loading boo boo

[hoosierlogger]

Well gents, I made a boo boo the other day while loading 124 grain TC boolits for my 9mm, 450 of them to be exact.[smilie=b:

I loaded 15 rounds and took them out to test them and they all cycled fine. tightened the sizing & crimping die nuts down and went at it. It was not until I had loaded 450 of them that I realized the crimp was too tight (must have tightened it unintentionally). Now the problem is I have a small "fat roll" of lead on the boolit that will not let them chamber properly unless I give the slide some help with my thumb. I scraped a few of them with a knife to remove the roll and it chambered up properly. Is there anything easier and faster I can do to erase the boo boo than using a knife?.

[fishhawk]

well ....what i would try is take another empty case and file some notches in the mouth slip it over the boolit and twist might work might not.... steve k

[oneokie]

Remove the decap assembly from your sizing die and gently run each round into the sizer die to squeeze things down. Check often. If possible back the sizer die out of the press so that you get the correct amount of sizing at the top of the ram stroke.

[hoosierlogger]

well ....what i would try is take another empty case and file some notches in the mouth slip it over the boolit and twist might work might not.... steve k

Ill try that now. I tried an un-cut case with minimal success.


EDIT I just tried a cut case that worked ok but it took alot of twisting.

I think I might have to find the angle of the boolit and make a jig to set a razor blade in. With a hole drilled in it to hold the boolit true while I twist it.

[hoosierlogger]

gonna eat dinner and then try the sizing die suggestion.

[bompa]

I have found that it is best to seat the boolit and then crimp in a separate operation..If one doesn't have a separate taper crimp die you can still do the operations separately.. Set up the crimp die and then get a thick washer for a spacer..With the spacer under the lock ring seat your boolits and then remove the spacer and back out the seating stem and then crimp..Must say that seperate dies and a turret or progresive press makes this much easier..
I realise this doesn't help with your present problem but will eliminate it in the future..
Good luck and be safe...

[hoosierlogger]

Remove the decap assembly from your sizing die and gently run each round into the sizer die to squeeze things down. Check often. If possible back the sizer die out of the press so that you get the correct amount of sizing at the top of the ram stroke.

Well that didnt do it either.

[hoosierlogger]

thanks for the suggestions. Keep em coming if you got em. If nothing works, ive got plenty of time to get busy with the knife

[Cowboy5780]

Hoosier, Lee makes a carbide sizing-crimp die its only like 10 or 15 bucks works super great you know the shell will chamber cause it sizes it as it comes out of the crimp die. It may be worth the expense to save all those boolits

[jhrosier]

If you had the shellholder and stud from a Lee case trimmer, you could spin them in your drill and speed things up a bit. Or it might work even better to spin an empty case sharpend up on the outside with a nice sharp edge and just push the loaded cartridge up into it.

Jack

[hoosierlogger]

Hoosier, Lee makes a carbide sizing-crimp die its only like 10 or 15 bucks works super great you know the shell will chamber cause it sizes it as it comes out of the crimp die. It may be worth the expense to save all those boolits I have an RCBS carbide die set, I took the caping rod out of it and tried it like oneoakie suggested. It sounds like the thing you described, but I am probably wrong.


If you had the shellholder and stud from a Lee case trimmer, you could spin them in your drill and speed things up a bit. Or it might work even better to spin an empty case sharpend up on the outside with a nice sharp edge and just push the loaded cartridge up into it.
Jack Now that sounds like it just might work. I am on my way to the garage now!!!

[LqChrome]

I'm with cowboy, those lee factory crimp dies or post crimp some callthem are the stuff!! I've loaded and shot 3k 9mm in 5 different guns and 2.5k 45 acp in 4 different guns and have not had 1 fail to feed

[jdgabbard]

You mean to tell me that people still seat and crimp all in one step!!! Man, and I thought that concept had been abandoned long ago! ;)

Definitely what they said, buy a Factory Taper Crimp Die, and crimp separately. On the 9mm it doesn't take much of one either.

[hoosierlogger]

Well the case in the drill trick will have to wait till tomorrow.

jdgabbard, Yeah I do it in one step. Ive only got a single stage press and quite honestly, I didnt know there was any other way. Ill have to look into the lee crimpers. They will fit into an RCBS press wont they?

