Okay, So I loaded my new, prepped brass a week or so ago and shot them up. After meticulously prepping them for the next experiment, I go to seat some of the Nosler 120gr BT's I used the first time out and after going in about half way to the proper COL, they get increasingly harder and then the case collapses into itself. Figuring it was a fluke, I repeated the process on the next round and it worked fine. The next one caved in and I stopped and checked the mouth ID on all the brass. They ranged from .2615 to .2618. The bullets are all .2635. The original brass were .2620-.2623 ID. I had already burnished the inside of the necks with a rotating bore brush after I gave them their first tumble and before decapping, to reduce abrasive wear on my decapping ball from powder residue. They had not grown longer after their first firing and I did not need to trim them back to 1.515, but I touched up the inner and outer lips to be safe. Crushed another one first try. It does not feel like they are hanging on the lip and I doubt I would have gotten them half way in before they seized if they were.
My tapered decapping ball measures .2628 and passes through the resized necks with only a modest resistance. They obviously expand to .2628, but the spring-back returns them to .2615. I annealed two of them and repeated the step. They returned to .2618 and upon seating a bullets into them, the first one just made it and the second collapsed like the others before.
Anyone with an accurate micrometer who can measure their decapping ball? I'm suspecting mine may be slightly undersized for the spring-back. My chamber is a .300 neck one and spent brass mic at .299 OD / 2.69 ID. Resizing pushes them back down to .288-.289 OD with an ID of .257-.259 before the decapping ball goes through. Do I need to relieve a mil or two off the neck OD resizing. That's a lot of work to do correctly, but you do what you have to do.
FWIW, I'm not learning reloading. I've been reloading about 30 years and am up to 15 different rifle/pistol calibers as well as 12ga shotshells. This is the first time I've encountered this other than a few .300 Win Mags many years ago.
I am using Hornady New Dimension Dies.
Thanks,
Hoot
My tapered decapping ball measures .2628 and passes through the resized necks with only a modest resistance. They obviously expand to .2628, but the spring-back returns them to .2615. I annealed two of them and repeated the step. They returned to .2618 and upon seating a bullets into them, the first one just made it and the second collapsed like the others before.
Anyone with an accurate micrometer who can measure their decapping ball? I'm suspecting mine may be slightly undersized for the spring-back. My chamber is a .300 neck one and spent brass mic at .299 OD / 2.69 ID. Resizing pushes them back down to .288-.289 OD with an ID of .257-.259 before the decapping ball goes through. Do I need to relieve a mil or two off the neck OD resizing. That's a lot of work to do correctly, but you do what you have to do.
FWIW, I'm not learning reloading. I've been reloading about 30 years and am up to 15 different rifle/pistol calibers as well as 12ga shotshells. This is the first time I've encountered this other than a few .300 Win Mags many years ago.
I am using Hornady New Dimension Dies.
Thanks,
Hoot
Comment