Sparky_NY

That ejector drives me nuts too.... I have the lee FCD die in the last station. I thinned the Lee die in the area of the ejector wire so the wire could remain closer to the factory bend. It still works like crap. After loading (and getting aggrivated) I studies the ejector system for a while. I agree the main problem is the wire pushes against the side of the case which is what makes it bind. It would be far better if it was a push motion against the rear or the case. My old lee loadmaster has a sheet metal flat ejector that works flawlessly, studying it this is where I noticed it pushes against the rear of the case. Guys.... lets keep this thread going and see if we can whip this problem. I also arrived at the conclusion that a complete redesign was the real solution. I am going to call hornady today and see if anything is in the works (doubtfull). How about a home brew redesign? (PS I do .40 with the lee FCD die in last station)

Don't all Glock fired brass leave the distinctive firing pin impression, looks like a ! shape rather than round? All the Glock brass I have seen is easy to spot by just looking at the primer impression. I am no expert though.... there may be aftermarket "trick" firing pins for the Glock that don't leave the telltale mark. I believe the flood of .40 Glock brass on the market is Police stuff and those guns would be unmodified anyways. Curious... Do all Glocks leave the ! shaped firing pin impression?

Just read your question and BerKim's reply... that reply is assuming you are talking about brass fired in a Glock. You mention concern about case buldges and that leads to the assumption you are talking about Glock brass. The low case buldge is something that is related to brass fired in a Glock pistol, it does not happen in other guns. Glock brass buldges are a well known problem and often causes chambering problems like your concerned about. So if you are talking about once fired GLOCK brass then BerKim's reply is right on the money. If its not Glock brass then there is no worry. If your not sure then ASK.... the Glock brass is very common in the market. I'd pay less for Glock brass, more for non-Glock because of the extra problems and costs for special dies etc. to eliminate the buldge. I just went through the problem with Glock buldged brass, it can be worked around but its a real pain.

I found out why so many different dimensions are found for .40 case diameter. Case gauges, reload manual data, size die, Fee FCD, factory ammo, ALL different diameters! I ordered a die from lee yesterday and spoke to one of their tech guys. SAAMI specs are constantly mentioned (.424) BUT the tolerance is almost never mentioned. Per the Lee tech, Case Diameter SAAMI spec,,,,, +0 -.008 Chamber Diameter -0 +.008 That explains it!!!!! Makes sense! Case gauges are usually .001 under max Cartridges "try" to run -.003 under max (about middle of the range) LEE FCD about middle of the range (.421) My STI chamber +.0005 Worst case Loose tolerances for barrel and cartridge .016 cartridge-barrel clearance Everyone talks about SAAMI specs, but never mentions the tolerance that goes with the spec!

Bingo... just what I have in mind.... I guess this is referred to as "push thru" sizing sometimes.

Not being familiar with the Hornady (specifcally the shellplate holder) I wonder if this may be what is preventing your trimmed Lee-U die from sizing down further on the case over a Dillon shellplate holder and thereby leaving some of the "guppy". Very possible.... Looking at the loaded rounds, you can see the die sizes all but about .075 directly above the extractor groove. (the .075 is a eyeball guess) Your correct is assuming its the shellplate that is the limiting factor on how low you can go. It would be nice to "get it all" and thats why I am trying the "push thru" die method. The method seems to work nicely, its just a matter now of deciding on a size that is as close to factory as possible yet allows the rounds to be pushed thru without a 40 ton press! LOL I am leaning towards .422 , small enough, allows a .001 "spring back" and still be at .423 worst case. I'll run all the brass through one time, to "de-glock" them, then through the normal reloading process. Sort of converting them to once fired, non-glock brass.

I use a lee FCD and sizing die in the normal progressive reloading operation. Those dies have been lathe trimmed to allow the carbide ring to just kiss the shell plate. It DOES get rid of MOST of the problems. As I have read here in the forum, the EGW die is quite similar to the lee except the taper on the bottom trimmed off so the carbide ring goes lower on the casing. I did the same thing, the only limiting factor now is the thickness of the shell plate. Thinking more, I overstated the problem.... its probably more like 1 or 2 failure to fully chambers in 700-800. That was before I full lengh push-through sized. I believe they would be 100% now. I just want to go a tad smaller so I can case gauge them also. I am presently getting the glock buldge (.430 typical, .432 rare) down to .4245 at the buldge area BEFORE running them through the progressive where they size down in the normal process.

