Deformed Bullet Seat FC .223 Brass

[Budweiser]

Not sure why this is happening. It is very random, about 1 out of every 15.

Once Fired FC .223 Brass - Hornady 2266 -.224 55gr SP Bullets

Dillion RL550 Press with Dillion Carbide Dies, full length size.

The brass was cleaned, sized & d-primed, primer pockets reamed and trimmed to length if needed. Then loaded, so brass neck would have been expanded 2nd time before seating the bullet.

I usually do not load these bullets, but an in-law mistakenly bought 3000 of them.

They load just fine into LC or other commercial brass???

Do you think they are okay to shoot, or should I throw?

[snuffy]

The brass was cleaned, sized & d-primed, primer pockets reamed and trimmed to length if needed. Then loaded, so brass neck would have been expanded 2nd time before seating the bullet.

Excessive seating force caused the seating plug to mark the bullets. Cause? You didn't say if you inside chamfered the neck!? In fact, I KNOW you didn't! See the scraped jacket material at the bullet/neck junction? The square neck is digging into the bullet, scraping copper off the bearing surface of the bullet.

Are they safe to shoot? Certainly. The worst outcome would be increased bore fouling by the free copper in front of the bullet, and the scored jacket caused by the sharp/square neck.

[rg1]

They are safe to shoot. Inside neck dimensions, brass neck thickness and springback may be a little more than LC and other brass. Some polish the sharp radius of their bullet seating plug to reduce the chance of marking bullets like in your pic. A little more inside neck deburring can help.

[Budweiser]

Thanks snuffy & rg1.

Not all of the affected loads were trimmed, must not have chamfered enough.

I loaded another 100, chamfered all, and brushed each mouth, seated much better no marks.

Some polish the sharp radius of their bullet seating plug to reduce the chance of marking bullets

I thought about this, but this is the only bullet / brass combo that I have ever had an issue with. I would probably mess the seating cone up and make things worse.

[PA-Joe]

Are you crimping at the same time you seated the bullets? If yes, this is part of the reason. I would also check the edge of the seater plunger to see if it has a sharp edge and then lightly remove it.

[30Cal]

If it's only happening on some of those, then the seating die is meeting higher resistance occasionally. I wouldn't sweat it. They'll fly to the same place regardless of that little mark.

[Budweiser]

Are you crimping at the same time you seated the bullets?

No, dillion taper die next stage.

After loading several hundred more, and doing all kinds of "trouble shooting", I am still at a quandary. To eliminate the seating cone marking with these bullets and FC cases, I have resorted to running the case 2 times into the sizing die so the neck makes contact 4 times with the expander (in and out), and rotate case a little in between cycles, then chamfer the inside of each case, then brush the heck out of the neck. Oh, I also slightly reamed and polished the seating cone. After all that I still get maybe 8 out of 100 that will have a slight ring on them.

It has to be the FC cases have a slightly thicker neck and the Hornady SP's must have a delicate jacket, and my dillion bullet seating cone.

Am going to load the rest in different brass since the 100 that I loaded in LC Brass with out any extraordinary prep came out just fine.

[m&p45acp10+1]

Try shooting them. I would be willing to wager an adult beverage on saying they will shoot just the same anyway. Looks like it is purely a cosmetic issue to me.

[j357]

After trimming for length, mount your chamfer bit in a drill and hit every case. Those are safe to shoot.