Originally Posted by
BK7saum
I apologize as I cant remember your setup for loading.
In regard to your previous post, tube fed rifles dont necessarily need ammo heavily crimped to keep boolits from setting back. Sufficient neck tension (brass inner diameter 0.001-0.002" less than boolit diameter) is plenty to hold boolits firmly. For tube fed rifles, neck tension plus a light crimp is plenty to keep the boolit from setting back under spring tension.
Do you have a full length sizing die set? Assuming you do, screw the sizing/decapping die into your press until it touches the shell holder. Then size the case and decap the fired primer.
We dont need to prime or add powder, lets just load a dummy round.
At this point the case is resized, a boolit should not enter the case mouth due to the "sizing down" of the case. If a boolit will enter the case after it has been sized, we need to address that problem.
Now we need to expand the case mouth. I use an expander with a lower sectioned that is 0.001-0.002" smaller in diameter than the boolit I want to shoot. The expander has a section near the top with a flare and larger step that is 0.002-0.003 larger than my boolit diameter. When I "expand" the case neck, I adjust the expander so that the larger step enters the case mouth by 0.020" or so. That way the "flare" allows me to seat a boolit without shaving lead.
To go over what we've set up so far...you have to size the case so that the ID is 0.002-0.010" less than boolit diameter. This gives neck tension to firmly hold the boolit. If too small, we have to expand and flare the case so we can seat a boolit without shaving lead.
As long as the expander is less than boolit diameter, the case will have enough grip on the boolit that a crimp may not be necessary.
You should have some sort of flaring die or expanding die with your die set.
Now that we have a sized case that we have neck expanded and flared to accept a boolit, let's seat a boolit with no crimp. Back your seating die out 2-3 turns from your normal setting. Then start your case and boolit into the die. Adjust the seating plug downward, but not the die body until you get the desired boolit seating depth. Check to see if it will chamber. It may or the "flare" might bind up if excessive.
Now let's remove the "flare" on the case mouth. Back out the boolit seating stem a lot. We don't want it to contact the boolit at all in this step. With the dummy cartridge in the shellholder and the press ram raised to the top, screw the die body down until it contacts the dummy cartridge. Make sure the seating stem isnt making contact, only the die body. Now, screw the die body down 1/8 turn. Remove the dummy and check the flare/crimp with caliper and looking at it. If the flare has been removed or a sufficient crimp achieved, screw the die body down another 1/8 turn and keep checking. Once the flare is removed, your dummy cartridge will chamber.
By making and keeping a dummy cartridge, you can set up your die easily so that you can seat a boolit in one operation and crimp in a second operation.
This crimping and seating in separate steps works really well when the boolit used doesn't have a crimp groove.
Without a crimp groove, during seating, the brass case mouth digs into the boolit and as the case is crimped further, the brass case mouth is pushed down with the boolit. The brass has to go somewhere, so it bulges the case outward below the case mouth (exactly what has happened to your cartridges previously).
I am typing this on a smart phone, so please forgive the typos.
Setting up the dummy cartridge and seating without crimping, then crimping in a separate step will solve the bulged case issue.
If you still have questions, we can address them individually.
I don't know anyone who hasn't overcrimped a case and bulged the neck or shoulder starting out as a newbie. Been there myself. Well get you going. Just be patient.
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