Coated bullets flairing and crimping

bigwrench · December 10, 2014, 11:14 PM

Question to those who are shooting coated bullets. Are you able to seat and crimp in one step with coated pistol bullets? And do you have to flare to seat rifle bullets?

Vance · December 10, 2014, 11:41 PM

Yes you can seat and crimp in one step with coated bullets. Yes you do need to flare the case mouth to seat coated bullets for rifle and pistol.

Beagle333 · December 11, 2014, 04:47 AM

I agree with Vance.

snuffy · December 11, 2014, 12:16 PM

If your concern is that seating will scrape the coating off the boolits, no worries! All that I have coated have withstood the seating process with no damage to the coating. All mine are coated with either harbor freight red, or powder-by-the-pound harley orange of wet black. The coating is a very tough layer, it even survives the cutting action of the rifling. And expansion of a hollow point.

There's several ways to flair the mouth of rifle brass. Both RCBS and Lyman make case neck expander for rifle. Lyman used to sell either a long or short "M" die body that you could then buy the proper caliber expander button for your rifle boolits. NOW they sell a caliber specific die, more money in their pockets. RCBS goes the way Lyman used to go, they have one die body, then sell the caliber specific expander buttons separate. And then along comes lee. Their expander die is simply several tapered bellers, similar in what a handgun belling die does. It's universal, can be configured a bunch of different ways to bell just about any rifle case.

Another trick I came up with once was to use a pointed FMJ bullet one caliber bigger than what I was loading, IIRC it was a mauser .323, used to expand/bell a 30-06 mouth. I set up the seating die, put the FMJ in the case mouth point down, IE backwards, then just seated it enough to form a bit of flare in the '06 case mouth. The bullet was easy to remove. A lot of work, but when you don't have the right tool, improvise!

Beagle333 · December 11, 2014, 01:40 PM

Also, NOE now makes expander plugs for the Lee universal expander. It sure beats the old "cone style" expander plug that came with the Lee die.
Here are the rifle expanders:
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...l9tjs3482o5tq6
And the pistol expanders:
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...l9tjs3482o5tq6

skizzums · December 11, 2014, 01:51 PM

I expand my .223 brass just by using a loaded round with a heavy crimp, pressing the mouth over the loaded bullet and moving it around. just takes a sec and makes it the perfect size for that particular bullet your loading. I am super cheap btw

Beagle333 · December 11, 2014, 09:47 PM

Well, I been pushing the cases down over the point of some needle nose pliers while twisting em, but I never get exactly the same flare.

(It works though!)

jmorris · December 11, 2014, 09:54 PM

I have seated with little to zero flare.

This is how little I use on my pistol bullets.

I use none at all, just an ID chamfer for my coated rifle bullets

bigwrench · December 14, 2014, 09:40 PM

Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to trying powder coating. Just picked up some equipment from harbor freight.

December 10, 2014, 11:14 PM	#1
bigwrench Senior Member Join Date: December 23, 2009 Location: foot of the uintas Posts: 148	Coated bullets flairing and crimping Question to those who are shooting coated bullets. Are you able to seat and crimp in one step with coated pistol bullets? And do you have to flare to seat rifle bullets? Last edited by bigwrench; December 10, 2014 at 11:16 PM. Reason: Spelling

December 11, 2014, 04:47 AM	#3
Beagle333 Senior Member Join Date: January 7, 2012 Location: Auburn, AL. Posts: 2,332	I agree with Vance. __________________ . . . Have a Colt and a smile.

December 11, 2014, 12:16 PM	#4
snuffy Senior Member Join Date: May 20, 2001 Location: Oshkosh wi. Posts: 3,055	If your concern is that seating will scrape the coating off the boolits, no worries! All that I have coated have withstood the seating process with no damage to the coating. All mine are coated with either harbor freight red, or powder-by-the-pound harley orange of wet black. The coating is a very tough layer, it even survives the cutting action of the rifling. And expansion of a hollow point. There's several ways to flair the mouth of rifle brass. Both RCBS and Lyman make case neck expander for rifle. Lyman used to sell either a long or short "M" die body that you could then buy the proper caliber expander button for your rifle boolits. NOW they sell a caliber specific die, more money in their pockets. RCBS goes the way Lyman used to go, they have one die body, then sell the caliber specific expander buttons separate. And then along comes lee. Their expander die is simply several tapered bellers, similar in what a handgun belling die does. It's universal, can be configured a bunch of different ways to bell just about any rifle case. Another trick I came up with once was to use a pointed FMJ bullet one caliber bigger than what I was loading, IIRC it was a mauser .323, used to expand/bell a 30-06 mouth. I set up the seating die, put the FMJ in the case mouth point down, IE backwards, then just seated it enough to form a bit of flare in the '06 case mouth. The bullet was easy to remove. A lot of work, but when you don't have the right tool, improvise! __________________ The more people I meet, the more I love my dog They're going to get their butts kicked over there this election. How come people can't spell and use words correctly?

December 11, 2014, 01:40 PM	#5
Beagle333 Senior Member Join Date: January 7, 2012 Location: Auburn, AL. Posts: 2,332	Another way to expand the case mouth... Also, NOE now makes expander plugs for the Lee universal expander. It sure beats the old "cone style" expander plug that came with the Lee die. Here are the rifle expanders: http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...l9tjs3482o5tq6 And the pistol expanders: http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...l9tjs3482o5tq6 __________________ . . . Have a Colt and a smile.

December 11, 2014, 01:51 PM	#6
skizzums Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 2013 Location: Douglasville, Ga Posts: 4,615	I expand my .223 brass just by using a loaded round with a heavy crimp, pressing the mouth over the loaded bullet and moving it around. just takes a sec and makes it the perfect size for that particular bullet your loading. I am super cheap btw __________________ My head is bloody, but unbowed

December 10, 2014, 11:41 PM	#2
Vance Senior Member Join Date: January 16, 2011 Location: North Bend, OR Posts: 743	Yes you can seat and crimp in one step with coated bullets. Yes you do need to flare the case mouth to seat coated bullets for rifle and pistol.

December 11, 2014, 09:47 PM	#7
Beagle333 Senior Member Join Date: January 7, 2012 Location: Auburn, AL. Posts: 2,332	Well, I been pushing the cases down over the point of some needle nose pliers while twisting em, but I never get exactly the same flare. (It works though!) __________________ . . . Have a Colt and a smile.

December 11, 2014, 09:54 PM	#8
jmorris Senior Member Join Date: November 22, 2006 Posts: 3,077	I have seated with little to zero flare. This is how little I use on my pistol bullets. I use none at all, just an ID chamfer for my coated rifle bullets

December 14, 2014, 09:40 PM	#9
bigwrench Senior Member Join Date: December 23, 2009 Location: foot of the uintas Posts: 148	Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to trying powder coating. Just picked up some equipment from harbor freight.