TROUBLE in River City!

[sniper]

Loading a few CBs today. just a few to see what works best, etc.

Well, all was fine until I got to a batch of commercial cast bullets I'd bought from a local hero a few years ago.

I had just finished successfully crimping my cast 162gr. GC boolitz, and they all chambered with no problem. I figured I would use my die set's seating/crimp die, which worked fine for my 162 gr. ,instead of my taper crimp die, which I used for the Berry and Hornady boolits.

Then I loaded the commercial cast 158 gr., SWCs, and used what I think is a medium crimp, just a little tighter than where I could just see the crimp at all. Well, 3/4 of them would not chamber.

I got out my carbide sizer die, and gently squoze the cartridge mouths in it. Problem solved!

I figure the crimp, as minimal as it was, had buckled the case mouth slightly, causing the over diameter, and subsequent failure to chamber. As I recall, these bullets were involved in similar problems some time ago.

I think I will just melt them down for cbs, and be done with it. None of my other bullets...Berry 125gr. plated, Hornady 158gr. swaged HP, or my 162gr. SWC...caused the least problem. Is there something I am missing, here?

[MtGun44]

I have had the same problem (overcrimping causing inability to chamber)
with a .38-55 Win 94. Backed off the crimp and problem went away.

TC seems like a good choice, but I don't have one for .38-55. Lee factory
crimp is a great tool, wonder if they have it for .38-55?

Bill

[44man]

That problem crops up with boolits that have too small of a crimp groove. Most Lee boolits are like that and you need to be careful to put only enough crimp to hold the boolit or the case will bulge.
Of course it can happen even with a large groove too if you get carried away.

[HeavyMetal]

Suggest you check boolit diameter, location and size of crimp groove on the commercial boolits, Clean / readjust your die.

Any or all of these problems could exist at the moment, one last thing to check is case length AnyPistol case crimping die is going to be dependent on a fixed case length. Change the length and change the crimp! .020 longer in length is all it takes to create a bulged case!

[felix]

ALL crimping should be done by feel, and not by case length. This technique can only be accomplished by operating a press in single station mode. ... felix

[Ricochet]

But the Carbide Factory Crimp Die will solve the problem every time.

[Junior1942]

But the Carbide Factory Crimp Die will solve the problem every time.+1 to that.

[sniper]

Ricochet:
I had one years ago, and didn't like it much. Maybe I just didn't know enough to appreciate it. Enough knowledgeable people seem to like it, so I may have to readjust my thinking.

[felix]

It would suit my fancy if the factory crimp die worked like a torque wrench where I could set the torque requirement before slippage. ... felix

[sniper]

Thanx for the suggestions.
I finaly figured out I had seated the bullet a smidge too deep, and was crimping on the driving band.
I seated it a few thousandths longer, which allowed the case mouth to crimp into the groove, and problem solved. Ammo now chambers like a snake down a gopher hole. :-D

I made a couple of dummy rounds, in case the dummy messes up again!:mrgreen: