Another case for using a Lee FCD?

Patriot

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I'm having problems seating my lead bullets in my cases. It seems that (in my opinion) the friction
required to seat them will bulge the case, usually near the bottom. In the picture below I have two .327
Mag cases and the one of the left was seated exactly like the one on the right. The brass is FC and there
is no other alternative since only Federal makes this brass (.327 Federal Magnum). I also have this problem
with .38/.357/.32 Mag/etc all to one degree or another. In this case (no pun intended) the problem is somewhat
acute. I loaded three different types of powder in 25 cases each and the yield was about 25%. Even those
exhibited some 'bulging' but not enough to prevent easily chambering. The others would not chamber at all.
No I don't have a case gauge for this caliber yet as this is the first time I have ever loaded the .327 Mag.

Yes, I bell the case adequately. No, I didn't use an 'M' die as I tried doing that on the .38/.357.44 w/o any success.
The bullet is a 115gr Keith style SWC that I cast myself. It's an alloy that yields about a 12-13 BHN. It's sized
to .313. What's interesting to me is that usually I get a 'tell' on the case with my casts that show how far the
bullet is seated. On these cases nothing shows so I'm pretty sure the bullet size is very correct.. I've roll
crimped these as the ones I loaded with #9 were clicking right along at around 1400 FPS at the muzzle. The
others were loaded with 231 and TG and yielded around 800-900 FPS MV.

My question to those that use the Lee FCD is: Would that die take care of this problem?

(In case you can't tell, the one on the right is the real problem one. The one on the left has much less bulge.)

05_16_2012002a.jpg


The one on the left has no primer. It was my setup round.
 
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Are you using a Lee seating die?

ETA: If you're getting a 25% yield, an FCD would be worth a shot. Just seating a bullet shouldn't buckle a case though. There must be something else going on.

It might be worth trying a different set of dies (mfg). I had a similar problem with .357 when I first started loading it. It turns out my Lee expander die wasn't expanding, it was just belling. I switched to RCBS dies and the problem went away.
 
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The FCD might fix it but, I'd be more interested why it was happening and fixing that first.

If you got the same results using two different expander dies odds are the flare isn't. The problem. If you have same problem with other calibers using the same seating die that's really suspect.

Just out of curiosity have you tried running some flared cases into the seater die without bullets in them to see if the flared brass might catching or contacting the die some how?
 
i use the LFCD in all my reloading, i adjust the die to just touch the shellplate and make certain i goes down to the rim of the case, does
a great job and all of them go smoothly the case guage...

give it a try,

JImB
 
The Lee carbide factory crimp die will mostly fix that but you probably do need to bell the case mouth more. If you put a visible coating of lee case lube inside the case mouth before running it up into the expander you can see just exactly how deep the expander is going into the case. It is possible to have the case bottom out on the expander on some expander/powder dies which can cause the case wrinkle too. I don't believe the cases run through the FCD will all end up perfect and there is always the chance that a few cases could wrinkle more if the bulge is really bad. They will all chamber and unless they are wrinkled really bad should be safe to fire. I find that every 25-50 cases tossing in a well lubed case, outside and inside the case mouth, really smooths out the sizing and belling of the case. It doesn't hurt to clean out the bullet lube from the seating die every once in a while too.
 
Is the case deformation occuring during seating or crimping? I am in the process of retiring my Lee FCD dies. I have found that if the brass is in relatively good condition, the standard Dillon crimp die works just fine.
 
The Lee carbide factory crimp die will mostly fix that but you probably do need to bell the case mouth more. If you put a visible coating of lee case lube inside the case mouth before running it up into the expander you can see just exactly how deep the expander is going into the case. It is possible to have the case bottom out on the expander on some expander/powder dies which can cause the case wrinkle too. I don't believe the cases run through the FCD will all end up perfect and there is always the chance that a few cases could wrinkle more if the bulge is really bad. They will all chamber and unless they are wrinkled really bad should be safe to fire. I find that every 25-50 cases tossing in a well lubed case, outside and inside the case mouth, really smooths out the sizing and belling of the case. It doesn't hurt to clean out the bullet lube from the seating die every once in a while too.

Thanks. I checked my crimping die and that had a little lube in it. Not enough to cause this, I think.

Is the case deformation occuring during seating or crimping? I am in the process of retiring my Lee FCD dies. I have found that if the brass is in relatively good condition, the standard Dillon crimp die works just fine.

My brass is in the cleaner as we speak. My next task is to find out where exactly it is deforming the brass. These are Dillon carbide dies (new style).
 
The FCD might fix it but, I'd be more interested why it was happening and fixing that first.

If you got the same results using two different expander dies odds are the flare isn't. The problem. If you have same problem with other calibers using the same seating die that's really suspect.

Just out of curiosity have you tried running some flared cases into the seater die without bullets in them to see if the flared brass might catching or contacting the die some how?

I will check on this as well. Thanks.
 
Well, I discovered the problem. Not exactly where I thought it would be. I wanted to re-size the
cartridges that I had already made so I removed the bullets and kept the primers. I then removed
the sizing ball and pin assy from the sizing die and was pretty surprised at what I found.

05_19_2012009a.jpg


A .22 caliber casing stuck on the end of the assy. No doubt this was a problem but that wasn't all.
When I went to remove it I found the sizing die loose, very loose, in the die carrier. I seems that
when I received the new pin assy for the .327 Mag I installed it but did not take the time to reset
the die. Bad move by me. So between the two of them (1) die not sizing all the way to the bottom
of the casing and 2) the extra width and tension of the sizing/pin assy) I got the bulge problem. I
re-sized all the cases and reloaded them. With the exception of a couple that are a smidge tight
where the bulge occured the remainder are just fine.
 
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