my die woes

[adrians]

look what happened when i tried to de-prime and size my 43 mauser cases..
the brass started to come out ,then oooooppps!!!.
lee dies, brass lubed,, no pressure to size but the shellholder died on me ,,wow.
it's not a big deal but wow!![smilie=1:

[zuke]

Sure wasn't the dies fault,unless you didn't lube it enough.
Then it's still not the dies fault.
What kinda lube?

[dromia]

What brass was it, how many times fired, was it black or smokeless powder that was used in them and how were they cleaned?

It does look like a lack of lube issue but that could be compounded by a brass issue.

[Janoosh]

I can't view it closely. If it was used brass, the break looks brittle like mercury primer use. Possible? I'm usually wrong at this but once the casing starts to move, its out of the die as the hole gets larger. Adrians stated that the brass started to move. That rim looks broken off, not torn off. I had that problem also. The brass from the mid-east was very brittle.

[flounderman]

check your other brass. there was instructions in a loading book once about using a bent wire with a point and feeling the case wall for a crack on the inside in the area your case separated. the words incipid cutoff come to mind. don't know if that is what it is but check your other cases. a headspace problem could do this.

[scrapcan]

click on that picture and it will enlarge.

Look at the left side of the shell holder. The lip in the shell holder failed. Looks like the shell holder failed and then concentrated force on rim and it tore on one side.

Maybe two things going on. failed shell holder and brittle brass.

[462]

Adrians stated that the shellholder failed on him, and it's evident that it is broken. The brass being brittle may or may not be an issue.

[Janoosh]

Thank you, manleyjt. I missed that part. I'm viewing on a Crackberry.

[Mk42gunner]

I see two issues here.

1. The brass looks suspicously like it is semi baloonhead, and might be old enough to have mercury imbrittlement. I have brokenm several shellholders for my .43 Spanish (a similar sized cartridge) and never tore the head off when the shellholder letr go.

2. If that is a Lee #18, I would spend the bucks to get an RCBS #22 shellholder. ALL of my problems loading the .43 Spanish went away when I got the RCBS shellholder.

I am not bashing Lee on this; I still have and use a lot of Lee shellholders, just not the ones for big rimmed cases.

Robert

[Recluse]

I see two issues here.

1. The brass looks suspicously like it is semi baloonhead, and might be old enough to have mercury imbrittlement. I have brokenm several shellholders for my .43 Spanish (a similar sized cartridge) and never tore the head off when the shellholder letr go.

2. If that is a Lee #18, I would spend the bucks to get an RCBS #22 shellholder. ALL of my problems loading the .43 Spanish went away when I got the RCBS shellholder.

I am not bashing Lee on this; I still have and use a lot of Lee shellholders, just not the ones for big rimmed cases.

Robert

A big, hearty +1 on both points.

I hold my breath every time I full-length size my .303 brass, which I try not to do very often at all. Gotta love the Lee collet sizer; and I anneal that brass as well.

As far as Lee shellholders go, I've had less than favorable luck with them so far as securely holding the brass in place for sizing. I've really noticed it on the new Classic Cast Turret press I recently got. I replace the Lee shellholder with the RCBS and my alignment problems for sizing and priming vanish.

:coffee:

[quasi]

The brass is probably CIL-Dominion 43 Mauser cases, they are semi-ballon head and don't last very long. Lee shell holders in 43 Mauser are especially bad for fit.

[adrians]

yup you are all right i guess ,,.
the brass is/was Dominium 43 mauser head stamp , and i think you call it "A base" or something like that as for age thats anybody's guess.
when the shellholder (yes lee) took a dive it ripped the base almost all the way off and the de-capping pin was gone.
the case was on it's way out of the die when it happened so i'm thinking the brass was on it's last legs, actually glad it decided to go in the die rather than in the chamber.
i use an RCBS lube pad with RCBS lube .
i contacted lee as soon as it happened and they stated that their 43 mauser shell holder has been "modified" the rim is thicker now to avoid future failures and they will replace both the holder and sizing button/stem for free.
so all is not lost except for some old brass.
a RCBS #22 is on my to get list though.
have a great night .
adrians,,:evil::veryconfu:twisted:

[shtur]

I'm a RCBS guy, but the Lee customer service you're getting sounds pretty good.

[enfield]

the expander ball seems way to fat on the lee dies, I find with the converted 348 brass I have to remove the decapper in order to run the bras through the sizer or they bind up real bad. I assume thats what broke your shell holder. I suspect the brass is thicker at the neck on these cases ??

[adrians]

I'm a RCBS guy, but the Lee customer service you're getting sounds pretty good.

i'm with you on the equipment, most of my gear is green and/or orange except for the darn shellholder [smilie=l:
i was pleasantly surprized at LEE'S prompt and positive response.


enfield,, not sure about neck wall thickness but i found out these "older" Dominium cases sure are brittle.
i need new brass,,, darn it all to heck :twisted::bigsmyl2: :evil:

[enfield]

I made some from 45-90 , the rim has to be made a little smaller ( .010") if going in a 71/84 but they go through the die easy and seem to work fine.

[adrians]

I made some from 45-90 , the rim has to be made a little smaller ( .010") if going in a 71/84 but they go through the die easy and seem to work fine.

yer it's a 71/84 enfield,,
i was thinking about using 45-90 ( it's cheaper per case than 43 mauser),,,,
how do you take .010" of the rim ? i have heard tell of this method but don.t know how to ( properly) do it.
what is needed to trim that there rim?:coffeecom