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Old November 10, 2009, 02:41 PM   #1
grumpa72
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Bulged case causes?

I just got back from the range after my very first rifle reloading session and 5 cases had bulged bodies. This is a .223 round in a Colt AR. Excuse my failure at terminology but the bulge (it actually isn't a bulge but almost a collar or rim) occurred where the angled portion of the neck transitions to the straight wall of the body. Being new to reloading anything other than straight walled pistol bullets, I don't know what causes this?

I am open to ideas (and criticism ) as to what I did wrong here.

Thanks. It interrupted an otherwise very nice shooting session with my first reloaded .223 rounds.

Thank you
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Old November 10, 2009, 02:45 PM   #2
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Can't say I have heard of what your describing, although I'm a bit new at this myself. I can say though, it would be helpful if you could post some pics.
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Old November 10, 2009, 03:00 PM   #3
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The general principle is that the case forms itself to the chamber when it's fired.

Exception would be for an under-charged case that doesn't fully expand to occupy the chamber and thus would have gas leak between the case and the chamber wall. This situation should cause dents rather than bulges.

Brass that is not evenly annealed could have spots of harder and softer material which could expand differently.

Or it's something else that another contributor will recognize.
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Old November 10, 2009, 03:09 PM   #4
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could it be.

dents due to extraction?
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Old November 10, 2009, 03:15 PM   #5
grumpa72
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Oops, my lack of information caused confusion. This was bulging formed while reloading and the bullet would not seat in the chamber because of this neck or bulge. What happens if one forgets to remove the lube or doesn't remove it completely? Can this cause the little neck to form?

Can't post pics because I pulled the bullet and primer and resized it to see what was going to happen with the case.
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Old November 10, 2009, 03:21 PM   #6
Brian Pfleuger
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I would guess that over-crimping is damaging the case. I reload 357sig and I get the same effect if I crimp to hard.

Back off your crimp die a bit and see if it goes away?

That's my guess and I'm stickin' to it.... until someone who knows what the hell they're talking about comes and tells you different.
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Old November 10, 2009, 03:26 PM   #7
Ronbert
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Might want to look over your rounds before heading out to the range. That way I won't be all confused.

Should be pretty straightforward to figure out.
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Old November 10, 2009, 03:31 PM   #8
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Picture

A picture is worth a thousand words. Show us what you're talking about!!
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Old November 10, 2009, 07:52 PM   #9
grumpa72
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Recognizing that pictures speak volumes, it seems kind of silly of me to ask questions that could be answered with pictures - after I pulled the bullets and sized the brass. I am thinking that this was an overcrimping problem. My first 40 rounds went smoothly and I must have changed the crimp (even the small amount that I had in there) during the subsequent reloading.

Trust me, I normally look over all of my rounds but this "neck" was easily missed and had just enough in it to avoid chambering. When I got back to the reloading bench, a close inspection showed that it was definitely there. You would think that, since rifle reloading is new to me, I would be more careful. Live and learn and no foul!
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Old November 10, 2009, 09:29 PM   #10
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Are you sure its not from resizing with too much case lube? I have had cases have a little dent in in the shoulder from too much lube.
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Old November 11, 2009, 08:39 AM   #11
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I got lucky and found one of the bulged rounds in my range bag. Can you see the very mild shoulder right at the top of the straight wall of the case? This happened during the reloading process so is this a crimping issue? Just curious since I don't want to repeat that issue. I don't know how careful I was to remove the case lube after sizing. I was wiping the cases down after completing the reloading process and prior to putting them in my ammo case. Should the lube be wiped off prior to any reloading?

Thank you for the patience you have showed me and the help that you have sent my way. I took the reloading dies out and reset them according to the Lee instructions and reloaded 15 test rounds with different charges without any shoulders or bulging.
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Old November 11, 2009, 10:29 AM   #12
twice barrel
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You need to adjust your sizing die. Looks like shoulder setback to me.

Just to be safe you might trim your cases back to minimum spec's before setting your die.

Regards,

TB
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Old November 11, 2009, 11:25 AM   #13
Brian Pfleuger
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Quote:
I got lucky and found one of the bulged rounds in my range bag. Can you see the very mild shoulder right at the top of the straight wall of the case?
That's exactly what my sig cases look like if I over crimp.
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Old November 11, 2009, 11:36 AM   #14
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"shoulder setback"? To the noob, what is that? Fwiw, I trimmed all of the cases to 1.75" (recalling from memory) and I got this number from the Lyman's 49th Ed.

I will recheck all of the dies again.
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Old November 11, 2009, 12:31 PM   #15
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Hey grumpa,
Looks like not all your brass got trimmed the same. These were a little longer than the others.
The result of an over crimp due to a longer neck than the others. You should have noticed a little extra
Pressure on the cam right at the end of the stroke. Something that you will get a feel for shortly. (Yes, we are talking reloading).
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Old November 11, 2009, 12:51 PM   #16
grumpa72
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I will double check my cutter - I am using the Lee cutter with wooden ball. There seems to be a very snug fit and normal hand tightening won't seat the .223 depth rod all the way into female threads.

Thank you.
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Old November 11, 2009, 01:02 PM   #17
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Had the same problem and it was caused by the seating/crimping die. The die isn't set correctly. But I fixed my problem by not crimping with the seating die. I purchased a Lee FCD and I no longer crimp with my seater die.
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Old November 11, 2009, 01:16 PM   #18
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Another vote for over crimping.
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Old November 11, 2009, 02:11 PM   #19
twice barrel
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When resizing your case you leave the seating plug backed out and you screw your die down to kiss the shellholder. Then you sometimes ease off the handle and screw it down just a tad more to take out any slack in the press linkage. If you happen to go just a little too far the die will also shove the shoulder of the case back too much leaving a bulge at the shoulder.

This is the setback of the shoulder to which I refer. Just back out the sizing die a smidgen and see if the problem goes away. (" over crimping" is the result of having the die down too far as well.) You will have to re-establish your seating depth after doing this.

Regards,

TB
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Old November 11, 2009, 02:13 PM   #20
TATER
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Ah, ......Is all your brass PMC except those few? ? I ask only because
I have more than once, thought about how the Lee cutter works with
mixed Head stamps. I have never used one but it seems as though you would
need to segregate your brass by manufacturer because of head thickness variations and how that translates into case length.
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Old November 12, 2009, 07:54 AM   #21
grumpa72
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Follow up

I pulled out two hands full of .223 brass, about 50, and re-measured them. About 25% were too long. My trim to length is 1.75" and the long ones were as long as 1.76". I am at a loss to understand how this happened but I did take the Lee cutter apart, clean out the male and female threads and then reassembled. Once it was together, I did a couple of cases and it felt like the case was trimmed, when it wasn't. It seems that holding the Lee cutter with slight pressure to one side, sort of off center, allows it to cut better. I am not sure why it does that but I wound retrimming several dozen pieces of brass and reloaded them without any issues.

Btw, this was all mixed head stamps. For my load testing, I sorted out PMC and used that brass only to help eliminate that as a variable. So, the only brass that got this shoulder or bulge was PMC by default.

Thank you for your help.
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Old November 12, 2009, 03:59 PM   #22
petemo
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Bullet seating

Had that problem and it happens during bullet seating. Too much crimp to soon. Grabs the bullet and compresses the case during seating. Try seating to crimping groove without crimping then do the crimping as a seperate operation.
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