[runfiverun]

yes they will.
you can also just use what you have. seat, then back out the seater part and screw in the die for crimping.

[hoosierlogger]

cool thanks runfiverun, Just one more step in the single stage series of events.

[dwtim]

That's quite a crimp die you've got there. Could be worse:

* Once I accidentally crimped some 357s so hard that I couldn't get them out with a kinetic puller, and I ripped the tops off with a collet puller type operation

* Once I crimped some j-word bullets so hard that when I went to knock them out with the kinetic puller, the cores popped out

* Once I crimped some 44s so hard that not only did the cases buckle like yours, but they bent so they looked like Cheetos


Me thinks some presses have a bit too much leverage.

[TAWILDCATT]

I am not going to ##### at you all BUT that is one reason to check your rounds before you do 100s.the 1911 makes it easy or as I do I have several spare barrels.and I seat and crimp all at one time.you all are new to this .what did reloaders do before all this fancy equipment.they did not even size the case,decaped and flaired,put cap in and powder and dropped bullet in put case in handles and squeezed,done.I loaded 32/20 for my win 73 that way and still have the win tools.I load 38/45 for compitition all in one operation seat and crimp. his mistake " then I turned the die down"after he had the cart tested.set the dies right in first place test if needed adjust and test again.
In one site they have photos of several 40s blown up.some one made a mistake and it was more than one newbe.I have never poped a prime or blown a gun and I am 85 been in this "hobbie" since 1937.:coffee:[smilie=1:

[RonC]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. WildCatt. I hear ya.

There are two kinds of reloaders, in my mind. Those load to shoot and those who shoot to make empties so they can reload them.

A skilled, experienced craftsman can do stuff an apprentice can only dream about. Lots of us are apprentices. Shootable is good enough. Each bullet don't have to be a work of art. And if you never make a mistake, ya're gonna be awfully ignorant. In my mind, that is how most of us learn. It is certainly how most of us get experience.

By the way, +1 on the Lee Carbide FCD. Lots a folks despise it, but lots more of us like 'em. Ya can hustle a batch through one real quick and when you are done, ya know your bullets are gonna fit the chamber.

[hoosierlogger]

Well gents I have now got the loads fixed. I first off want to send a big THANK YOU to jhrosier for suggesting the empty case in the drill set up. I was using brass with four 1/8" notches cut into them with a hack saw. the brass deformed and dulled too quickly after only about 20 times. So I found a use for Wolf cases. I went to the range and got 5 steel cases out of the bucket and used them. I will tell you this I will be more observant in the future to the crimps and will probably be seating and crimping in two separate steps as also suggested.

Thanks again,
Greg

[jforwel]

You know if you have enough crimp by pushing the bullet nose against your loading bench without it going into the case. No more crimp than that is necessary. If you have a dial caliper then you can measure the case while adjusting the crimp die. I don't know the exact amount but it's in the books. Something like a few thousandths less than before crimping.

[Recluse]

I started reloading in 1970 with an RCBS Rockchucker and RCBS steel dies. Lubed every case and didn't think anything about it because that was all I or anyone else in my group knew.

I learned to be a craftsman that way--single stage will teach you a lot about and during each step in the process. Also learned to seat and crimp in one step. When you set your seating/crimp die up properly, it's a non-event. When you don't, you WILL have problems.

Nowadays, people just buy the fastest, most high-production progressive press they can find, come to the internet asking "how do I?" before they even glance at the manual, then ask "what's a good load?" without bothering to even buy the most basic reloading manual, and then crank out a gazillion rounds--and then wonder why they fly all over the place . . . or jam. . . or misfire . . . or fail to feed. Naturally, it's the equipment's fault and just proves that nothing can beat good ol' factory ammunition. :rolleyes:

I have mixed views on the LEE Factory Crimp Dies (FCD). For some stuff, such as j-bullets with fnicky chambers or cylinders, they can be a godsend. Also if you're loading with mixed headstamps. For boolits, I haven't had much luck because they swage down to jacketed diameter rather than lead diameter.

I enjoy casting and reloading more than I enjoy shooting--and I definitely enjoy shooting. But I've been doing this long enough that "good enough" is not good enough, and I want every loaded round to be a work of art. Hell, I've put enough time and effort into it--why not make it as good as I possibly can?

:coffee: