Fire forming and loose neck tension

[jsflagstad]

OK, so I have had this happen with 2 different cartridges now when I use the universal decapping die and I don't resize.. I could see it happening with bottle necked cartridges but these 2 were straight wall. In reloading my 45/70 and most recently my 357 Max. What I have done thus far is to give the brass a bit of a push from the side ever so slightly egg shaping the case mouth so the bullet is retained until i get it into the Lee Factory Crimp Die. Once ran through the FCD all is good.

So how do you guys do this? I know there are neck only size dies, but I don't believe they are for the straight walled cases.. Maybe I have to resize???

[RidgwayCO]

Yes, straight wall pistol cases need to be full-length resized. This reduces the diameter of the case enough to hold the bullet securely with case tension. Trying to do this resizing with just the LFC die will not provide adequate tension.

[Scorch]

So how do you guys do this? . . . Maybe I have to resize???

It's called a resizing die. Unless you are firing BP match rifle, you have to resize after each firing and prior to reloading if you want proper bullet tension to hold the bullet and develop accurate loads.

I know there are neck only size dies, but I don't believe they are for the straight walled cases..

You can neck size straight-wall cartridges, it just isn't very common outside of BP rifle shooting.