what's going on here?

jLorenzo

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 20, 2017
1,454
355
Getting some rounds coming out like this. Do I have the seating die tightened down too much creating a crimp like situation? I'm new to reloading and I've just set the die up by loading a long round then adjusting down until they fit/feed from my mag. Also switched from a VLD champher tool to the standard RCBS, wonder if I'm champhering too much, I know you don't want a razor edge. Just a kiss on each tool. Using RCBS case prep center. Also using RCBS FL die and seating die. This doesn't look like it's conducive to accurate ammo.
7039834
7039835
7039836
 
I'll go out on a limb, first, I'd shoot them to find out if they fall in with other loaded rds. You could back the seat die out some and screw the stem down, and see it if it still happens.
But I really think those cases got tilted while using that deburr tool in the trim mate. Inspect some pcs that have not been loaded yet.
Sorry but that deburr tool is all but useless, takes so much force to work, it deforms case mouths. If brass needs both chamfer and deburr, I'd try find some type of 3 way trimmer.
 
I'll agree with Milo, Shoot the ammo. I believe you won't see any accuracy fall off. I have the same RCBS unit and it takes some force to get the cases deburred. It's easy to get the chamfers cockeyed. Takes some use to learn to do it right. I use a Giraud most of the time, which deburrs much better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jLorenzo
How much neck tension do you have, and how much do you want? i think fixing that will solve it. The seating die just pushes the bullet . the size of the hole is the problem.
 
One thing you might try to help figure it out is measuring neck thickness for uniformity. If one side is thinner it will be weaker. The brass itself might direct the tool a specific direction and result in a non uniform cut. If I'm loading for accuracy I will (at a minimum) sort my brass and decide if I want to trim/uniform the necks.

221 Fireball, 223 Remington, 25-06 and 7mm Rem Mag are the bottleneck cases I load for. Of these I make my own brass for 221 Fireball and 25-06 from larger parent cases and I prefer military brass because it is typically a bit thicker. I make 221 from 223 and 25-06 from 30-06. The necks need to be turned on both and I get very uniform neck thickness and very uniform tension. A mild chamfer on the neck with a standard deburring tool is all that is needed.

For 223 all I can do is sort brass for my bolt gun and I do see a difference in accuracy. Same with 7mm Rem MAg.

Annealing really helps extend brass life as does finding an accuracy node under max powder charge weight.
 
It does seem that the tools aren't spinning 100% concentrically, I backed off the main part of the die (not the seating stem) which is the part I assume controls how much neck tension there is? Sorry still new to reloading and figuring things out. I'll take a video of my prep station running when I get a chance. I've shot rounds like that before. Hard to say if it's effecting accuracy or not. Gun shoots most anything pretty damn well. Just looks likes somethings wrong with the jacket looking like that at the neck.