reloading troubles

[hunthard]

So, Im new to reloading as in I just loaded my first bullets today. I have a Hornady classic press and I am loading for 300 win mag. I do have a friend that has some experience loading but his only experience is with RCBS equipment, that he describes as much different. My problem is when Im seating the bullet there doesn't seem to be a positive stopping point even after setting the depth on the die. I had 40 rounds I was trying to load and had 13 of those that I caved in the neck on. Seems to me like the throat of the case is a little tight. Hoping someone with some more experience will help out here, thanks in advance.

 

[bullsbucksnducks]

Before seating your bullets did you trim the cases to max length or ten thousands under max length. All brands of presses should be pretty much the same once you set your dies. It sounds to me like the case length is a little long if you set up your dies to Hornady specs. A good book to get a hold of for all the measurements you need and loads that are great guidelines is Hornady's Handbook of Cartridge Reloading, Seventh Edition.

 

[fire arrow]

Ok this happens to me when I started with 5.56. Did you chamfer the inside of the neck? Using the chamfer and deburring tool? When I was not using this tool , and about every third of fourth bullet I tried to seat just destroyed the case neck. The bullet was not able to begin seating properly, it would just hang up, and then deform the neck as I pushed hard.

If you are using this tool, and your cases are not beyond max length, take apart your seating die and clean it good with a can of parts cleaner from an auto parts store. There might be some gunk at the tip of the seater that is gettin the bullet off axis.

One other thing it could be is how far down you have the die its self in the press. When setting up your die take a resized case and put it in shell holder. Then raise the ram all the way up. Next screw your seating die all the way down until you feel it just touch the top of your case, then back off a 1/4 turn. This prevents a crimp. O ya, your seating plunger should be backed off so it doesn't interfere with setting up the die. Then readjust the seating plunger to set your seating depth.

Try these steps and get back to us. Good luck

 

[pyroducksx3]

Hard to tell what your actual problem without knowing your process but the stopping point should always be the bottom of your stroke of the press. Lets start making a dummy round. Deciding your actual cartridge lenght is best done with hornady OAL tool and micrometer and proper caliber collets, which we can go into if you want but I'll hold off on that. Dummy round, start with the proper shell holder in the die and an empty prepped case. Start with the seating die screwed way out!!! Try seating a bullet with a full stroke of the press, you should barely press the bullet in. Now repeat the steps as you slowly screw the seating die down and recheck your seating depth after every adjustment until you reach your desired seating depth now screw the collar down and tighten the lock screw and you should be good. In my tikka the magazine length is my limiting factor, without measuring with the hornady tool you wont really know but some say if its too long you will see a ring where the bullet contacts the lands, if have trouble seeing it but... If its hard to chamber that would be a sign also. As stated in the other post prep your brass properly, including trimming. A lee trimmer is a cheap and easy way (not my favorite but will get you trimming) to get started, it can attach to a drill and make trimming possible if you aren't ready to invest in a actual trimmer.

 

[shaun]

I use rcbs but I am sure it would be same issues for each. If your die is screwed in press to far it will do it. Rule of thumb put brass in press without bullet raise it than screw die on until you feel it hit neck than back it off quarter to half turn and seat it. Than go ahead with your reloading from there. Also other issues include chamfering inside of casing etc. Just helpful ideas I learned when I started

 

[RosinBag]

The above posts have answered the question. Follow their guidelines and your problem will be solved.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Yep, the die is seated too deeply in the press.

 

[BuckSnort]

The above post's have answered your question I would just like to add that crimping is not necessary unless you're loading for a tubular magazine..

 

[thru-hunter]

I crimp my mag fed auto loaders and 30-30 lever with a lee collet crimp die... On another note, I also recently started reloading and if you fished around in my reloading room trash can you would find some stubby looking cases with the necks smushed in. Follow the advice above and you will get it sorted.

Not all the info on YouTube is gold but with a boot bit of reading and watching you can filter through and find some good stuff.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=5NZkIqfwZDQ&desktop_uri=/watch?v=5NZkIqfwZDQ

 

[fire arrow]

Everyone kills cases when they start, and everyone makes mistakes. My first time reloading for my 300 I used my internal mag length as my max OAL. Lets just say my Bergers were well seated into the lands. You can never read to much or watch "helpful videos" when you start out.

 

[Shrek]

Even after years of reloading you will still make mistakes. Yesterday I took a box of my reloads to sight in a rifle I bedded. I was in the shade but didn't notice the bullets were not. First shot blew the primer into the action and jammed it . I beat the bolt handle off my 700 getting it free. My smith is soldering it back on today. I took a neck die and srewed it down like a full lenght sizer this summer and put a case in and just smashed it. Sometimes ,even after years of loading , you forget what you are doing. If you follow the earlier advise you will be fine. +1 on the youtube vids.

