Help- what am I doing wrong? Brass binding when bullet seating.

[A382DWDZQ]

I’m not convinced that it was the annealing softening the brass too much because that doesn’t seem like it would result in having to lean on the press to get it to seat. Are the calipers calibrated and verified? Do you have any other .308 projectiles that you could measure as a quick test? I just measured ten 175 LRXs and they were all dead on .308. I set the caliper to .3065 and locked them, and those bullets won’t fit through that. Could be you’re using a .333 bushing on an .3385 OD.

 

[Cahunter805]

Do you buy chance have any brand new brass? If so try seating a bullet and see what happens. The annealing looks much better now also. Those first cases looked like to much heat.

 

[Tuby27]

I’m not convinced that it was the annealing softening the brass too much because that doesn’t seem like it would result in having to lean on the press to get it to seat. Are the calipers calibrated and verified? Do you have any other .308 projectiles that you could measure as a quick test? I just measured ten 175 LRXs and they were all dead on .308. I set the caliper to .3065 and locked them, and those bullets won’t fit through that. Could be you’re using a .333 bushing on an .3385 OD.

Yes calipers are calibrated. No other projectiles since I live in Ca and have to use leadfree. It may just be my batch/lot but I’ve measured at least 5 and that’s what it’s showing.

 

[Tuby27]

Do you buy chance have any brand new brass? If so try seating a bullet and see what happens. The annealing looks much better now also. Those first cases looked like to much heat.

No other new brass available, but if you know where I can get some that aren’t about $2/each let me know. these are norma bondstrike rounds and reloaded and shot 1x.

the brass aren’t that dark after annealing, it’s the camera or background that makes it look dark.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Just out of curiosity why don't you just run them over an expander ball? Bushings are designed for turned brass, you'd be surprised but if the brass thickness varies by .0015" (and every lot I've ever measured has) you just went from your calculated .003" neck tension to potentially .006" neck tension. I expand everything even in my bushing dies because it guarantees consistent I.D./neck tension.

 

[Tuby27]

Just out of curiosity why don't you just run them over an expander ball? Bushings are designed for turned brass, you'd be surprised but if the brass thickness varies by .0015" (and every lot I've ever measured has) you just went from your calculated .003" neck tension to potentially .006" neck tension. I expand everything even in my bushing dies because it guarantees consistent I.D./neck tension.

still testing out things. First time trying out the bushing die, Research say to remove the expander ball if using bushing die, I was considering an expander mandrel but can’t get my head to understand it’s purpose when using a bushing, it’s basically the same concept as an expander ball except it expands the inside out instead of outside in. Correct me but if the bushing is to shrink the case neck, why use an expander to open it back up? Defeats the purpose of a bushing right? Unless, and I get that, it eliminates the imperfections in the necks like dents but if there’s none then why use one?

And since this is only for a hunting rig, I’m satisfied with 3-shot 1 MOA, factory rifle tikka t3x superlite. I was happy to get .371” 3shot group/100yrd with my handloads the way i did them

 

[deadwolf]

Using an expander really only overworks the neck, in my opinion, (others may feel differently)

The fired rounds will expand the case neck, then your neck bushing will take it back to the neck tension you desire to have, typically .002 (again other May feel differently).

Edit : Home from work now, so I can measure some ammo and brass for perspective. I have factory Hornady 300 PRC 225 ELDM.

A loaded round measured at the neck is .336”
so I personally would use a .334” bushing if using this hornady brass and a 225 eldm for my reloads.

A fired case of the same ammo is .340”
The inside of the fired case is .3085”
The expander in my Whidden die is .306”

I cannot think of why I would need to drag an expander through the neck.

My .02

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Harvey_NW]

Correct me but if the bushing is to shrink the case neck, why use an expander to open it back up? Defeats the purpose of a bushing right? Unless, and I get that, it eliminates the imperfections in the necks like dents but if there’s none then why use one?

Concentricity and consistent tension. As I said, bushing dies only work correctly if you neck turn. On unturned brass your neck thickness can vary by up to .002", so if you squeeze down a neck based on O.D. and the thickness varies .0015" between 2 given opposing points, is the I.D. going to result in a perfect undersized circle? Negative. I beg to differ that expanding overworks brass, especially if you're using custom bushings to only undersize .002/3", and expand back out. If you want to see drastic brass work measure how much a standard die undersizes your neck before expanding. Annealing negates it anyways.

 

[A382DWDZQ]

I think it is really odd that the projectile is measuring at .3065". I would think that those are not going to be very accurate, depending on what your barrel is at, and then if you do get some that are .308, you're going to need to rework your load. It also doesn't make sense that a bullet on the small end of the SAAMI spec would be difficult to seat, should be easier if anything.

 

[A382DWDZQ]

Also, I couldn't find anything on tolerances for Barnes, but for GS Customs, their QC is .0002, so these are way outside that. When you calibrated the calipers, was it with a test block/rod? Also, did you double check without the OAL gauge on there, measuring below the first gas check?

 

[N.AmericanTrophyHunts]

Exact same thing happened to me with my hornady seating die. I had the die spun way too far down. There was still quite a bit of room left for my ram to raise and crushed me brass like that.