What am I doing wrong here!!

[dfanonymous]

You guys might want to stop helping me. I'm about to have a fire sale on a bunch of components!

Loaded neck OD .291

I chamfered. Just tried annealing too with no change in virgin brass. I take back the comment about it loading easily on 2x. Tried again. Still hard.

heres a picture of the expander on the Rcbs. It's obviously getting some work.

.291 is the neck tension I use. But it's after annealing…

 

[Plowboy85]

We have all been there buddy! Steel wool on there definitely will help clean up the expander.

 

[Ucsdryder]

The expander is .2615. Which is the ID of my brass after going through the die. Does that sound like a potential issue? Is the expander too small? Seems like it would be universal for a non bushing die

 

[Plowboy85]

The expander is .2615. Which is the ID of my brass after going through the die. Does that sound like a potential issue? Is the expander too small? Seems like it would be universal for a non bushing die

That doesn't seem like I problem to me. Essentially your die is setting you up to finish with 0.0025" "tension"/Bullet grip. Brass has a decent toughness value so keep in mind after it pulls through the neck it will relax a little and very slightly return towards is previous state.

 

[Plowboy85]

Are you still scaring bullets when loading after the chamfer?

 

[DUSTY NOGGIN]

if the vld chamfer tool angle closely matches the angle of the boat tail .. and you chamfer deeply ... will increase your seating pressure seating bullet will require you to open the case mouth (as deep as the chamfer you cut )all at same time .. creating a excessive starting seat pressure

dont use tbis steep of an angle when chamferring

RCBS Chamfer Tool VLD (Very Low Drag) Cutter Head

The RCBS Chamfer and Deburring tool for VLD style bullets is ideal for cutting a 22 degree chamfer in the case mouth to help ensure VLD bullets are...

www.midwayusa.com

 

[Ucsdryder]

Are you still scaring bullets when loading after the chamfer?

Yes. No change when both anneal and chamfer. It's not hard just at the start, it's hard all the way through the stroke.


seems like a long shot, but could it be the press not stoking straight down? Grasping at straws at this point.

 

[DUSTY NOGGIN]

Expander Dies To Flare The Inside Dimension Of The Neck | RCBS

This Expander Plug goes with the Neck Expander Die, which flares the inside dimension of only the case neck to ensure perfect alignment of the bullet during seating.

www.rcbs.com

buy one too large and sand it down until if fits your needs ..

12$

 

[65WSM]

My goal has become one and a half thousandths of neck tension with .264 bullets. That provides sufficient neck tension for hunting and target purposes. Usually I cannot move HBN coated bullets with my fingers.

The first thing I check is to see if there is sufficient case room to seat the bullets with the powder charge in place. Ask the folks at Forster (one of the more approachable die makers) about how many of their seating stems are mushroomed each year and how many calls they get about rings on bullets.

I partial size the necks with bushings This in the Redding Full Length Bushing die. Leaving the bushing loose results in the base of the neck to remain chamber size, helping to center the bullet in the chamber after reloading. Partial sizing of the neck is explained, with excellent diagrams, in the Berger Manual. One third of the neck should remain unsized.

Checking the shoulder bump back can be done with the caliper tools from Sinclair. Three thousandths is all you would ever want to see, even in an AR semiauto chamber. If necessary, because my chamber is too short for the die, I have a riflesmith take ten or more thousandths off the bottom of the die and then use the tall "competition" shellholders to adjust to the desired depth. Both Forster and Wilson have helped me with short chambers by trimming their dies.

I chamfer the inside and outside of the necks with the Wilson hand tool and polish the inside of the case neck with steel wool wound around a nylon bore brush chucked in a corded electric drill. The brass Dewey female - female adapter gives the drill chuck an extention to hang on to. With smooth inside of the case the neck tension is more uniform, shot to shot and trip to trip. After annealing this is particularly important.

Shoot coated bullets in nitrocarburized barrels. No naked bullets.

 

[Ucsdryder]

What makes no sense is this is a nee issue. The first 200-300 rounds of 6.5cm didn't have any issue with seating. It is noticeably harder now to seat the bullet. I can feel it in the handle when raising the Ram. I don't see how I could possibly be setting up my equipment wrong but that's what I keep coming back to.

 

[65WSM]

Polish the inside of the necks. Are the;y rough?

 

[SSgt G Cody]

Back to basics: Full-Size case, Trim, Chamfer, Polish Mandrel, and use newer ELD-type bullet seater. Adjust carefully! On a .264 bullet, like yours, Inside neck crimp should Never be under .261 in. Good luck!

 

[Hugnot]

The expander ball might be .2615 but what about the inside diameter of the neck? Brass spring back would reduce the .2615. Did I see that the 1st 200-300 rounds did not have any hard seating? I think your brass has become work hardened (brass crystal size reduction) and brass spring back is causing the problem. Annealing brass would fix the problem. I see your nice 6.5, 130 ELD bullets having radial ogive distortion caused by jamming them into small holes.

My thinking is:

Bullet diameter is .264. With thicker neck walls measuring OD would not provide accurate ID. [ .291 - .264 =.027, .027/2 = .0135] and if neck walls are thicker than .0135 by .001, [.291- (.0145*2) = .262 or with an increase of only .001 in neck wall thickness the neck ID is reduced to .262 for a .264 bullet, a good neck tension. Increasing neck wall thickness to .015 would result in: [ .291-(.015*2) = .261] or .003 under .264 for increased hard seating.

If, upon resizing the neck, additional work hardening occurs causing additional brass spring back, the expansion action of the expander ball might not accomplish the desired result resulting in sub .262 ID. The fix is to anneal necks. Having a .262 & .261 diameter pin gauges to check ID's might also help.

Looks like a Hornady 6.5 130 ELDM bullet, I shoot these out of a 6.5X47 Lapua. I use a Hornady universal 6.5 seating die with an stem designed for their old AMax® bullets. I use a Forster F/L sizer that has had the neck portion honed out to .288; this reduced the amount of brass working upon sizing. Turning necks in addition to annealing might be considered to reduce the amount of brass working and obtain a desired amount of neck tension. I use a circular flame tip in a propane torch & toast them for 30 seconds each; this works just fine.

It would appear that stuff like this provides a good market for seating stems and other items used for ammo production.

 

[59FLH]

I'm a newbie reloader, have 500-600 rounds under my belt but having an issue I haven't experienced yet and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'm reloading a 6.5 creedmoor and am getting a super tight neck on virgin lapua brass. I'm using Rcbs dies and a Rcbs summit press. I ran the virgin brass through the FL sizing die. It's taking more force than it should to seat the bullet. To the point that the bullet is showing a very slight "ring" where the seating die pushes down on the bullet. I attached a couple of pictures. The pulled bullet has a good scar from the tight neck and then you can see the ring on the other bullet. Is it a FL sizing issue? Seating issue? I am not bumping shoulders on the virgin brass.

What's the story on the 1st 500-600 rounds, maybe the neck tension was not enough?
Your dealing with a comparative issue, one is not like the other. Can we get brass & bullet dimensions on the original loads? Based in your dimensions and pics, I don't see a problem. How do the new loads shoot?