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What did you do in the reloading room recently?

OAL is irrelevant, width is the problem.

Loaded case width measures .476 which is in spec. Bullet measures .452

idk if my cause gauge is bullshit or wtf is going on. The crimp looks fine, the cases aren't bulging. They just stick in the Glock chamber, which I expected to be fairly loose. And none of them make it more than halfway into the Wilson case gauge.
 
pastera said:
Mark the bullet up with sharpie and drop it in the chamber.
Give that a spin to mark where it's hitting.
Then we can help you fix what is going on
Click to expand...

Too frustrated tonight, I will go back to it tomorrow. I took the .45 setup off and put .308 on...

FWIW, I don’t think its the bullet hitting. I think its the case.
 
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bigblue said:
Too frustrated tonight, I will go back to it tomorrow. I took the .45 setup off and put .308 on...

FWIW, I don’t think its the bullet hitting. I think its the case.
Click to expand...
Crazy question is this loaded ammo or you just setting up your dies making a dummy case?
I once fought a non issue for 2 days before I realized while setting up my dummy cartridge I had not resized the brass. I skipped that crucial step because I was worried about setting up the other dies.
 
bigblue said:
OAL is irrelevant, width is the problem.

Loaded case width measures .476 which is in spec. Bullet measures .452

idk if my cause gauge is bullshit or wtf is going on. The crimp looks fine, the cases aren't bulging. They just stick in the Glock chamber, which I expected to be fairly loose. And none of them make it more than halfway into the Wilson case gauge.
Click to expand...
Fwiw try resizing one....expand the case....then run it through the crimp die without putting a projo in it. You said there is no bulge from the projo in the case.....so this will rule out an improper resizing or crimp.
 
bigblue said:
I will try that. They def fit fine after being resized but I did not check after being crimped without a bullet. I mean, if that doesn't work I need a new die.
Click to expand...
I'd you are seating and crimping in one step that can cause a bulged case.
If crimping and empty case chambers fine - try separate seating and crimping steps
 
bigblue said:
Its the damn Hornady seating & crimping die. Going to see if I can find a Lee crimping die, I don’t normally seat & crimp in one step. Now I know why: It doesn’t effing work.

Its causing case bulges halfway down the case. Ease it up a bit and it doesnt get rid of the crimp. Stupid.
Click to expand...
Where are you located?
I can print up a seating die for you so you can separate the two steps.
Can even make a custom seating stem to fit (not really needed for most round nose)
 
bigblue said:
Its the damn Hornady seating & crimping die. Going to see if I can find a Lee crimping die, I don’t normally seat & crimp in one step. Now I know why: It doesn’t effing work.

Its causing case bulges halfway down the case. Ease it up a bit and it doesnt get rid of the crimp. Stupid.
Click to expand...
I've been using Lee 3 die sets for 357 and 45acp. Never had an issue with seating and crimping in one step. I can even set it for heavy crimp on 357 mag and not buckle thr case.
 
bigblue said:
These are Hornady. Idfk
Click to expand...
Like I said pull a full reset,
Clean your dies, pretend you never reloaded before and reset up your dies.

What press are you using.?

Im curious how do you buldge a case with a taper crimp die?
i have done it with a roll crimp especially with bottle neck cases but i have not had to many issues with seat/crimp dies?

Again when I have a problem and "cant see" what the problem is i just "reset"
 
Random brass, from Win to Rem & in between. When the crimp die is tightened to the point that it removes the flair, it pushes the case wall down and it buckles. I am widening the case mouth barely enough for the bullet to rest on top. I use a non Dillon expander in the powder drop for 9mm, need to figure out what brand it is & get one for 45. @SJan you suggested it, any ideas?

I ordered a Lee crimp die which will be here in two weeks, I will come back to .45 then.

My new 1911 doesn’t come till next week anyways
 
bigblue said:
I use a non Dillon expander in the powder drop for 9mm, need to figure out what brand it is & get one for 45. @SJan you suggested it, any ideas?
Click to expand...
MrBulletfeeder/ double alpha, or shooting sports innovation...
9mm being tapered responds better to the different expanding geometry than straight cases like 45, 40. -no real improvement there. Those dies were designed to help a specific problem. When using their auto bullet feeder system, the bullet would sometimes fall over after being placed on the expanded case mouth, but before being seated, while rotating to the seating station. The improved die makes a better cradle for the bullet to sit in, without over belliing like a standard Dillon expander die would do

Of all the calibers I have reloaded, I only have one set of Hornady dies, including their seat/crimp. It took me forever to get it properly set up, I read and re-read the instructions and ruined many pieces of new brass. I don't remember what I eventually did different to get it to work correctly.
 
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Since you are seating and crimping separately, perhaps a taper crimp die would be your solution. Not a FCD with the compression collet, but rather a die with a smooth tapered interior (Lee -45 ACP-18 is what's stamped on mine).
 
@SJan thank you sir, very much appreciated.

Larry already shipped the Lee crimp die and I don’t want to eff with the Hornady seat/crimp die any longer. Too frustrating.

I wasn’t even trying to seat bullets last night, just get the crimp right without even a bullet and I couldn’t even do that.

I have Hornady for 223, same set of dies, and they work great. Of course no crimp there.

The DA expander makes a much nicer pocket for the bullet compared to the straight flare of the Dillon.
 
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SJan said:
all the calibers I have reloaded, I only have one set of Hornady dies, including their seat/crimp. It took me forever to get it properly set up, I read and re-read the instructions and ruined many pieces of new brass. I don't remember what I eventually did different to get it to work correctly.
Click to expand...
I think I remember. I threw it away, well it's probably in a box or drawer somewhere, but I stopped using it. The variance in length of new brass vs once fired brass, and more so with well used brass, is what was causing the new cases to buckle when being crimped by the Hornady die. (Pistol cases actually shorten a bit with each firing). No way I was going to trim pistol brass to all the same length, so I got Dillon dies with separate seat and crimp.
 
Olddawg1952 said:
It doesn’t resize the brass for bullet seating tho you might as well deprime and size with the same die in a single stage press
Click to expand...
Completely new to reloading. Literally just made my first 15 rounds that I'm going to test tomorrow!!
 

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