40 cal Loading Issue 180 coated 401 dia

[denw]

I am having problems loading the 180's coated in 401 dia. I am guessing my bell is not correct but I have tried from knowing too much to too little and still have issues seating the bullets. Looks if I get close still scrap plating off and many times have problem case gauging but if I get first issue solved second probably will get solved. Loading on 550B only die not Dillon is the seating die is a Redding Professional. Including a picture of maybe where to go from.

Also thought I would mention if I measure the bell at top of case it is .427 if this might help not sure if I measure that what it should be close to.

Thanks for any input!

Edited May 26, 2016 by denw

[ParaGunner]

More bell/flare.

[denw]

Thanks I have been all over the more and less bell. I increased a little and seems to be pretty close now. I will try it more tomorrow.

Thanks

formally from Xenia, Oh

[Postal Bob]

What brand bullet? Did you measure the actual bullet's diameter? A friend had a problem with some 180 gr round nose coated bullets. They were oversized, and he had to send them back.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Postal Bob

[Aric]

Bell the case more. Make small adjustments. Too much belling will reduce case life.

[bamabound]

How much crimp is being applied? That would also keep a cartridge from case gauging.

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[Edge40]

Def increase the belling a tiny bit and check the crimp. I had the same issue with rounds not case gauging.. Tightened up my crimp and it almost completely solved the problem.

[Ray_Z]

Sorry guys, I disagree. Stop using those hi quality fancy dies and get yourself a set of Dillon dies. They are made for production loading. When I looked at your pictures I don't think you've got too much bell. I just got done loading 2500 40's and the bell looks the same on all of them. If you ain't shaving lead you ain't doing wrong. And you ain't wearing out your brass.

[jcc7x7]

Once you have the bell/flare set to were the bullet sits on the powder charged case well and doesn't shave coating off, your bell/ expander die is set.

Seat your bullet in the next station to desired depth, obviously has to fit in mags and OAL has to be short enough for chamber length

Seating depth will tend to go hand in hand with crimp amount to get bullet to "plunk" into chamber under its own weight

then keep turning your crimp die until your loaded round drops into your barrel chamber under its own weight while holding the barrel vertically.

(You can also do this to get a starting point with an empty case that has been flared/belled/expanded and dropping it into the chamber. It may require a slight push due to no weight from the bullet to help it in the chamber. But does away with the problem of the OAL being to long and stopping the loaded round from chambering.)

then another 1/8 of a turn for brass irregularities and you should have ammo that runs in your gun.

Your guns barrel is the most important case gauge you have IMO

[kamikaze1a]

Unless all of your brass are of uniform length your flare will be all over the place. The long brass will be flared more and short less. The simplest method would be to set the flare to the shortest length brass and just live with the long brass being flared excessively...

[chuckstur]

I had to ream my chamber gauge so the .401 bullets would fit.

[noylj]

1) I would increase the amount of bell

2) If you can't put the bullet on the case and have it remain square, you need either more bell, more case expansion, or both. When expansion and bell is correct, you can actually push the bullet very slightly into the case and you can turn the case upside down and the bullet will not fall out. Are you even using an expander, or just a case-mouth flare plug? Use a real PTE, PTX, or a real Dillon powder funnel for .40.

3) get a seating stem that matches the ogive of the bullet. Lee is great for this and charged me $12 last time I had a custom stem made. Next would be to get the Hornady New Dimension seating die as it has a sliding sleeve that keeps the bullet aligned so you won't have the problem (though you will still scrape lead if you don't use enough flare).

4) More inaccurate rounds have been produced by trying to minimize flare than cases destroyed from using too much flare.

[Boxer1]

Try the Lyman M-Die it works great for cast bullets.

[36873687]

More bell an try lee dies also.