You anneal prior to resizing?
Some brass not bumping back
- Thread starter bultinkle
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Your supposed to cam over every time to ensure complete sizing.Usually having the press go full cam over is where my cartridges end up getting them to bump, but annealing will help. Once a case has about 3 uses, they can work harden. Frankly I anneal every use anymore with the shortage of cases. I have a little Annealeez machine. It inexpensive and super easy to use.
Or, you could just toss them out
340 in Va
Well-Known Member
Hand the same problem with 223 Nosler brass, once fired and did not anneal. (15 or so out of 100 did this). The expander in the RCBS die was pulling the brass. Try taking the expander off and size brass and check shoulders. The brass was cleaned, lubed with Hornady one shot and inside necks lubed with qtip. I've used this die for 20 + years with no problems. I think it was a batch of hard brass, after annealing the problem went away.(Now on 5th firing)
dcpreston
Member
I've read through the whole thread and looked at responses. Good info.
Question: Did all the brass measure the same before you bumped them back? And were they all shot with the same powder charge?
If you were working up loads and some brass "stretched" more than others due to a hotter load they would be longer. Why I say this is maybe your die isn't sizing down far enough to bump the shoulders back on the longer brass, because you will need to size them more to account for spring back. On the shorter ones it may work fine.
I had a Forster FL die that would not bump my brass back .002" after firing. I had a Whidden bushing die that would so I knew that they could be bumped back more but the Forster custom honed die wouldn't no matter how much I tightened it down (tightened 1.5 to 2 turns after touching shell holder without brass in press). I took my fire formed brass and sent back to Forster with the die and they had to machine off a few thousandths from bottom of the die to size my brass correctly. Now it works like it should.
So in all this, maybe your die isn't sizing the brass enough and you need the Redding competition shell holders or some material removed at base of the die. Some of your brass completely expanded to fill your chamber and some hasn't yet. That might also why there is a variance in the sized brass measurements.
Good information!
Hmmm I wasn't measuring them all beforehand. It's possible. I have a few cases left if the lot I'll measure first.
I was under the impression the redding shell holders could never add sizing, only take away in consistent additional increments
I used to hunt with TC Encore rifles. They are really bad on brass. Chambers are very loose due to weak extraction method. If your brass was ever shot in one it was nearly impossible to load them for a bolt gun with a tighter chamber. Learned this the hard way.
Hardshot
Well-Known Member
This problem is happening more and more as manufacturers try to get more out of there reamers on factory guns especially.
Redding makes a small base bump die and that will cure the problems 90 percent of the time . If that doesn't work send away a few pieces of brass and have a custom die made to fit the brass that is coming out of your gun .
I just had a set made and they still don't size the Webb enough sometimes I just can't win ! Lol
dcpreston
Member
Sorry about the confusion on Redding shell holders (you are correct), if your die isn't sizing enough they will not help you, because they add a .002" increase in headspace for each shell holder in the set of 5 (+.002" - +.010").
Then it might not be the issue.Maybe excessive
If your ,rezised/good brass, that works,does it have resistance when chambering,if it does,you could be a tad tight or too much headspacing .Measure new brass befrore and after shooting,if it grows 2-3 thou ,it's to tight if it's growing 10 thou it's too loose.Have a smith check it.He will remove firing pin,extractor ,all resistance.He will check it with factory brass,gages and with your brass,most importantly, "his feel",The bolt should fall with very little,if any effort on go gauge and properly sized brass.I set my own a lil tight and sometimes certian dies,shell holder combos will cause this issue.You can pull the bolt apart yourself and check it,your bolt should almost free fall with new brass,then compare it with your brasses
If you have a loose chamber,say your brass is growing over 9-10 thou, you stretch the body too much,where brass almost seperates ,that will give you a false sping back,cause your closing the fault line created by streching, not the shoulder.2nd or third firing It will seperate. Have a smith look at it
Look at Alex Wheeler video on headspacing.
Wet sand paper em on a window
dcpreston
Member
What caliber? It isn't just factory guns. I have had a couple custom barrels chambered that have had issues. One the throat area was tight because reamer wore. The other had a tight throat and was under spec at the web because reamer was worn (2 different gun smiths). Both issues were resolved but it sure makes it a pain to figure out what is going on when you start having problems.
It does seem bassackwards until you setup your die with the competition shellholders.
You get a known piece of sizable brass (one that's coming out of the press exactly the way you expected. You use that piece of brass and the +010 shellholder. Size the brass and then measure. From there you'll wind your way down to the standard shellholder. I usually get to the .006 before the bump is right where it needs to be.
Then, go grab one o'them pesky cases. Size it. Then move to the .004. Then you'll see what I was saying in my earlier post in this thread. After that, you'll ALWAYS follow this little tip. You can thank me and everyone else who tried to steer you in that direction. LOL
Some other folks said you could take off some metal from the mouth area of your die. You 'can' do that, but think about what 'that' will do to all the cases you've sized to your satisfaction. Now you're gonna be bumping those shorter than you want ... and there's no way to put that metal back onto your die.
You want to know why. I wanted to know why. Sometimes you've gotta accept that the Twilight Zone explanation is what fits.
I don't have a large sample size of brass left, but I'm thinking you might be on it with the heavy charges expanding more. Of the couple I've found they are around 2 thousandths longer at the shoulder and they aren't bumping while the shorter cases are acting fine