What you want to watch for here is that you need the case wall tight enough to hold the bullet (don't count on crimp to hold the bullet, use the case wall). If you go too big, you lose the holding power...you lose insurance...the bullet can set-back to a shorter OAL upon chambering...then boom. Hornady One-Shot Case Lube ought to take a lot of effort out of the press. The de-glock sizing is before running them through the normal progressive reloading process. I mentioned that. They get sized much further down there with the normal sizing die. I always use One-shot just for good measure, makes the press run a little easier. I quite often use Glocked (once fired) and Smithed (once fired) LE brass for reloading .40. On a 1050 (older RL) set up with a Lee U die (from EGW) as the sizing die (adjusted to within .005" with a feeler gauge to the shellplate holder) and have never had a loaded round fail a case gage or fail to chamber that did not have a case rim defect/burr. On initial loading of the once fired Glocked/Smithed guppied brass the press works harder to resize, but once loaded and fired (STI barreled Edge/Eagle) subsequent reloading requires much less effort to re-size. Some questions What press? Hornady LnL progressive How far down to the shellplate does you sizing die run? Just kisses it.... Both size/decap die & FCD are lathe trimmed right up to carbide ring OAL? 1.182 Crimp DIA? .417 Bullet profile/Type? MG 180 HP Thinking more... I probably get 1 or 2 Fail to fully chamber in maybe 700-800.... In past, process very similar to yours.. Pre sizing full length one time should eliminate that. I was wondering what diameter the magma sized down to... think you answered that .419-.420. What happens if you get a case with a larger rim, say .423. does it shear off the rim? I am doing pretty much the same process, pushing the case through a die completely. The press does run a lot nicer with the cases pre-sized.

Now that info helped! Thanks! It appears the problem is the .424 max case rim dimension.... that is no doubt why the occasional round won't push through the die. NORMAL case rims are much smaller. I can see that using ANY push through die, the limiting factor will be the case rim size. Unfortunately, the "glock buldge" is right up next the the rim. Try to size the buldge under .424 and the occasional max-size rim will stop the case from going through the die. Cases with a .424 rim seem to be few and far between... most are well under that... closer to .420 Still... .424 rims are in the mix and will lock the press right up if I try to use the standard .420-.421 lee carbide die pushing them all the way through. Makes sense..... Think I have the answer for ME...... My case gauge is .423..... Put the empty cases in backwards.... junk the ones that don't fit.... (only a very few). Now I know all case rims are .423 or under. THEN..... push them through a .423 carbide die... gets rid of "glock buldge" The cases will then be .423 all the way down and function fine in my gun. I can check them with the case gauge. I then run them through the normal reloading process which resizes them again, small enough to hold the bullet tight. The "glock buldge" is below my chamber size and the gauge size also, so I can check loaded rounds without problem. As mentioned... the glock buldges average around .430, just sizing them in the press during reloading gives me 1 or 2 in 300-400 that don't chamber all the way. I have the sizing dies trimmed on the bottom to go as close to the shell plate as possible. I saved and measured the ones that jammed the gun.... about .432 at the buldge. I had NOT previously push-through sized the cases when experiencing the problems. Using the info provided, and push-through sizing the case should make the ammo run 100% They will probably end up around .424 at the glock buldge but that should be fine for my gun..... Which is what ultimately counts! LOL Thanks again for the info.....

Search here for casemaseter jr. only turned up this thread.... The website however was quite interesting.... That is pretty much what I am doing, except for upside down using a old press I had around and a die.

I have been using some glock fired brass for my STI edge in 40 S&W. I resize as low as possible using a lee die trimmed on the bottom to go down lower. I get about 1 or 2 in every 300 or so that fails to chamber completely. I am going to full lengh size the brass by pushing it completely through a lee die and out the other side. Question is.... what size is right for the OD of the brass????? The standard lee carbide crimp die sizes to .420 The lee sizing/decapping die sizes to .419 The couple of reloading manuals I looked at show the OD max dimension to be .424 The chamber in my STI edge measures .4245 The case gauge I have measures .423 Factory rounds seem to be around .418-.419 Pick a number... any number! LOL I am thinking of ordering a oversize lee carbide crimp die at .422 or .423 At that size the rounds can be checked in the gauge and will fit the barrel easily. I tried the standard .420 die which would be nice BUT takes way too much effort, enough to worry about breaking the press! A little bigger (.422 or .423) would eliminate the problem and be a LOT easier to do. What is the correct size? Its hard to believe the reloading manuals show .424 , seems way to large.

