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Old February 19, 2009, 10:55 AM   #1
Jayhawkhuntclub
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45/70 bullets canted in case

My 45/70 handload bullets often are canted in the case. At the base of the bullet you can see, and feel, a slight buldge in the brass. I was hoping it was just my Lee dies, but I purchased Hornady dies and get the same result. This occurs with differente brass and bullets. I've been shooting them like this for years, but wonder about the affect on accuracy and what I can do to correct this. Any thoughts?
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Old February 19, 2009, 11:04 AM   #2
Superhornet
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Have you trimmed the brass after you resized? And them put a slight bell on the mouth? If brass not trimmed after a few firings and sizing, a bullet loaded may appear to be off set because the mouth is out of shape..longer on one area than the others.
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Old February 19, 2009, 12:02 PM   #3
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45-70s are like straight wall pistol dies (though its tapered) they do that when seating and crimping. I use a seperat station where I re-size my loaded 45-70 AFTER the bullet is seated and crimped. It seems to eliminate the problem. Also makes for better chambering and it dosnt seem to hurt accuracy, or at least it dosnt im my Browning High Wall.
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Old February 19, 2009, 01:05 PM   #4
Jayhawkhuntclub
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Kraig: What die do you use to do the final resize? Can I use my sizing die with the decapping pin removed?
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Old February 19, 2009, 01:06 PM   #5
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Prolly a Lee FCD.

Cheap too

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=747243
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Old February 19, 2009, 01:29 PM   #6
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Quote:
Kraig: What die do you use to do the final resize? Can I use my sizing die with the decapping pin removed?
RCBS standard fl sizing die. And yes, you can just remove the decapping pin. Thats what I did. I got an extra one and use it for final sizing after seating the bullet and crimping it.

I do the same thing to my 44-90 Sharps Bottle Neck. Though its a bottle neck case (kind of) it still works better after I re-size it after seating and crimping. Its kind of necessary if you use a full compressed charge of black powder.
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Old February 19, 2009, 01:41 PM   #7
Jayhawkhuntclub
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Thanks! I can't wait to try this out!
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Old February 19, 2009, 05:06 PM   #8
Jayhawkhuntclub
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Well I tried it with the Lee crimp die and it did nothing (just curious). Then I took the decapping pin out of my Lee die and tried it. The buldges disapeared. I did notice the cases came out about 0.003" longer than before this step. Do you think I need to worry about the bullets being resized by this process?

I guess ultimately I'll let the accuracy give me my answer.

BTW, I did this with both lead and jacketed bullets. It worked with both, but a little more complete buldge removal on the lead.
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Old February 19, 2009, 06:16 PM   #9
Jayhawkhuntclub
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Follow up: I pulled one of the lead bullets and measured it. Sure enough it did resize the bullet down by 0.005". This kind of concerns me. I'm thinking it could result in a lot of blow by and leading. I assume it's still safe to shoot. Any thoughts?
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Old February 19, 2009, 06:54 PM   #10
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Yeah, take a few out and see how they shoot. If it dosnt work, get another sizing die, ream it out another .0005 on the top (where the bullet wont be sized) then the resizing wont affect the bullet.
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Old February 21, 2009, 09:50 PM   #11
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Jayhawkhuntclub,
I am having the same problem with my .45's. I too just tried taking out the decapping pin and resized them taking away the bulge. It also has shrunk my bullet from .451 diameter to .444. Now my bullets are very loose in the case. I am wondering if you had the same type problems and if so, was you able to correct them. I found that I can recrimp, however, I have to really put alot of crimp just to keep the bullet from moving in the case. This concerns me about the possibility of building too much pressure.

Being that you have also tried this, did you recrimp? have to put alot of crimp? If so, did you get to fire them? How did they do.

Out of 100, I now have 54 that I have not resized yet and still has the bulge in them leaving me with 46 that now are smaller in size and crimped extra heavy just to keep the bullet from moving. I hope that I have not ruined 46 bullets LOL
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Old February 22, 2009, 10:10 AM   #12
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Try belling the case mouth a little more..
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Old February 22, 2009, 04:54 PM   #13
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I'm wondering if my press isn't perfectly square...

I will say that the bulge is reduced and accuracy (slightly) improves if you get the bullet started in the case (pull the handle half way down), let it up and turn it 180 degrees in the shell holder, then pull the handle all the way down, finishing the seating / crimp.

Thoughts?
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