Worn out Sizing die again?

[goat68]

I seem to be doing something wrong, but I can't put my finger on it. I'm on my third resizing die for 40 S&W. I first wore through a Hornady new dimension die after about 1000 rounds. I then got an RCBS die and wore through it after about 1000 rounds. In the mean time, I sent off the Hornady die to be warrantied and wore through it after about 1000 rounds. I know the Hornady was out of spec because they sent me a new one.

I know it's worn out because I can push in the seated crimped bullets with my fingers.

I clean the cases in a mixture of walnut and corn media in a standard dillon vibratory case cleaner. I use dillion case cleaner (the blue stuff). I even started lubing the cases( the last 1000 were lubed prior to sizing).

I've been shooting a stock glock barrel.

What should I expect the average life of a resizing die be?

One new thing I'm doing is running everything through a G-rx die.

[GrumpyOne]

Are they carbide or steel dies? What press are you using? I'm not familiar with either RCBS or Hornady as I use Dillon dies. I have, at last count, somehwere around 30,000 through my Dillon carbide resizing die and it's still doing it's job perfectly.

[GISMap]

You aren't wearing out the die, the cases are work hardened and either need to be stress relieved or tossed. I have 20k rounds through my RCBS Carbide dies (they only make Carbide in .40) with zero problems. Even shooting steel cased ammo wouldn't wear out a carbide die.

[Sarge]

Same here, but only 8K on mine so far. I don't think you are wearing out your die. Something else is askew. Is the sizer all the way down touching the shell plate? Are you belling too much? Is the crimp correct? Do you have the problem with all brands of brass? Have you switched bullets recently? Did you MIC them to make sure they are good?

The list of possibilites is long but a worn out die ain't on it.

[GISMap]

My other thought is that you are belling the cases way too much, I bell just enough to turn the mouth out and that is it. My crimp is pretty solid, I've never had a round sink into the case even smacking the feed ramp pretty hard. Lead bullets and off brand jacketed bullets could also be undersize, although that is rarely the issue.

[Joe4d]

You wouldnt by chance be using WestCoast, Extreme or some other copper plated bullets are you ?

[DougCarden]

Sounds like plated bullets and overcrimping...what does the case mouth mike at when resized?

DougC

[CocoBolo]

Sounds like plated bullets and overcrimping...what does the case mouth mike at when resized?

DougC

Crap I must have the Hornady Super Die, I've loaded >30,000 rounds and not a hint of ware on it. I don't lube and I don't do much cleaning either. I run all mine thru a GRX as well.

I think a Caliper is in order to find out what is going on. Run a piece of brass thru the sizing die then compare that measurements to the book for spec. If its out of demension then it is the sizing die.

Now if you can drop a bullet in it without any flare and it disappers down in the brass well that is definately a problem and I would get that caliper out an measure the bullet first.

Edited March 14, 2010 by CocoBolo

[ebg3]

I've never heard of wearing out a sizing die(not saying it's not possible). I've been using a set of Dillon .40S&W dies since 1997 and they still seem to work for me. Hard to say how many cases have been through those dies, has to be over 250,000. I have a set of Redding .40S&W dies in a Dillon upper with a lot of use and they work fine too. I have run into some sorry brass that allowed bullets to be pushed in after sizing, but it was definately the brass' fault not the die. Hope you can sort it all out.

[Flexmoney]

Highly unlikely that you have worn through 3 dies, from 2 manufacturers. Not in about 1k round each. Something must be going on.

I know it's worn out because I can push in the seated crimped bullets with my fingers.

I don't know if that is a good tell.

I'd think you'd be ahead to take some measurements with your calipers.

Size some brass. take some inside diameter readings. Get a good sample of bullets, measure them. See what is coming up in the data.

[goat68]

I checked my Montana Gold bullets and they mic'd at .400

Resized some once fired brass (first through G-RX) and the outside measured .420 and the inside measured .395

I backed out the flaring die and crimp/seat die.

VIOLA!!!

The bullets now stay put. I will slowly add some crimp again.

Thanks for the ideas. I was skeptical of the worn out die myself becasue when I looked at the working portion of the die with a 10x magifier, there were no signs of wear.

[G-ManBart]

The bullets now stay put. I will slowly add some crimp again.

.420" is a good outside diameter right at the case mouth...should work fine in most any gun. R,

[DWFAN]

I checked my Montana Gold bullets and they mic'd at .400

Resized some once fired brass (first through G-RX) and the outside measured .420 and the inside measured .395

I backed out the flaring die and crimp/seat die.

VIOLA!!!

The bullets now stay put. I will slowly add some crimp again.

Thanks for the ideas. I was skeptical of the worn out die myself becasue when I looked at the working portion of the die with a 10x magifier, there were no signs of wear.

I had the same issues in 9mm and still havent figured it out except to FC, PMC, Blazer, CBC brass are the only ones I still have an issue with, and even then only half the time. Double check that the issue is fixed and report back. All my brass and bullets come out to spec, but I still get some set back.

Edited March 15, 2010 by DWFAN

[goat68]

I'm working through some once fired winchester NT brass so it may be a little bit before I get this figured out for sure. Got to swage the primer pockets... Reminds me of reloading rifle...

[Bob DuBois]

Do you lube the cases before sizing? Carbide die should last a long time.

[GISMap]

You don't lube cases with Carbide dies. I do occasionally lightly lube every 5th case when loading 45 Colt and 44 Mag just to make things a little easier.

[Sarge]

You don't lube cases with Carbide dies.

"You don't need to lube cases with carbide dies", would be more accurate. Lots of people lube cases with carbide dies. Lots and lots.

[John Heiter]

One Shot is my Friend.

[earlbob]

Lubing with one shot makes the whole process a lot sweeter.

[mlmiller1]

My elbow likes it lots better when I lube with dillon case lube. It reduces the friction dramatically which reduces effort, which makes my ol' elbow a happy little camper!

MLM

[goat68]

I have a standard GRX die so the brass is now lubed. The lubed brass works pretty nice. I've been shooting minor lately and haven't yet got back to loading 40. My latest experiment with backing out the flare die as well as putting little or no crimp at the crimp/seat station seems to be holding bullets. I haven't yet got real serious though.

[Harmon]

too much crimp, or too much case flare..

sizing dies dont wear unless they are extremely abused..even sizing sand coated brass, it should last more than 1000 rounds, its likely that it would just scratch the die or the weaker brass.

Harmon

[goat68]

Well I have concluded that two things contibuted to my loose bullets the main one being the flaring die making too much flare. I think what happend is the set screw got messed up and when I changed what I was reloading, the flare die set came loose. Then when I went back to loading 40, I set it up with too much flare and ended up with slightly loose bullets. I then tried to compensate with adding more taper crimp and ended up making the problem worse.

I have backed out the flare die and the tapaer crimp so I have some crimp and no more loose bullets.

Thanks for all the advice.