opos
06-20-2013, 02:08 PM
I got a strange one...I'm not a highly seasoned loader like many but I thought I'd seem many of the little things that are puzzling when loading. I recently got a couple hundred "once fired" 38 special brass (no nickel) cartridges....I cleaned them up (were in nice shape)..inspected them...de capped and resized them with my Lee carbide dies and primed them...set them aside for more time later...that was a couple of months ago..been stored in temp/humidity control
Yesterday I began the process of flaring the throats and all went along fine until I began to notice some of the cases had no "resistance" to the flaring die and when I checked them the semi jacketed Remington hollow point 125 grain projectile would just push in all the way....only an occasional one reacted like this....I kept track and if it appeared the brass was that way I set it aside...when I got done I had about 20 of the 200 total that were larger than the bullet diameter and would let the bullet just slide in without a die being involved...I pulled the decapping pin from my full length sizing die and resized them again...they didn't seem to even resist the die and when done the bullets would still just slide in (without flaring the throats). I mic'd the bullets, tried different (Speer) 125 grain bullets, etc....all the same...When I checked I found all of the cases that were in question were R P cases. Only thing I can think of is that possibly they were shot out of a gun with a really sloppy cylinder and had not "sprung back"...they don't look worn, bulged, anything out of order...just really loose. I made up some dummy rounds and hand seated the bullets to the cannelure ring and then used the Lee factory crimp die with a "medium" crimp crimped the bullets into the cases...they seemed to seat and it took 5 good solid "whacks" with the hammer bullet puller to get the bullets out...and that's the same amount of pounding to get the bullets out of a couple of dummies I made up with the brass that seemed to be just normal.
Anyone have any ideas? I did ask on another board and some folks thought the brass might have come from a 38 smith and wesson but I think that's a different cartridge all together...only thing I can think of is weak brass or brass that was stretched and didn't return to original...I plan to shoot them this week to see if they shoot allright...medium loads of 231 with the jacketed 125 grainer and I shoot a GP100 or an "original" Vaquero in 357/38 so good solid and tight guns.
any thoughts much appreciated..
thanks
opos
Yesterday I began the process of flaring the throats and all went along fine until I began to notice some of the cases had no "resistance" to the flaring die and when I checked them the semi jacketed Remington hollow point 125 grain projectile would just push in all the way....only an occasional one reacted like this....I kept track and if it appeared the brass was that way I set it aside...when I got done I had about 20 of the 200 total that were larger than the bullet diameter and would let the bullet just slide in without a die being involved...I pulled the decapping pin from my full length sizing die and resized them again...they didn't seem to even resist the die and when done the bullets would still just slide in (without flaring the throats). I mic'd the bullets, tried different (Speer) 125 grain bullets, etc....all the same...When I checked I found all of the cases that were in question were R P cases. Only thing I can think of is that possibly they were shot out of a gun with a really sloppy cylinder and had not "sprung back"...they don't look worn, bulged, anything out of order...just really loose. I made up some dummy rounds and hand seated the bullets to the cannelure ring and then used the Lee factory crimp die with a "medium" crimp crimped the bullets into the cases...they seemed to seat and it took 5 good solid "whacks" with the hammer bullet puller to get the bullets out...and that's the same amount of pounding to get the bullets out of a couple of dummies I made up with the brass that seemed to be just normal.
Anyone have any ideas? I did ask on another board and some folks thought the brass might have come from a 38 smith and wesson but I think that's a different cartridge all together...only thing I can think of is weak brass or brass that was stretched and didn't return to original...I plan to shoot them this week to see if they shoot allright...medium loads of 231 with the jacketed 125 grainer and I shoot a GP100 or an "original" Vaquero in 357/38 so good solid and tight guns.
any thoughts much appreciated..
thanks
opos