Bullet going into case crooked and bulging the brass?

ScottRiqui · July 30, 2012, 10:19 AM

In another thread, there was a post about a bullet possibly being seated crooked and causing the case to bulge. Is this really a common problem?

99% of my reloading is with straight-walled pistol cartridges, but it's been my experience that even if the bullet isn't perfectly coaxial with the case at the beginning of seating, as along as the bullet goes into the case mouth without collapsing the mouth or having lead shaved off it, that all is well from that point on - the bullet always ends up straight and centered within the case.

Ole 5 hole group · July 30, 2012, 10:35 AM

You got it right Scott – the seating die straightens everything out. What the other poster was probably experiencing was a properly resized case being fitted with a slightly oversized bullet – such as a 45ACP case with a 0.452/0.453 bullet – the case looks like it’s expanded some but it will work just fine in the chamber and the bullet will possess excellent neck tension.

Myself, I try for that look by polishing down the expander die stem, so I get just a slight bell on the mouth case to aid feeding cast bullets into the case but the main stem won’t touch the case wall and I think I’m getting consistent and maximum case neck tension by doing so. Others prefer light case neck tension and won’t polish the expander stem and some will look for an oversized expander. Personal choice I guess.

SL1 · July 30, 2012, 11:14 AM

I have seen plenty of handloads with bullets somewhat cocked in straight-walled handgun cases. It is more likely with short bullets, but still happens with long bullets. The bulge in the case at the base of the bullet is obviously lop-sided.

If you are blasting away at cans within about 5 yards, you won't mind the effect on accuracy. And, if your gun has oversize cylinder throats or chamber throat, it might not do any good to get the bullets straight to begin with, since the gun will not support them straight into the rifling.

But, if you are handloading for accuracy at 50 yards, then cocked bullets DO matter.

When I really want my handgun bullets seated straight, I use a stepped expander plug, like the Lyman "M" die plug, to expand a tiny cylinder-shaped section of the case mouth to just a few thousands over bullet diameter, rather than making a "funnel" of the case mouth with a cone-shaped expander plug.

Then I carefully start each bullet by putting the case in a press, raising the ram into a taper crimp die that has been adjusted to barely NOT touch the case mouth, drop the bullet down the bullet-diameter hole through the top of that die, and start it into the case with a home-made punch that closely fits the die hole. That punch can be flat if the bullet is a wadcutter, semi-wadcutter or flat-point, or it can be bored-out and bevelled to touch just the ogive of a hollow-point bullet.

Then, I seat and crimp in two separate steps.

I can see an accuracy difference in accurate guns with well-developed loads at longish range.

Perhaps you can test it for yourself without getting all of the tools that I have acquired. Just sort your own handloads by which ones have lop-side bulges and which do not. Shoot the different batches at different targets as you normally would and check to see ir you can tell the difference for YOUR shooting conditions.

SL1

FrankenMauser · July 30, 2012, 01:24 PM

Using the wrong seating stem for the profile of the bullet can cause the seating stem to 'grab' the bullet, and not let it align with the case mouth.

It is particularly troublesome with certain bullet profiles like short truncated cones; round nose designs with fairly wide, blunt tips; lead bullets that can catch on the seating stem; and copper-jacketed bullets with fairly soft jackets.

If it still happens with the correct seating stem in the seating die, the problem can usually be addressed by using a two or three-stage expander die like the Lyman 'M' die. The extra 'step' in the expanded portion of the case helps to pre-align the bullet.

Pat T · July 30, 2012, 07:49 PM

The RCBS seater plug for 9mm round nose was too shallow to reliably align a 115 grain fmj and caused this to happen for me. Solved the problem by machining the plug with a much steeper taper to it. Seen others here post that they have molded their plugs with JB weld to get a good profile for the bullet they are using.

