Lee die to "DeGlock" brass

[Cadillo]

There are no firearms available today that 100% fully support the casehead. Even my .375 H&H Magnum TC Encore pistol operating at 65,000 psi didn't fully support the case.


I come across a lot of different brass fired from a great array of guns. I've never ever had an issue properly sizing any case that I've come across. I reload for a lot of agencies that use Glock .40 caliber guns and never had an issue.

No, Glock doesn't want to pay for repairs due to incompetent handloading. Same as most every other gun maker.

Very broad statement. My counterbored Smith's have fully supported cases including the case heads. I know that they are not chambered in any calibers common with a Glock, but you said "no firearms". Also, the term normally used in this regard is "fully supported chamber" something that the Glock most certainly does not have. It does not refer at all to the case head, but rather to that portion of the case which contains the powder and gas upon firing. Assuming reasonable pressures, the case body is the only area that will bulge. Glock chambers leave more of the case body unsupported than other makes as it helps with feeding issues, but turns out to be an Achilles heal with regard to shooting reloads, especially ones that are hot or were created with cases that have been fired on multiple occasions.

If you have an overload sufficient to affect the case head, case heads swell along with primer pockets, but that is something way beyond what is being addressed here. Irv Stone, head of Barsto Barrels gives a very detailed explanation of what a 'fully supported chamber" is and is not in his DVD on barrel fitting, a recommended viewing for anyone thinking of changing out a barrel on any of today's popular handgun models.

I shot many hundreds of "cast" bullet reloads in my Glock Model 22, and never had a problem, but when I stepped up to premium barrels with minimum spec chambers, the Glock .40 S&W brass gave me fits until I got the Redding push through die. My guess is that your reloads are being reshot in Glocks or other guns with chambers that are larger than minimum spec. I'm glad that you are having success.

The fact is that brass that has been fired in a stock Glock barrel is expanded more that brass fired in most other chambers. This was and is intended by Glock, who originally designed and built the gun for use by the military in field conditions where it needs to work even when extremely dirty, thus the intentionally large chamber specs. I load all my pistol ammo using Dillon dies and they will not size a Glock fired case far enough down to remove the bulge even when seated against the shellplater of a 550 or the shell holder of a Rockchucker. It's just the nature of the beast. As long as I fired ammo thus loaded in mine or another Glock, I had no trouble, but once I tried it in a Sig, a Les Baer, or a Lone Wolf, frequent Lockup!. The Redding die solves this problem, and it seems that the EGW die should as well.

I should soon know. My EGW in .45 ACP shipped today, which should solve the slight problem I currently experience with a very few of my reloads in my P220ST with Barsto barrel.

[rtracy2001]

OK, so it arrived today, and I waisted little time in trying it out.

The kit consists of a brass catcher (identical to the boolit catcher on the sizing kits), a small (and short) push-rod, and a sleeve that adapts the FCD to either the brass catcher, or a Lee Loadmaster guide tube.


The first thing I noticed is the pusher has a recess in the top, probably to allow use of the kit with loaded ammo.



Here is the factory crimp die. Take it apart, remove the crimp bushing (center) and thread the adapter into the FCD body. It doesn't show up in the photo but there is a small chamfer on one end of the crimp bushing. Make sure to put it back together correctly, or your FCD will be primed to ruin ever round put through it!



Here is the kit ready to use on my Rockchucker.



I did not have any truly bulged brass readily available (I can round some up easy enough), so I just took some once fired brass and ran it through. I used Winchester brass, and compared it to new Winchester factory ammo.

Here are the results:

New Factory ammo, diameter at base: 0.421"

Once fired range pickup, diameter at base: 0.429"

After sizing, base diameter: 0.422"

Nowhere near scientific as I only sized a few, but it looks promising.

I will sort through my range pickup brass and try to find some obvious Glock brass and then I will compare the "Bulgebuster" to my standard carbide sizer.

[packnrat]

i bought the standard (did not find the better one for sale) redding die (part # 96040 series SPL) (buy the best only cry once) for .40 de-glocking. just a touch of case lube,
works great. just mount up in a cheap lee press and go to town. you can cut the bottom off a liter soda bottle and force thread it on to the top (bottle up-side-down). the id of it just fits the die threads.

everything works great, need to buy a 9mm and a .45 acp sets. i do a lot of range pickup.



.

[mold maker]

Here are the instructions:

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/1855.pdf

For even easier use, (for those with the ability to mount a press upside down) a hose, tube or funnel instead of the red plastic cup will direct the processed brass to a collection container hands-free. All you do is feed the brass and work the handle.
This also applies for sizing boolits.
I've processed many gals of LEO (Glock fired) brass almost effortlessly, The output is not discernable from factory or roll sized.
This process is also a way to swage brass to a larger caliber bullet jacket with a more concentric wall thickness.

[William Yanda]

I have a friend that has a dillon die for 45 and one for 40 like that. Takes it to spec all the way down the case, including case head...

I investigated a push through system for 9mm. Darn, its a tapered case so the concept is not applicable.