Update... Got it running 100% do far ( couple hundred rounds) and on all 5 magazines. I talked to Bevan Gram and he suggested it was probably not the mags, more likely the feedramp cut wrong. I know Utili-match barrels are commonly used right out of the box without ramp mods so I took the advise with a grain of salt. Well, after working the mags, mostly setting the feedlips, all 5 mags feed fine now. The nose up attitude is the key. My mags were .382 and the STI spec is .393-.395. I did the feedlips slightly different than the normal however, concentrating on opening the forward area only to .395. This helped the nose up attitude considerably and thus the feed issue. The mags are STI 140mm tubes, grams springs/followers, dawson +1 basepads. All 5 mags will hold 20 but far too hard to reload, 19 reloads easily. I loaded up some dummy rounds for testing and slowly hand cycled them for feeding, when the mags are set right they will slide right in when slowly bringing the slide up to touching the cartridge rim, then releasing. Next... I would love to find out the required mag dimensions to hold 20 reloadable. Reading discovered the common problem is undersize mags from the factory. I could slide over to my milling machine and make a swaging tool to expand the mag bodies out slightly. Someday.... If I find the dimensions required...

Update: I tried both factory federal flat point 180 gr and reloaded 180gr flat point winchesters, 4.6 titegroup, OAL at 1.200. Reloads will be the norm for the gun. I bought a hornady LNL progressive to replace my lee loadmaster at the same time as the gun. Only loaded a hundred rounds at first with no problems. I polished the feedramp and breechface. The ramp was pretty good to begin with, the breechface good but not great. I shortened the ejector slightly and rounded the bottom corner after comparing to a friends edge. The extractor seems to function 100%, besides the FTF is happening before the round is forward in the mag and reaching the extractor. Back to range and retried. There was a improvement but only slight, at first all seemed good but after about 30 rounds the problem came back. I believe the temporary improvement was the polishing and the return of problems came after the gun got a little powder residue in place. I would say the polishing helped but masked the real problem. I did notice that the mags are not placing the round in a nose up attitude at all times. I now think that may me the issue. The mags (2) with the new grams followers/springs are the worst offenders, the stock mags (3) much better. I read everything I could find on this site concerning mags and tuning but failed to find a good explanation of just what causes the nose up attitude of the rounds. It does not seem the lip dimension would change the angle, only the height the rounds set in the mag, am I wrong? I would think the primary factor in the nose up attitude would be the follower and spring. So far I have only loaded 5 rounds at a time per mag, so tuning for high round count functioning has not come into the picture. (yet). I plan on giving Bevan a call at Gram's for help considering the mags with his springs/followers newly installed seem to be the worst offenders.

Think you misread something, its the ejector I think is causing the problem (not the extractor) also, the round isn't getting up the breechface far enough to get to the extractor yet. Rounds eject just fine every time. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I moved up to a STI edge in .40 this week after shooting my kimber 45 in limited 10 for a couple years. The gun was bought used through USPSA classifieds, without mags. I bought 5 nearly new 140 mags two of which I put in grams spring/followers and +1 basepads, the others are stock STI 140's. I tried the gun yesterday for the first time and love it EXCEPT I had feed problems. I only loaded 5 rounds each time, tried all 5 mags and each did the same. After a shot or two, the slide stayed back (not locked back), looking inside I found the round just starting up the breechface and aparently up against the underside of the ejector. This is a long ejector, squared end. Pulling the slide back and dropping it again wouldn't help. Pressing the mag release WOULD allow the round to continue and feed. All 5 mags showed the same problem so I tend to think its not the mags. Rounds are 180g flat points loaded to 2.0" )also tried factory loads, same problem. My first guess is the ejector is too long and getting in the way. With a mag in the gun it looks like the round actually touches the ejector underside. I searched the web and found a Brazo's tech article showing the bottom edge of the ejector rounded so as not to touch the ammo in the mag. I am tempted to shorten the ejector by just under a 1/8, round the bottom edge and think that would solve the problem. The ejector is over a 1/4 longer than the one in my Kimber. Any suggestions?