First Post -- Newbie to Reloading Question

[Thomas Traddles]

Greetings,

I cast my first boolits today (38 spcl wadcutters from a RCBS 148 DEWC mould) and loaded some dummy rounds to get the hang of the press (Hornady LNL single stage) and the Lee Dies for 38/357. I have some questions that maybe the more experienced can help me with.

First, the powder through expander die catches the case on the down stroke, but loads smoothly enough on the up stroke. Anybody have this problem before and can you point me to a solution?

Secondly, the seating and crimpling die (which is not a factory crimp die) does not load without guiding the bullet and case to fit and then it shaves and dings my boolits. What might be causing this difficulty?

Thanks for your help.

T

[mikeym1a]

You don't say what press you are using, but it sounds like you have one of the lee presses. I have always centered my cases on the 'through the die' expander, that bells the case mouth enough to help start the boolit. Then I manually place the boolit into the belled case mouth, and then run it up into the seating die. If you seating die is properly adjusted, which is something you have to do for each different boolit, then the boolit is seated to its proper depth, and the flare is taken out of the case at the same time. I hope this helps. mikey

[Thomas Traddles]

Thank you, Mikey. I have a Hornady LNL single stage press. I guess one concern can be better stated in this manner. Is the case sticking in the expander die and requiring some force on the handle to remove it normal? I don't recall seeing or hearing this on reloading videos I have watched.

[Maven]

Thomas, I believe the powder-through-expander die is supposed to stick a bit so as to get all the powder to drop through. However, yours may benefit from a 0000 steel wool polish followed by burnishing with graphite. It also sounds like you need to adjust the expander die so that it flares the cases a trifle more. That should allow easier starting of WC's, etc. with no dings or shaved lead.

[Rushthezeppelin]

Are you using the proper seating plug for wad cutter type bullets? That could explain the dings.

[44Vaquero]

Yes! Maven is correct the powder thru die is designed to stick for the reason he stated. Most of us who use the Lee powder thru die do polish the expander slightly, go slow and easy just enough to reduce the sticking.

Flair the cases just a little more as Maven suggests and maybe camphor the case mouths a bit. I choose to camphor and flair less. YMMV

[Thomas Traddles]

Gentlemen, Thank you. That makes sense.