock ring. Next, do the same thing with the boolits in the case with the seating punch. Run it out, then progressively run it in until it seats the bullet at the proper depth you want, and the die body closes the bell all at the same time. Usually more easily accomplished with empty/unprimed, but sized cases as you will waste some in the process if you don't understand what you are doing.

HTH
Welcome to the hobby, now hurry out and hoard all the brass and supplies you can before Uncle Sam outlaws it all.

Okie out

[maggys drawers]

You might try adjusting your expander die to bell the cases just a 'hair' more than what you have now. The bullet should just sit in the belled case without tipping (much). This should eliminate the copper shaving and case crushing.

[PsychoKnight]

I had that problem when I recently started loading .45 autos again (this time, GAP). The case mouth was plenty belled and the bullet sat snugly, but the case would give way everytime I pressed in the bullet. In my case, I had to run the expander as far down the case as the bullet would reach. As I kept lowering the expansion die, the bullets finally slipped in without problem. Using plated bullets seems to require more of a deeper belling/expansion than jacketed or lead bullets, due to the fragible copper coating.

[rn22723]

Another thought is do not try and seat the bullet and crimp at the same time!
Two seperate operations. They need to done one step at a time!

[44 AMP]

You'll see a "step" near the top (where it threads into the shaft). The lower portion is to expand the case "neck" back to the correct diameter to hold the bullet, and the "step" is to flare the case mouth.

With a correctly made expander , this is automatic when you flare the case mouth. But if the expander is not made right, (too short, or too small diaemeter), then the case doesn't get expanded properly to hold the bullet, even though it is belled properly. If this is the case, then cases can collapse during seating.

If you are shaving jacket (or lead) during seating, then the cases are not belled enough. If you are wrinkling (scrunching) the jacket during seating, it sounds like not enough expansion.

Using a good tool (micrometer/calipers) measure the expeander portion of your die. It should only be a couple of thousandths smaller than the bullet. Not sure exactly how much smaller is proper, call the die makers, and see what they say it should be.

[Poodleshooter]

If it happens consistently,it's your die adjustments or the dies themselves.
If it happens sporadically with mixed brass,it's usually the quality of the brass. I've had troubles with some brands that tend to wrinkle or collapse when other brass in the same load batch is fine (AMERC comes to mind).

[Dave R]

My guess, you're either not expanding enough, or you're crimping too much. Reviewing the instruction on setting the dies should solve the problem in either case.