I have been having problems with my cases bulging after seating the slug. It has happened with Sierra and Berry's. I have no problem firing these rounds thru my stock M20 barrel, but I have feed problems with my LWD barrel.

Flare your case out just a tad more and if you have to you can use some Mica to smooth the entry. Typically all it takes is just a tad more flare and that's, on most dies, simply cranking it down a little.

Tj

Banshee,

are you properly RESIZING your brass?

If your brass is properly resized, and the case head is slightly beveled (just enough to let you seat the bullet in there)...then all should be OK.

But if you are beveling the head correctly (the bullet is seating in there fine), and it is still bulging - then I am assuming that the brass is not properly sized.

That, or you are using the wrong sized bullets.

Hmmm...another thing came to mind. Where is the bulging occuring? At the head, where the bullet is seated? Or at the base, nearest the primer?

Coated dies (like Dillons), or slight lubrication of the brass before loading will also help immensly.

Also check your dies to make sure they are clean. Sometimes lubricant will build-up in them, or tumbling media will also get stuck in there.

It could also be that your brass is not properly getting seated in your shell plate, and the dies are coming down (not in line with your brass) and crunching them.

Let us know.

In Christ: Raymond

This post has been edited by RaymondMillbrae: May 1st 2009 12:14 AM

BTW, Just as FYI. Most bulging issues I've run across has been with nickel casings for some reason. Its also quite prevalent in longer pistol cartridges, my .44 mag is my problem child. Lead bullets also compound the problem. I find more and more as I load potential problem cases or calibers, I have to adjust that flare for every different bullet type. Both the bullet OD Raymond mentioned and the texture of the bullet changes from brand to brand and bullet type to bullet type.

A little thing I've noticed is when you do have the potential, you also greatly reduce it by making sure your bullet is as centered as you can get it and not cocked to one side relying on the die to center it. Do your seat with a nice even pull also seems to help.

Tj

banshee, Things that come to mind are...

Seating and crimping in the same step causes the brass to start crimping as the bullet is still being seated. This can lead to bullet material being shaved off and rolling up inbetween the bullet an casing or at the casing's mouth(this is more prevelent with cast alloy and plated bullets), sometimes the brass will wrinkle up some and bulge. If the bullet is being damaged while being seated accuracy will suffer.

How can this be fixed, cases need just enough flair to allow bullet to start into the casing's mouth, bullets can be seated to depth without any crimp being applied during this process(to do this you need to adjust the seater/crimp die upward, I use spacers under the locking ring) , after the bullet is seated to the proper depth re-adjust the seater crimp die to taper crimp and seating stem upward. Now taper crimp to finish.

Some people will also use the LEE Factory Crimp die in the final step.

This will make for more uniform rounds which should feed 100% in even the tightest barrels or cartridge gauge.

best of luck!

Like the Shadow, I advocate seating and crimping in separate steps. I think the finished product just looks sharper. Plus, it is very hard to get a consistently tight crimp when seating and crimping together. If you adjust your crimp tight, you get shaved bullets and in some cases bulged cases. If you crimp a little looser, then you have the occasional round that needs more crimp. I also experience more variance in overall length.

It takes about 15% longer to accomplish the second step on a single stage press. One of these days I may get into a nice progressive, and then I will have the best of both worlds. Until then, I will take a little longer.