Loose Bullets

[webs]

I just started handloading some 52gr berger varmint bullets in my 22-250 using once shot commercial Federal cases. For some reason some of the bullets are loose in the cartridges. Do I not have the resizing/depriming die set correctly? The bullet can both be pulled out and pushed in. Sorry for the stupid question I just don't want to adjust anything until I have gotten advice.

 

[Savagebien]

what type of die did u size with? is the first question. must have been a neck die.

 

[Loner]

If your brass needs annealing it will not spring back when the expander is pulled back
through it. New brass shouldn't but there are all kinds of manufacturing screw ups
these days. Shine up your expander ball with some 1000 or 2000 grit paper by chucking
the mandrel in your drill and hit it for a few seconds. Lube the inside of the case mouths
as well as the outside and try the loose ones again. It has nothing to do with the way
your die is set, unless you are off by miles.

 

[webs]

It is a RCBS full length die. The brass is actually visual seconds from Federal that had minor imperfections with the bullet. I will give that a shot and see if it fixes anything.

 

[webs]

Well I used Winchester brass for a new lot of ammo and it worked fine. I did adjust the full length die down slightly and tried putting some case lube on the the lip of the Federal cartridge case and it looks like it works now with those cases too.