Help with 7.62x54r

[milkorder]

I work in a tire store and I have a great supply of wheel weights... so I have decided to take up casting and reloading to help with the cost of feeding my milsurps. I have Lee equipment and I have started to fl size my Winchester brass. The picture shows a lip on the base of the brass. Is this normal? Is there something wroing with the die?

Thanks in advance. I cant wait to get some hand crafted lead down range.

[milkorder]

Forgot the picts

[milkorder]

The poictures are not very clear. About a quarter of an inch above the rim there is a lip. It catches with my finger nail.

[Ricochet]

What I think the pictures are showing is that the cases swell on firing to down near the head (loose chamber) and are squeezed back down by the die that doesn't size the brass all the way back to the head, leaving a "step" where the sizing ends. That won't hurt anything in itself, but if you're working the brass a lot by firing it and sizing it back down it work hardens and will split eventually. Biggest problem is that if the case body is lengthening and then being shortened in sizing, it will form a bright ring at about that location accompanied by a groove on the inside of the brass that you can feel with a wire or straightened paperclip with a right angle bent on the tip to let the wire snag the groove on the inside. When that happens, you get head separations that let you pull out just the base of the case and leave the rest in the chamber. Then you need a broken shell extractor.

As a rule, don't run your sizing die all the way down against the shell holder. Keep your rifle handy as you adjust it, and size the case just enough to easily go into the chamber and let the bolt close. If you have several rifles to load for and don't want to segregate cases, figure out which one has the "tightest" chamber and do this for it.

[WineMan]

Have/had the same problem with F/L sizing 30-06 in a LEE die. There is not enough radius at the bottom of the die; I had it chamfered to break the edge. A little bit more lube after a partial size also helped but I was getting brass shaving. I am now only neck sizing all my 30-06 and 7.63x54R and it makes a big difference in the amount of work. I use a LEE 308 Collet neck sizer that has a 303 Brit mandrel (LEE custom shop) and a 0.1" thick fender washer (local hardware store) on the shellholder to keep the longer Russian case from hitting the top of the die. The 30-06 uses a standard LEE Collet die.

See this thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=26541


Wineman

[Gunrunner]

Are you sure you have the correct dies? I could see getting just that effect pushing the 7.62x54R Russian case as far as it would go into a 7.62 Nato (308Win.) die.

[Ricochet]

Oh yeah, that sure would!

[billyb]

i bought a91-03 to use with cast, before i bought dies i did a little search on google and found a lot of complaints about the lee dies for the moseen. the dies shave the brass at the head of the caseses. i bought rcbs and have not had that problem. when you full leanth size put a little extra lube at the point where you are having trouble it will ease the sizeing. i would contact lee about your size die and see if the will fix or replace it. Bill

[milkorder]

Thanks for the input. I did check and the die is the correct one.

[Ricochet]

FWIW, I don't have any trouble with my Lee dies in this caliber.

[cbr]

FWIW, I have 3 mosins and Lee dies, never had a problem. I second that you contact Lee.

[azrednek]

milkorder, I had a similar problem several years back with 303 British using a Lee die set. First thing you want to do is verify there is no splitting going on from the inside out. I used a straightened paper clip to feel the inside. I took a few pieces of suspect brass to the grinding wheel to get a look inside. Using Brasso I cleaned the remaining surface of the suspect area and determined the ring was only forming on the outside, presumably from the Lee die. Lee did replace the sizing die and I had to pay a nominal fee for the replacement. I can't recall the amount but Lee calculated the cost based on 50% of the retail cost. Would have been a freebe if I had saved the receipt.

If the cases are stretching, splitting or separating in the area it is a whole new ball game and you first want to double check your load, you may be exceeding safe pressure limits. Other problems could possibly be from a poorly ground chamber, excessive headspace or numerous other problems causing the problem. I know brass isn't cheap but I'd start by grinding a few to see what is going on inside the brass. Clean the area real good and take a look with a magnifying glass.

Rimmed bottle necked brass for some reason has a shorter life span than rimless. I have no idea why and possibly somebody may chime in here with the reason. If you are shooting all your reloads in the same rifle you can increase the brass' life by neck sizing only.

[mike in co]

Rimmed bottle necked brass for some reason has a shorter life span than rimless. I have no idea why and possibly somebody may chime in here with the reason. If you are shooting all your reloads in the same rifle you can increase the brass' life by neck sizing only.


for the most part, brass lives longer when treated correctly for its use. here on the cast boolit board, brass used in cast boolit shooting should last a long time. the first thing to do is to stop following "bullet" reloading techniques. neck sizing, partial neck sizing, no sizing can all be done with boolits, and all lead to long brass life. essentially no full length sizing. for the record i shoot an ar15 that is neck sized only, so why do more on a cast boolit load ??

segregate your brass in lots and label for the gun it will be used in.

i did run into an issue with my lee loader and cast boolits....it was not big enough inside dia for the 314 plus dia boolits i was trying to load. the seating die would size or seize the boolits. i have to open it up on my lathe.

mike in co.

[dmftoy1]

I had the same problem with Lee Dies in this caliber . . sent the sizing die back to Lee and had it back in a week (fixed) with a free .311 expander to boot. Can't complain.

I'm shooting mild loads (18 grains of 2400 under a 314299) so it probably won't impact my brass life all that much. (Upto 4 loadings now with no signs of ill effects)

[Lead melter]

I work in a tire store and I have a great supply of wheel weights... so I have decided to take up casting and reloading to help with the cost of feeding my milsurps. I have Lee equipment and I have started to fl size my Winchester brass. The picture shows a lip on the base of the brass. Is this normal? Is there something wroing with the die?

Thanks in advance. I cant wait to get some hand crafted lead down range.


Work in a tire store, eh? Got a great supply of WWs, eh? I just happen to have an opening for a new best friend, would you be interested?:mrgreen:

[azrednek]

for the most part, brass lives longer when treated correctly for its use. here on the cast boolit board, brass used in cast boolit shooting should last a long time. the first thing to do is to stop following "bullet" reloading techniques.

mike in co.

Mike help me out here as I'm really confused now!! By definition is there a difference between bullet and boolit?? Guess I don't visit this board enough. I rarely full length re-size bottle necked rifle brass anymore with the exception of 8MM as I have several of the cheapie surplus Mausers. Guess I can say I'm to lazy to keep it separate by rifle. When I return from the range everything goes into the tumbler except I try to separate free pickings left by other shooters. Some of my mild loads I don't even neck size, relying on a Lee Factory Crimp die to keep the bullet (or boolit) in place.