[David2011]

I never understand all these add on dies for "special Glock brass". Properly sizing your brass will eliminate any bulge. If your brass is bulging in the first place, a resizing die is the least of your worries. I would not tolerate that one bit.

That ignores reality. I shoot lots of range brass. The modified Lee FCD will not sufficiently resize the Glock bulge for brass to chamber in my STI in .40 S&W. Granted, it has tighter tolerances than many guns. Before loading any brass for that gun it is run through a Magma Engineering Case Master Jr. It has a modified Dillon sizing die that Magma diamond hones to remove the taper, according to what they told me. I only run the brass through the Case Master once and then mark my brass so I'll be able to tell mine from other brass. My brass is separated from other pick ups before polishing. Once the pick ups have been run through the CM Jr. they are added to the "my brass" collection and are only sized in the regular Dillon die in my 650.

I tried push through sizing with a standard Dillon die on a single stage press. The web passing through the carbide ring jolted my body and the press pretty hard. The Magma die doesn't do that. Magma sells the die as part of a caliber conversion for the CM Jr.

Like most USPSA shooters, I shoot .40 brass until it cracks. Nothing bad happens when it does; I just relegate it to the scrap brass box. It's easy to detect cracked brass. When dropped by the handful onto a wooden surface the cracked pieces make a very different sound from good brass.

David

[1_Ogre]

from my experience, if you resize buldged brass, it's weakened and unreliable. I get a lot of 45ACP and 40S&W brass, and when I find buldged brass, it goes into the scrap bucket. I've seen what happens when buldged/reformed brass lets go and sometimes it destroys the firearm. Brass isn't that expensive, so I'll throw it away rather than use it. Just my opinion and experience, not wanting to start a range war here

[David2011]

I've run over 80,000 rounds through my STI and it has all be used brass except for 100 rounds of factory ammo. USPSA shooting results in lots of lost brass so yes, it can get very expensive to constantly buy new brass. Not one round has cracked in the area of the Glock bulge. Most crack below the area that gets flared but not all the way to the mouth. I would guess the life of .40 brass loaded to USPSA Major to be about 8 uses. I don't keep track of how many times I have shot it. At one time I was shooting 7 or more matches a month. I have had MANY pieces crack in the gun and nothing bad happens. A typical match would result in 0 to 3 pieces of cracked brass so clearly I was getting many loadings from each piece. The STI is on a modified 1911 frame and uses 1911 barrels. I would not make the same assumption for lightly built handguns like a Browning Hi-Power in .40 S&W. All of the bad things I've seen from brass letting go was when the head separates. That is not what happens in my experience with .40 cases.

[victorfox]

I don't know if it's relevant but this guy makes an inverted sizer. You put the case mouth down in the press over a rod and pushes it upwards inside the sizer.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cgoGVANwYWk

He speaking portuguese he is one of the few who makes reloading gear here in brazil.

HTH

[jimkim]

I don't know if it's relevant but this guy makes an inverted sizer. You put the case mouth down in the press over a rod and pushes it upwards inside the sizer.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cgoGVANwYWk

He speaking portuguese he is one of the few who makes reloading gear here in brazil.

HTH

That's how I use my Lee FC body to remove the bulge. I use the part that comes with the boolit sizing die to push the brass through. I have also used 223 brass in a shellholder. I get a lot of brass after the local LEO's qualify. I think a lot of them are using early model Glocks.

Sent from my VS880 using Tapatalk

[garym1a2]

I load a lot of 40 to shoot a Glock22 and 35 for USPSA matches. I 100% budge bust them with the lee tool.Brass with a bad budge is trashed. I only had one case failure, when I decided to try the factory G35 barrel instead of my KKM. I load mine to 130PF and it makes 40 a sweet round.I tend to get my brass from internet as I can get them for under 2 cents each shipped, clean and roll sized. I find match pickup brass to be rough condition as too many peoples run 9mm and 40 with major power loads.

[6622729]

If you keep reducing the bulge and then blowing it back out in a
glock your brass life will be very short.

Which is why Glock specifically states not to use reloads in their guns. I use a KKM barrel in my Glock 19 9mm which has support in that critical area. KKM specifically markets this barrel for reloads and cast boolits.

[mold maker]

If I owned one of the early Glocks or any chamber that allowed for the guppy belly brass, I wouldn't use reloads. Most of the cleaned and prepped brass for sale will contain "Glocked" brass that has been totally resized. It's especially true of LEO range pickup.
My debulged die is LEE, honed out to .423. It is used just like a push through bullet sizing die. This doesn't undersize the brass and the brass doesn't grow in length. I've shot many thousand rounds of it without a problem.
Now, I'm not advising anyone else to do like wise, just stating my own personal experience since about 1985. That's before many of you were born.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The amount of misinformation in the thread is appalling! Post #42 above is the most correct of all of them as it shows the complete Bulge Buster System and the results of using that system.

Unfired brass .421 fired .429, debulged .422 That's all you need to know!

This subject has been discussed add nauseum here many times and a simple search would have brought up no less than 20 threads on the subject.

Randy

[deltaenterprizes]

I got mine last week and spraying some lanolin/alcohol mixture helps reduce the amount of force considerably!