458 Socom or 450 Bushmaster 50 Beawulf AR 15 for a reloader/caster

[frankenfab]

It doesn't hurt to, and you did it without sticking a case. Way to go!

You need to get a Sheridan Engineering case gage from AA. You can check the case, and the loaded round with it. Totally worth it. I gage every round.

[Outer Rondacker]

How did you know sir. I loaded the ladder with 10 rounds and only one chambered. Did not fire any yet. I am seeing small smiles on one side of the brass from the bullet seating. Not sure why or what is going on here. In all my days of loading never came across this. Heck I even put a sized case in the upper and hand closed the bolt. Can not open it without using something to lightly pry back the bolt.

I feel like its a fail at the moment. I was really looking forward to tossing some lead down range to make me feel better about dropping all this loot.

Common really, 70 some dollars for a case gauge. That is just nuts.

[frankenfab]

The case gage is $33.00 and worth every penny. I also buy a box of factory 335 grain once every coupie years to keep as a baseline.

[Outer Rondacker]

Well mine is headed back to the factory. Loaded up a simple dummy round and checked the specs all the way. Loaded a 325g bullet to 2.100 and let the bolt close slowly. It was stuck. I had to take apart the gun and work the bolt back with a thick piece of plastic at my pry bar. Not much force needed but it came back and left the bullet in the barrel.

Radical firearms was great on the phone. They claimed you need to use their mag or it will not work. I called BS. Guy on the phone kinda sided with me. Can not hurt to send it back. I have been told it will come back with a few mags either way so let it get checked out.

Edit: After 25 mins of searching I found where you can get one for $33.00 plus 13.13 Making one $46.13.

[adcoch1]

Well that sucks, hopefully its something obvious they find and fix for you.

[Outer Rondacker]

Honestly I think the Head Space is off. Like I said brand new sized brass empty will not chamber fully. Length 1.650. I hope they find something wrong to be honest. What gets me is I know its been fired. It came dirty. He said that does not mater they might have fired it out of battery. I do not know about that but could be.

Call me cheap I still do not want to pay almost 50 bucks for a plunk gauge. Price only goes up $1.00 dollar on shipping if I add two boxes of ammo. $100.24. Kinda goes against everything I stand for in reloading. I do not own more then two boxes of factory ammo that I have purchased.

[DDriller]

Always resize new brass and best to trim all to same length.

[Outer Rondacker]

After the first piece of brass they sized fine. I think I just needed to get the case lube on the die. I wish the lyman die set was available when I ordered the lee set. It came with a plunker.

I admit it very well could be my reloads. With that said I only can recall once I had an issue with 45 acp having to change projectiles.

Case gauge will have to wait I am kinda on the light side at the moment. Need to re-coop a bit.

[Lloyd Smale]

be aware that lee had a first batch of 50 beo dies that were way out of spec. The fact its taking excessive pressure to size makes me suspicious that you have a bad set because I had a set of bad ones that acted the same. Couple things cause those little smiles on the mouth of your brass. Trying to seat a bullet without enough flare in the case and having your seating die adjusted incorrectly so that its crimping before the bullet is all the way seated. Also beos have a realitively short chamber and you need to seat bullets a bit deep to have them run a 100percent especially with some cast bullet designs with a larger metplat. On last thing. Don't over crimp. Set your crimp die till it just irons out the expanded case mouth then give it another 1/4 of a turn. If your not already doing this stuff give it a try and if it doesn't work shoot me a pm and ill size a piece of brass and send it to you and you can see if it chambers in your gun.

[Outer Rondacker]

Thanks Lloyd. I will be calling Lee today just to check the date stamp on the dies and make sure it not out of spec. Sizing was only hard on the first case. Like I said I think I just needed a bit more lube. After that the rest went smoothly. As for the smile I think it was because of not flaring the case mouth enough. I did not want to work the brass to much. I do not do any case crimp on the seating die just smooth out the flare. I was crimping by running the ram with bullet all the way up and screwing down the die. Then adding one half turn tighter. I can back that off a bit. I was loading factory 325g J HP bullets to 2.100. I then tried one at 2.030 and still would not go.

When I finally called it done and I have an issue is when it would not chamber a new sized empty piece of brass. Then having that brass stuck in the barrel so bad I had to force it out just put the icing on the cake.