 

[Shrek]

Also , IMO the hornady reloading equipment is the worst. I have a bunch of it that I could not sell in good concience. The dies have been the roughest and the camlock trimmer is a terrible design. I hope they do not try to improve the stoney point guages they purchased. I use a lot of the bullets but the tools are second class. You can't get better than the cheap lee dies until you get into forster or redding comp dies. IMO the forster bullet seater and a lee collet neck die are the best combo.

 

[shaun]

Everyone kills cases when they start, and everyone makes mistakes. My first time reloading for my 300 I used my internal mag length as my max OAL. Lets just say my Bergers were well seated into the lands. You can never read to much or watch "helpful videos" when you start out.

Well Said on the Videos or reading. I also had a similar situation with OAL on my 300 WSM. Only advise I can give on that is go one step at a time and dont get ahead of yourself thats when you make mistakes. They happen also more than you think. I remember I missed a whole row (5) bullets with primers and diddnt even notice till I was at the range. All goes back to not gettin ahead of myself

 

[MOHunter]

Die too deep

How many guys can say? I agree with the others.

At this stage don't get too caught up in brands and details. For somebody looking to save some money and get a little better accuracy (like myself), just about any of the equipment will work just fine. It's more about making sure you have the process down correctly.

 

[wapitibob]

David Tubbs has a nice little reloading video at Wholesale sports and probably at sportsmans.

 

[hunthard]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will check the die depth and see how that helps. Another question, I didn't trim the cases because they were within max length tolerances, do I still need to be chamffering the case if I don't trim?

 

[Shrek]

Yes you do need to chamfer the case mouth of new cases. Buy a vld reamer as many of the best new bullets need it. I trim and chamfer all new cases to a uniform lenght and deburr the flash hole. After you have sized , trimmed , chamfered and deburred you should weight sort the brass. Recent winchester brass has been terrible so avoid it. Three out of 50 of the last bag wouldn't fit in the shell holder and almost all had oval primer flash holes.

 

[Shrek]

I threw out that I thought hornady made poor reloading tools without any support so... The problem with the camlock trimmer or problems. The trimmer uses a shell holder and a rod that pushes the case forward against the top of the holder. Top of the case rim against top insids of shell holder. This means the case lenght is cut from top of case rim to mouth not base to mouth. Case lenght over all varies with rim thickness. On remchester brass rim thickness varies within lot up to five thousanths. Ther is no way to trim for overall lenght with the trimmer. The rod that pushes the case forward is slightly beveled to center it in the primer pocket. As many cases have out of round or slightly off center primer pockets it cants the case slightly when it is tight and causes angled case mouths. The shell holder is loose very time you change cases and drifts around so you have to bring it back to the same place each time . All in all the case holding design is a disaster. On the cutting end the steel shaft has mill rings the lenght of it and slides through the cast iron base that has mill rings in it. The milling makes a zipper vibration as you slide it back and forth. After about 150 casez this is less as the mill marks have worn each other down. As it wears it is also getting play in it.

 

[Shrek]

On to hornady dies. I own two set of horady dies and both suffer from poor polishing. The first set is in 7mm-08. These are the first dies I ever purchased and had nothing to compare them to so I used them for close to a year before I dicovered how bad they were. The dies were very rough when I got them. They would chatter and grunt when I sized brass. I thought I needed to lube them more. I lubed them to the point that I had lube dents in my cases. They got beyter with time as the mill marks filled with brass they sraped from my cases. The bullet seater is no better. The bullet guide will stick in the top of the seater often. I cleaned it over and over. Tried dry , lubed with light oil , lubed with case lube , lubed with graphite. Still sticks due to mill marks and slop. Got to use it dry and give it a light tap after each bullet you seat. I also purchased a mircometer stem for the seater. Due to thread lash it does on adjust smoothly. Sometimes when you adjust it a few thousanths it will not move the bullet then when you add another thousanth it may move three. You have to back it up about a half turn then back down to the depth you want. Mostly right then but not always. I have most other brands now and all have worked fine. The lee dies are the least expensive but are the best of the moderately priced brands so I buy them for most loads. The forster bullet seater is the best I have used. Very little runout and the micrometer adjustments are right on . Three to six thousanth runout with the hornady seating die , less than two with the lee and under one thousanth run out with the forster seating die. My personal experience lead me to say hornady make poor tools. I like their bullets though. I use a co-ax press and a wilson trimmer these days. Lee and forster dies. I hope this saves someone some money.

 

[hunthard]

Ok I did adjust the die depth and that seemed to do the trick, rookie mistake. Daveinjax, I have had a rough time with the sizing/depriming die, it's just as you said rough and chattery, its actually a lot of work My buddie told me that I should buy RCBS dies, his Dad reloads and had nothing good to say about Hornady either. Anyone else experience problems with Hornady