.40 S&W seating problem

[Inspector3711]

Okay, I'm pretty well versed in rifle reloading at this point. I rarely run into a hitch. Tonight, however, was my first foray into reloading handgun cartridges.

I'm using new winchester brass and 155g XTP's. I'm using Lee carbide dies (3 pc set).

I tried a few cases and all was going well when suddenly I felt extra resistance when seating a bullet. I backed off but was too late. The bullet split the case. No big deal, I've got 700 cases total, 100 of them new. 3-4 cases later it happens again... Hmm...

I stop and think for a minute. Everything measured okay on the brass so I didn't resize it... So I get out the expander die thinking I've got an occasional anomoly. I run the remaining 85 cases or so after setting up the die per the instructions. I get good resistance when pulling the case out of the die so I figure I'm good.

I seat a few more bullets and it happens again. I continue and every so often one malfunctions. I have 5 bad ones and 30 good ones now.

To describe the problem better, one side of the bullet is crushing and cutting the brass on as it's forced into the case. 3/4 of the bullet is seated while 1/4 of it is outside of the brass. The brass is crumpled under the bullet in that area.

[Sevens]

Okay, this may sound basic... but I've gotta ask: Brand new brass, not once fired... you DID resize it, right? Some may think, "why, it's new!", but it's got to be sized.

[Sevens]

Oh hell, I just re-read your post-- you did not resize the new brass.

Go ahead and do that. And resize some of your used brass, and try to flare those and seat bullets with them, too.

[Inspector3711]

Well, I normally resize rifle brass but I've read (and been told by a relative that's been reloading for over 30 years) that if the length is okay then handgun brass doesn't necessarily need to be resized when new. On top of that I've checked the mouth diameter and see no difference between the ones that split and the ones that don't.

I see now that the seating die has copper splinters stuck in it.

I'll try resizing tommorrow... It's primed so I'll pull the pin out of the die first.

[FrankZappa]

Sevens is right, even new brass should be resized. I've run into this problem too while seating the bullets, and it turned out that I wasn't expanding the case mouth enough. Open up the flare a bit more and you should be good to go. One more thing, get yourself a TAPER crimp die, it makes a huge difference.

[Sevens]

The seater die that comes with the Lee set is a taper crimp die, so no worries there.

With the case mouth flaring, be very careful that you don't do too much.

It's HORRIBLY important, when you've finally got it right, to make sure that those bullets will NOT set back under pressure. Easy test is to forcibly press the bullet tip against a hard surface while holding the brass case in your hand. I use the edge of my bench.

.40 S&W is likely the most common caliber these days for things going very, very wrong. Very high operating pressure, very little room for error with internal space and COAL. The .40 is likely the least forgiving handgun round for reloaders.

[bullspotter]

Im working on some 40 now also, here is a few things to look at, I resize ALL cases. Are the edges on your new brass sharp? may need reaming.... Are you seating and crimping in the same step? if so you may have the die set to deep making the case to tight to seat the bullet to proper depth. How much are you flairing the case? The next thing is what do you bullets measure, should be right at .400, might have a few over sized ons maybee?? I set my seat/crimp die up for 2 steps, Ill take an emty case, put it in the press, lower arm till it all the way up, losen the seat stem way up on the die, then screw in the die till i fell some pressure on the case, then lower and see if the flair is less, if not, ill lower the die a small amount, then lower arm and keep this up untill i notice the flair is just almost gone, but not quiet. with the case in the up position, with the die low enough just to not take all the flair out, tighten the big nut on the die, i like to do this with the case up and pressing on the die to keep good center between the die and the case, when this is set, ill pull the case out, charge it, set bullet, send case up, then screw seat stem down till i fell pressure on bullet, lower and check coal, if to long, ill lower stem till depth is reached, when i have the coal i want, ill tighten the nut on the seater stem, once again with the round in the full up positon, then ill load the next case and check coal. if good ill goto loadin them up. after i have all the rounds made up, ill pull the seater stem out of die, and adjust die lower to take all the flair out of the case for the final crimp. I know theirs been 100,000+ reloaders that have loaded millions of rounds with only 1 step to seat and crimp, but this is how i do it. Hope this helps.....

[Inspector3711]

Thanks guys... What I did is resize and then bell the cases. Checked for fit by hand and the neck was still too tight. Cranked the die in 1/4 turn and BINGO! I now have 200 rounds ready for testing (2 bullet types)