July 30, 2012, 10:19 AM	#1
ScottRiqui Senior Member Join Date: January 27, 2010 Location: Norfolk, VA Posts: 2,905	Bullet going into case crooked and bulging the brass? In another thread, there was a post about a bullet possibly being seated crooked and causing the case to bulge. Is this really a common problem? 99% of my reloading is with straight-walled pistol cartridges, but it's been my experience that even if the bullet isn't perfectly coaxial with the case at the beginning of seating, as along as the bullet goes into the case mouth without collapsing the mouth or having lead shaved off it, that all is well from that point on - the bullet always ends up straight and centered within the case.

July 30, 2012, 01:24 PM	#4
FrankenMauser Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2008 Location: In the valley above the plain Posts: 13,427	Using the wrong seating stem for the profile of the bullet can cause the seating stem to 'grab' the bullet, and not let it align with the case mouth. It is particularly troublesome with certain bullet profiles like short truncated cones; round nose designs with fairly wide, blunt tips; lead bullets that can catch on the seating stem; and copper-jacketed bullets with fairly soft jackets. If it still happens with the correct seating stem in the seating die, the problem can usually be addressed by using a two or three-stage expander die like the Lyman 'M' die. The extra 'step' in the expanded portion of the case helps to pre-align the bullet. __________________ Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.

July 30, 2012, 10:35 AM	#2
Ole 5 hole group Senior Member Join Date: November 13, 2002 Location: Red River Valley of the North Posts: 203	You got it right Scott – the seating die straightens everything out. What the other poster was probably experiencing was a properly resized case being fitted with a slightly oversized bullet – such as a 45ACP case with a 0.452/0.453 bullet – the case looks like it’s expanded some but it will work just fine in the chamber and the bullet will possess excellent neck tension. Myself, I try for that look by polishing down the expander die stem, so I get just a slight bell on the mouth case to aid feeding cast bullets into the case but the main stem won’t touch the case wall and I think I’m getting consistent and maximum case neck tension by doing so. Others prefer light case neck tension and won’t polish the expander stem and some will look for an oversized expander. Personal choice I guess.

July 30, 2012, 11:14 AM	#3
SL1 Senior Member Join Date: November 8, 2007 Posts: 2,001	I have seen plenty of handloads with bullets somewhat cocked in straight-walled handgun cases. It is more likely with short bullets, but still happens with long bullets. The bulge in the case at the base of the bullet is obviously lop-sided. If you are blasting away at cans within about 5 yards, you won't mind the effect on accuracy. And, if your gun has oversize cylinder throats or chamber throat, it might not do any good to get the bullets straight to begin with, since the gun will not support them straight into the rifling. But, if you are handloading for accuracy at 50 yards, then cocked bullets DO matter. When I really want my handgun bullets seated straight, I use a stepped expander plug, like the Lyman "M" die plug, to expand a tiny cylinder-shaped section of the case mouth to just a few thousands over bullet diameter, rather than making a "funnel" of the case mouth with a cone-shaped expander plug. Then I carefully start each bullet by putting the case in a press, raising the ram into a taper crimp die that has been adjusted to barely NOT touch the case mouth, drop the bullet down the bullet-diameter hole through the top of that die, and start it into the case with a home-made punch that closely fits the die hole. That punch can be flat if the bullet is a wadcutter, semi-wadcutter or flat-point, or it can be bored-out and bevelled to touch just the ogive of a hollow-point bullet. Then, I seat and crimp in two separate steps. I can see an accuracy difference in accurate guns with well-developed loads at longish range. Perhaps you can test it for yourself without getting all of the tools that I have acquired. Just sort your own handloads by which ones have lop-side bulges and which do not. Shoot the different batches at different targets as you normally would and check to see ir you can tell the difference for YOUR shooting conditions. SL1

July 30, 2012, 07:49 PM	#5
Pat T Senior Member Join Date: January 29, 2009 Location: NW PA Posts: 108	The RCBS seater plug for 9mm round nose was too shallow to reliably align a 115 grain fmj and caused this to happen for me. Solved the problem by machining the plug with a much steeper taper to it. Seen others here post that they have molded their plugs with JB weld to get a good profile for the bullet they are using.