Flaring .22 caliber Brass?

[davidheart]

Is there a way to slightly flare 223 brass (and 22 Hornet brass for that matter) so it's a little easier for me to seat flat based boolits? I've crushed a couple too many brass trying to seat and it's not a pleasant experience. I have a similar problem with my 38sp/357mag. My dies don't seem to flare the case mouth at all, wilst my 40 caliber dies will flare the case mouth.

:(

[CraigOK]

Lyman #: 7349058 is a 22 hornet M die. Ive seen people reference using these but with no personal experience maybe it'll at least give you a place to start hunting...good luck

[robg]

Lee make a die that flares all cases,works well and is cheap.

[mdi]

I've used the M die on a couple of my bottlenecked cartridges, and it works quite well. If you need something right now, look in your tool box. A pair of long nosed pliers inserted into the case and spun will flare the mouth. If you have a punch that will flare the case before hitting the head, try that. Actually anything harder than brass that is tapered can be pushed into the case mouth and twisted to flare the mouth. When I started reloading I used a cold chisel, head was tapered and the body (6" long) worked as a handle; hold the chisel in my right hand, push the 38 case on the head with my left hand and twist. Worked quite well until I learned there were dies for this (Lee powder through dies work well too)...

[billyb]

I use the RCBS flaring die and the .224 sizing stem in my 222. I also use the same system for the 3006 and 8mm Mauser. Had the Lyman m dies and sold them to someone here that liked it. I have better luck with the RCBS. Bill

[farmerjim]

Lyman M die works great for 223 cast.

[L Erie Caster]

Lee universal expanding die works great
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/140461/lee-universal-neck-expanding-die

[David2011]

Just be very careful and gentle with the Hornet cases. As you're probably already aware they are very fragile.

[castalott]

Another here who likes the M die. Mine opens the necks just right and the bullets seat straight....YMMV

[44magLeo]

Do you have a deburring tool? If so use it to deburr the inside of your case necks. Not a lot just enough to break the sharp edge. This will help seat jacketed bullets.
An expander plug such as the Lyman M tool work very well with cast boolits.
Leo

[BK7saum]

I prefer the m-die over a flaring die because the m-die is case length independent. The flaring die flares the case mouths of longer cases more. The step of the M-die only flare to a few thousandths over boolit diameter.

I find the m-die helps keep boolits from being swaged by case necks. My custom m-dies are slightly smaller than my boolits for a perfect fit into the case neck.

Now, if you size an then trim on each firing, then a flaring die creates uniform flares. Sometimes I like to load and shoot. Trimming is my least favorite operation of case prep.

[Mk42gunner]

If you are going to buy something, the M-die works well; there may be something better, but I haven't found it.

If you are going to make do, at least for now, the needle nose plier trick works after a very short learning curve. I have also adjusted a .243 decapping stem to just bump the case mouth on Hornet cases, once you get things adjusted, it goes pretty fast.

Robert

[NavyVet1959]

I stumbled across a mini-lathe awhile back and one of the first things I used it for was to make powder funnels for my Dillon press that had the M die profile.

http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/dillon-powder-funnel-exp-1-640w.jpg

[Dancing Bear]

Lee universal expanding die works great
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/140461/lee-universal-neck-expanding-die
I just got mine, works well for the Bator bullets.

[davidheart]

I have the Lee universal case expander. Sometimes it does crush the case mouth if I'm not careful. I was thinking something along the lines of the typical pistol die... like the Lee one I have for my 40S&W that deprimes and flares at the same time.

[15meter]

I have used a standard Lee expander die for cast bullets for 22 hornet. Didn't load a lot but it worked ok. I ordered the adapters from Noe to turn a lee expander die into basically a Lyman die. Tried them on 30-06 brass and was pleased. I have not tried them on the hornet yet. The first try with the hornet was to see how well it would shoot with the bullets I cast with a OLD Lyman mold that I borrowed from a buddy. Unfortunately I wasn't bright enough to write down the mold number. A semi-local gun club ran a couple of single shot 200 yard matches last summer that I DIDN'T get a chance to shoot in. I'm hoping they will do it again this summer, and not on a day when I have 6 other things going on. Too much fun stuff, not enough time....

