case bulging

[domainfitz]

I just set up my press and went through the first round. (sizing and de priming). Well i looked at my case and i have bulging. I wonder if running it through the as the 2nd round would fix that. Any thoughts?
And i'm reloading .40. Do i need to crimp it after seating the bullet? I've seen some people do it. Pro's and con's of doing it?

[beppe]

with cast bullets, just use a crimp Teper if the cartridges do not fit well in the room, the factcory crimp, you too sizing the diameter of the projectile.

I hope I wrote well, excuse my little english



con cast bullets , usa solo un teper crimp se le cartucce non entrano bene in camera ,il factcory crimp ,ti dimensiona troppo il diametro del proiettile.

[BoolitSchuuter]

Not sure I understand the question. If you are experiencing a bulge at the case head, this is due to the chamber not supporting the case head in that area when fired. This is normal for the chamber of a .40 S&W. to get rid of it, buy a Lee bulge buster. If your case is bulging after the bullet is seated, best thing to do is see if the round will chamber first. Remove the barrel from your gun and insert the round in the chamber firmly, but do not force it. if it chambers, no problem. If not, slug your bore and determine what diameter boolit is needed for your gun. You may be seating a boolit that is slightly oversize to the bore and causing unnecessary expansion of the case mouth. as to crimping a 40 S&W? yes.

[domainfitz]

don't you have to use a gutted FCD with the Bulge Buster Kit? So couldn't i just gut the FCD, And pass the case through it (since thats whats going to be straightening the case out anyway), while i wait on the kit to get here?

[mdi]

A tool every reloader should have is a micrometer. Measure the case and see how much and where the bulge appears. My suggestion would be to toss the FCD, learn to correctly adjust your dies, and use a regular old taper crimp die to remove any flare...

[FishingFool]

don't you have to use a gutted FCD with the Bulge Buster Kit? So couldn't i just gut the FCD, And pass the case through it (since thats whats going to be straightening the case out anyway), while i wait on the kit to get here?

No. Look on youtube for how the lee bulge buster works. The inside of a factory crimp die is way smaller than what you need.

[wv109323]

Make sure your sizing die is set right. The shell holder should just kiss the bottom of the sizing die. With the sizing die adjusted correctly, it will not help to run them through the die a second time. Some die manufacturers put a radius at the bottom of the sizing die to make their dies to be more compatible with progressive loaders , but this radius does not allow the case to be resized in that area. Make sure that your resized brass will fit into the chamber. The bulge you are describing may not allow that if it is fired brass from another firearm.
The .40 S&W is almost always a semi-auto pistol. With autos the bullet comes into contact with the feeding ramp as the round is feed into the chamber. The neck tension/crimp must be strong enough so that the bullet is not pushed back into the cartridge case as the round is feed. A shortened round CAN cause DANGEROUS HIGH pressure. It also may not feed causing a malfunction.
The neck tension/crimp must also be strong enough so that the bullet will not move from the inertia of the recoil of the firearm. If you bell your cases (and you should with cast Boolits) then you need to remove all the belling so that the round will feed into the chamber. A good way to look for the belling is to hold two cartridges side to side and observe the mouth of the cases. They should be a small "V:.
Also drop your loaded round into the chamber to see if they fit ( with barrel out of firearm)

[domainfitz]

Yes they all fit. I made a first batch and the slide wouldn't engage all the way without letting it slam when racking the first round. after that it chambered. So i came back to the press and found out that the mouth wasn't spreading enough to properly seat the die so i tighted the powder die about a quarter turn and it spread the mouth enough. I fired 30 more rounds and they fired nicely. Alot of smoke though. I think the charge was a little strong so i made some more with less and i'll fire them tomorrow. These casted boolits leave alotta grime in my barrel so i don't think ill be using them after i run out. And i didn't crimp none of them.

[W.R.Buchanan]

domainfitz: I just answered this question for someone else in an above post so I just copy pasted my response here.

Read this.

You need the Lee Deluxe Factory Crimp Die to go with the Lee Bulge Buster kit. That die has a carbide sizing ring in the bottom that you shove the whole case thru and out the top. You remove the taper crimp ring and top cap from the die to do this.

Also you can't push a case completely thru a normal sizing die. It jsut won't go no matter how hard you try.

The BB kit has a pusher that goes into your press ram that pushes the case thru the die and out the top into a plastic bottle, which is also supplied.

This is only a case prep operation and you must run the debulged cases thru your normal sizing die when loading them.

This is the cheapest way to accomplish this task, and if you are going to load .40 S&W and shoot them from a Glock or other semi auto pistol it is kind of necessary.

Randy