head separation ring on brass?

[ghostmoney]

I noticed I have a ring on some of my 2x fired lapua brass. I checked inside the case with paper clip and I don't feel anything. What would cause this?
Normal brass

brass with ring

 

[rayporter]

normal case stretch on the first firing is the cause. if you over size it will grow until you can feel the notch inside with a paper clip.

if cases are properly sized it will remain about like that.

 

[diyhntr]

I agree. Set your dies so they set the shoulder back just enough for the case to chamber easily. Using this method I have Winchester brass that I’ve fired numerous times.

 

[BuckSnort]

Looks like normal sizing marks to me but always good to check inside like you did with a paper clip.. I think most handloaders oversize their brass.. Jeff Brozovich has a good video on seting up dies for proper sizing, I'll attach the video...

 

[ghostmoney]

The brass was not yet resized in the photos. I measured with a bump gauge these 2x fired brass and came up with 2.331 so I reset my die to bump .002. I measured a few peices of 1x fired and all of them were around 2.327 so looks like it is taking two firings to fully form, which explains why I couldn't figure out how much I was bumping the shoulder back with the 1x fired.

After resizing the line is hardly noticeable

 

[deerkiller]

buy the set of 5 competition shell holders from Redding and use as instructed AFTER properly setting up your sizing die

 

[Ndbowhunter]

You’d be smart to only bump shoulder 2 thou

That said that belted look isn’t from over sizing.

 

[deerkiller]

You’d be smart to only bump shoulder 2 thou

That said that belted look isn’t from over sizing.

I'd say just sizing, not "over sizing" but full length

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Can’t be,

All my brass looks like that.. haven’t touched a full length due sizer in years for bolt guns.

Now that I look Lapua brass does have a more noticeable stepped/belted look tho. Less then a thousands on the Hornady, right at 1 thou with the Lapua. My guess the hardnss of the Lapua case webbing is due in part

Hornady on left, Lapua on right.

 

[ghostmoney]

buy the set of 5 competition shell holders from Redding and use as instructed AFTER properly setting up your sizing die

Yup have those already and now that my brass has stretched enough I can actually set the amount of bump. All of the 1x fired brass is .005 under chamber dimension.

 

[rayporter]

you are on the right track.

it always takes 2 to 3 full power loads to get brass to fit your chamber. until then it does not pay to bump-in fact it hurts.

if it makes you feel good use the redding shell holders, however they are not needed. I don't know a single shooter in competition that has ever used them in benchrest competition.

 

[deerkiller]

you are on the right track.

it always takes 2 to 3 full power loads to get brass to fit your chamber. until then it does not pay to bump-in fact it hurts.

if it makes you feel good use the redding shell holders, however they are not needed. I don't know a single shooter in competition that has ever used them in benchrest competition.

don't benchrest shooters normally use very specifically made dies and often don't really "size" the brass as well ?

 

[Staton_cole]

don't benchrest shooters normally use very specifically made dies and often don't really "size" the brass as well ?

I’m no BR shooter but I was under the impression most FL sized exclusively.

 

[rayporter]

benchrest shooters do frequently use custom dies, in fact many have a special small base die with no shoulder in it to size the base only after very very hot loads. the case is ran through a full length die after small base sizing. so the cases must be, lets say aggressively FL sized, after hot loads.

when doing this the shoulder of the case is never set back more than .001 and usually less.