Newbie needs helpful advice

[JoeCWales]

Brand new to reloading and also to using forums as means of communicating so please pardon total lack of experience.
Question is regarding loads in 44 mag produced on Lee turret press. I'm using once fired Rem brass and 300 grain j-word bullets over 9.0 grains Titegroup.
My concern is that the finished rounds show a well defined ridge in the case right at the base of the bullet. Case diameter measures only .450 and ridge diameter is .453.
Rounds chamber OK in Super Redhawk and Marlin 1894.
What could be the reason for this? Does it present a safety concern?
Yes, the cast lead boolits have been ordered and am expecting delivery this week.

[leftiye]

I suppose that it was where the bullet stops holding the sides of the case out. To explain, the sizer dies often size the cases down too much. When you put a bullet in the case the case is smaller where the bullet isn't because the bullet forces the case to expand when seated. They do this in order to get a tight grip on the bullet. Given maybe.012" case walls, the front of the case holding the bullet would be .429 plus.024 =.453". Standard .44 chambers are about .457", the only issue of any import is that the more you size down a case, the more it expands, and in the long run it affects case life. But most of them are about as you've described. The fix is to open up your sizer die (easier said than done).

[454PB]

Welcome to the forum JoeCWales.

You don't say what brand of dies you are using, but it sounds like they are over sizing your brass. Are you belling the case enough to avoid any brass shaving while bullet seating? Normally the belling process also expands the front portion of the case enough to minimize the bulging you see.

Because of their greater hardness, jacketed bullets will take more squeezing while seating than cast boolits. The condition you describe could be a problem with cast boolits, causing lead shaving and deformation.

[JoeCWales]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm using Lee carbide die sets and I think your suggestion that the cases are being sized too small makes good sense.
Bullet diameter is .430 and brass is .450 out of sizing die. Case mouth belled to .456 O.D. No apparent shaving of jacket, may be more of an issue with cast.
Is best solution to return die for replacement? What is chance that new sizing die will be of proper I.D.?

[9.3X62AL]

Another "welcome aboard", Joe C!

Most die makers tend to make dies that reduce diameters a little too much, esp. the tungsten-carbide or titanium nitride types that use no lube. I just learn to live with it. More critical is the tension the case holds the bullet/boolit in place with. I like an expander to be .0015"-.002" smaller than the boolit diameter being used. This can make a loaded straightwall revolver round have a "coke bottle" appearance, but it should cause no problem as long as the rounds fit in the charge hole or chamber.

[Bent Ramrod]

JoeC,

Welcome to the Forum. Before you condemn those dies, you might want to consider whether your load development will continue to any higher intensities. That undersized brass is a factor in shortening brass life, but it also holds the bullet in a grip of death. This grip, plus a heavy crimp, might be needed for any heavier loadings you might want to experiment with, in order to keep the bullets from creeping out of the cases from recoil and tying up the cylinder rotation.

I polished down the expander of a set of .44-40 dies, and went to a Lee Factory Crimp die as well, to keep this condition from recurring in my 1890 Remington clone, which used to tie up from recoil all the time with cast bullets, no matter how heavy the crimp. (The Remington's cylinder is much shorter than a Colt's, and more prone to this problem.) A loaded cartridge shows a slight step at the base of the bullet, but even so the cases tend to wear out from mouth splits rather than neck splits. Elmer Keith wrote of doing the same thing to the expanders with his .44 Special dies for heavy loads, and said the step would be noticeable, but would not harm accuracy or functioning.

Of course it's your call, but I'd see if the brass life is really that short with the die as-is.

[JoeCWales]

Thanks for the help y'all.
Biggest concern was for safety when I saw something that looked unusual to me. Seems like I can rest easy and just enjoy shootin' 'em!