I just loaded about 45 or so 450 bushmaster rounds and I got three of my casing mouths. It took a chunk out of them. Did I flair my mouths too wide?
And is it ok to shoot them like this?
Attachment 201737
Im hoping they will stretch enough so I can eventually trim the nicks out.
Flared way too much. Should be able to just barely see the flair.
Yep, too much. Only open the case enough so that the base doesn't get shaved. You can shoot them like that, but seriously doubt they will chamber unless you remove most of that flare with a crimp die or run them fyet her up in the hornady die.
I haven't crimped them yet just snapped a pic after I dinged the case mouth
Then yeah, go ahead and shoot them. Flaring that much, then crimping will significantly impact case life and contribute to split case mouths.
I use an m die on my cases that is stepped 0.001" below boolit diameter and 0.003' over diameter. Case length differences then to not matter on expanding cases due to the parallel stepped portions of the expander.
Pull the decapping pin on your full length sizing die. Give the handle a tap just to remove that excessive bell on the cases
That's what I was thinking. I will aneal them to soften the brass back up to save case life after shooting and bumb the rest I didn't load to save wrecking any more casings.Quote:
Originally Posted by John Boy
Id just load them and shoot them. If you iron out the existing crimp and recrimp your going to work the brass more and shorten its life even more. Shoot them up and do it right the next time.
I crimped them this morning. The cases were flared out to the point they were scraping in my crimp die and a I had to baby a few to even get to feed into the die. I am definitely going to bump the remainder of the flaired casings... flaired a 100 total this way. Lesson learned.
If you have a piece of flat stock laying around lay the case on it with the rim over the edge and a straight piece of round stock that fits in the case easily and roll with light pressure on the rod this will remove enough of the flair to allow it to enter the dies and crimp area easily. You will have to experiment with the amount of pressure. Another thing is back the belling stem way out now so next time you have to reset it as a reminder. Don't leave it as is or you may forget and run another batch
i ran them about a 1/2" up my hornady crimp die and it pushed the flair back in just enough that they now dont scrape my seating die when seating boolits.
thanks for everyone's help.
Adjust flare die so you can just get base of boolits in the case ,don't worry we've all over done things.
There maybe something else causing the problem. I have both RCBS and Lyman pistol dies and a lot of dies for BPCR rifles and I have never notched a case like that.
I can assure you that when I loaded my first few pistol rounds in an old inclined C press I dinged a few cases and learned to guide each one into the die.
But I did not get surprised by dings later because those cases were so thoroughly mashed that they went straight to the trash can. My cases were often flared so large that many of my .357 Mag loads actually dragged the case mouth the full length of the seater die. The only way they started into the die was buy guiding each case by hand, and that is with the Lyman seater having a generous lead in radius. That large radius would just size an over flared case as the case was forced in.
If you are hitting the case on the bottom of the die just stop doing that. Look at what you are doing and guide the case or have a machinist turn a nice large entry funnel into your seater.
If you have an older tilted back C press like so many were before the 1980s, the inclined press will naturally back the brass sort of flop back in the shell holder causing misalignment. If for some reason you have a very sloppy or the wrong shell holder you may have real guidance problem causing the die to strike the case mouth.
Don't just pull the handle, look at every last case as you process them. Make sure you see exactly what causes the ding.
If you get more dings pull the bullets and iron out the ding with a .50 BMG bullet or a case like a .30-06 or the outside "nose" of needle nose pliers.
If you need more force use a round pin stuck in the case mouth for an anvil and tap on the outside with a small dead blow hammer.
The flair is suppose to just be enough so the bullet sits in the case. Its not suppose to be so pronounced that it looks like a funnel.
If the case is damaged above the bullet and it passes a case gauge then just shoot it.
Once shot you can toss it
With the cost of 450 Bushmaster brass, don't toss them. Send them to me. (He-He) Or get a small round file and remove the nick from the ID of the case. Then you can continue to reload the cases until no longer usable.
Why do you flair the case mouth at all? I use a "M" die on everything I load. When I had my lathe I made my own, now I either by one from Lyman or have a friend make one for me. When I used a tool that put a flair in the case mouth the bullet always leaned to one side. That doesn't happen with an "M" die. The bullet enters the case mouth straight.
Flair.....to show a knack or ability. "He had a flair for cooking."
Flare......to gradually widen.
Which do you suppose is the correct spelling for case flaring or flare?
That's about the best response I've seen "lesson learned." I crushed quite a few cases myself learning how to setup and adjust dies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tripplebeards