[adcoch1]

That really sounds like a bad or short chamber to me. Hard to tell without hands on though, hopefully they get it fixed and you can get to shooting!

[Gunslinger1911]

Hey Rondacker,
You remember my issues with sizing new Starline brass, had to SOAK the brass in lube, still ripped the heads off 4 cases. Wasn't smart enough to look at the sizer till later - striations all around the interior (no final polishing I guess).

In my conversations with Lee, an "A7" on the sizer did not have any reports of issues.
But I had looked at the wrong die, my sizer had "L6" on it - didn't get an answer back. LOL

Sent Lee the die last Thursday, I have to check the tracking, I'd guess they got it by now, no word.

FS Reloading sells the sizer alone for around $15, may just have to get one.

The Starline brass was just out of spec long, also varied in length.
I haven't had time to even open the bag of the brass you "made me buy" lol
Maybe this weekend

[Outer Rondacker]

My sizer has an "K7" on it. Its smooth and brass sizes fine. I size then rotate one 1/4 turn and size again.

Still have not got my RMA from Radical Firearms. Called them today they said they would call back in a few mins. That was five hours ago. Going to call them again.

It does look short but its so hard to tell on an AR upper without a go, no go gauge.

Edit: Just got off the phone with the CS guy. Called him on his personal cell phone. He is going to issue my ticket for return first thing in the morning.

[Lloyd Smale]

yup if you don't flare enough and get those "smiles" ammo for about any gun isn't going to run.

Thanks Lloyd. I will be calling Lee today just to check the date stamp on the dies and make sure it not out of spec. Sizing was only hard on the first case. Like I said I think I just needed a bit more lube. After that the rest went smoothly. As for the smile I think it was because of not flaring the case mouth enough. I did not want to work the brass to much. I do not do any case crimp on the seating die just smooth out the flare. I was crimping by running the ram with bullet all the way up and screwing down the die. Then adding one half turn tighter. I can back that off a bit. I was loading factory 325g J HP bullets to 2.100. I then tried one at 2.030 and still would not go.

When I finally called it done and I have an issue is when it would not chamber a new sized empty piece of brass. Then having that brass stuck in the barrel so bad I had to force it out just put the icing on the cake.

[Outer Rondacker]

Ya I only got it on the first couple. Pulled them and fixed it. Had a brain fart as to why.

[Outer Rondacker]

Sent it out. It will get there on 5/10. By then I wish to get some of the Lee 440 cast up and PCed. I also am dying to try my new 303 mould.

[Gunslinger1911]

Well Lee has had my sizer a week and no word..........
Prob just order sizer alone from FS, check it for smooth, if not, return for another.

On another note : I present the MiHec 385 :
HP's are about 380g, solid about 390.

Little ole 45-200 hp on left; 50-325 j word on right for perspective

[Outer Rondacker]

Looks great.

Mine not so good. I forgot the fundamentals. It has been a long time since I used a lee pot. Of course it came out slow and off to the side. So I will have to address that issue. Cast about 30 bullets and 29 came out wrinkled. Its one heck of a bullet though.

So I know the mould was HOT. Could of made the pot hotter. Temp gauge is packed in a box.

Gunslinger what is your count on these big bullets?

[Gunslinger1911]

First off, I dissed Lee too soon, newly polished sizer was in the mailbox today. Looks MUCH better !

Rondaker - I had all kinds of wrinkles at first - thought I didn't get all the cutting fluid out (or MiHa changed to a diff fluid).
As per your comment, back to basics, heat the pot up. This also took the minor few wrinkles out of the new MiHa 44 mould.
With my alloy (range scrap with 1% added antimony and maybe 1/4 % tin) I run my RCBS pot at 725 deg (pot temp floats 700 - 750 deg).
Cranked it up to just short of max - averaged about 775 deg - no wrinkles !
Also cranked open the spout a half inch more.

Gotta give the mould lots of time to cool or goes frosty and loose sharp edges.

I prob got 3-4 dozen good ones after all the fussing around.
Pic is horrible, they actually look great !

[Outer Rondacker]

Came across this while surfing the net. For those looking to get a 458 socom the price does not seam to bad.
https://www.midstatefirearms.com/16-...-458socom1.htm

I know nothing about the company or the build just posting for the ones who need some click bait.

I will be talking to Radical today and seeing if they had a chance to look at my upper yet. Will post back with results.