[TexasGrunt]

I stumbled across a mini-lathe awhile back and one of the first things I used it for was to make powder funnels for my Dillon press that had the M die profile.

http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/dillon-powder-funnel-exp-1-640w.jpg

Hey there buddy! That just what I need. Some M die powder funnels for my 650!

[NavyVet1959]

Hey there buddy! That just what I need. Some M die powder funnels for my 650!

Depending upon how many you need, you might be able to make one of the mini-lathes pay for itself.

Well, as long as you don't factor in the value of your own time. :)

With the mini-lathes, you really need to take it slow and not cut too much off at a time.

I've never done anything with a lathe before, but I manged to make the one in the above photo from a very rusted bolt as my first project.

I'm thinking that doing one for one of the .22 calibers would be a bit more difficult due to the small diameter of the drill bit in addition to how small the flared portion would need to be.

Of course, looking back, I wish had taken metal shop in high school instead of just taking the welding class.

[TexasGrunt]

I know the limits of my abilities. Running a lathe of any kind is not in my wheelhouse.

[NavyVet1959]

I know the limits of my abilities. Running a lathe of any kind is not in my wheelhouse.

Can you run a drill press?

Just think of it as a drill pressed turned on its side and you are chucking an object in it and using a file to remove pieces of metal that don't belong. :)

I tried to make a drill press do what I wanted to do since I was having trouble finding a lathe like I wanted for a price that I wanted. Eventually, I stumbled across the Grizzly lathe for $400 and although it is not what I was really wanting, it looked like something that I could learn on. Maybe one of these days I'll graduate to one of the old classic lathes.

[TexasGrunt]

The pile of broken 1/16" drill bit next to my drill press would say that I have problems running a drill press.

[NavyVet1959]

The pile of broken 1/16" drill bit next to my drill press would say that I have problems running a drill press.

I know the feeling... Working with the small stuff is difficult for me also... I don't look forward to all the drill bits that I'll probably break trying to make a M die for .223... :(

[Mk42gunner]

I know the feeling... Working with the small stuff is difficult for me also... I don't look forward to all the drill bits that I'll probably break trying to make a M die for .223... :(
Do it in the lathe, starting with the smallest center drill held in the tailstock Jacobs chuck, then move on to twist drills.

For some knowledge about metal shop work, look on youtube for video's by Mrpete222. He is an old retired shop teacher/ machinist. I have learned a lot by watching his video's.

Robert

[NavyVet1959]

Do it in the lathe, starting with the smallest center drill held in the tailstock Jacobs chuck, then move on to twist drills.

For some knowledge about metal shop work, look on youtube for video's by Mrpete222. He is an old retired shop teacher/ machinist. I have learned a lot by watching his video's.


I've watched a few of his videos. Sure would be nice to have all the shop equipment he has in his basement. :)

As it turns out, the center drills are not just useful for starting the center hole for powder to go through the powder funnel. Using the largest one that came in the HF set works out to be the right size for creating the angled portion of the interior at the top of the powder funnel. Regardless of the size of the caliber and what the diameter must be at the end of the hole, at the top of the hole, it needs to be about the inner diameter of the powder funnel adapter so that the powder doesn't get hung up on it and so that all of it drops through to the lower parts of the powder funnel and eventually out the bottom.

Here's some drawings I made, but they are reversed vertically (i.e. the bottom of the drawing is actually the top of the powder funnel when it is installed in the press).

http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/reloading-powder-funnels-01.gif

[Lloyd Smale]

that's what I use
Lee universal expanding die works great
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/140461/lee-universal-neck-expanding-die