foxyyy Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 (edited) After been reloading rifle rounds for more than a year now..had a frustrating problem of my loads not being able to feed and chamber. Bolt won't fully close. Don't know what went wrong during reloading since always followed the same steps, same procedure, same specs, same measurements as before. Only now did it hiccuped & vomited on my rifle..just before next week's match. DAMN! what to do? already resized all my cases & primed..hope the problem lies in the head seating, if not, have to resize my primed cases again? Here is a pic of the rounds that vomited from my rifle..those encircled (deformations) only showed after I extracted the rounds. Edited August 13, 2010 by foxyyy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mscott Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Get your loading manual out and adjust your dies according to the instructions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyyy Posted August 13, 2010 Author Share Posted August 13, 2010 (edited) my dies are properly adjusted..haven't changed its settings since I installed them on a dedicated 550B toolhead Edited August 13, 2010 by foxyyy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mscott Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 I hate to sound like a smart a**, but you have crushed shoulders, a smashed tip, and varied seating depth .... something is very wrong. I would start from scratch and re-check everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Miles Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 I would have to second MSCOTT's assessment of your reloads and his advice. It's very easy to see that you have several major problems with those rounds so start at square one and start over. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff686 Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Have you checked the gun? Is there something in the throat or barrel? Can you chamber a resized but unloaded case? How did the nose of the bullet get so messed up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyyy Posted August 13, 2010 Author Share Posted August 13, 2010 haha..forget about the nose of the bullet head..hammered it a little in the range due to frustration..was trying out if my seating of the heads were the culprit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calishootr Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 i am assuming those pics were taken after you tried to chamber em??? by trying to force the bolt to close on it is the squashed shoulder you got, basically its a headspace problem, not a bullet seating problem, i realize you saidthe dies are on a dedicated toolhead??? but when was the lasttime you checked em for tightness(they can and do walk/unscrew) crap in the dies(ive had excessive lube in some 38 dies that gave me seating fits) do you have a case guage, other than tryin to drop em in the actual rifle's chamber??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Sierpina Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 When was the last time those cases were trimmed? It appears that the shoulder in the seating die is pushing the case mouth back, resulting in the "Mushroom" shoulders. Trim length should be 1.750 -.005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 (edited) check trim length and headspace in ur rifle. something is very very wrong. Is this brass been fired through your rifle before or is this is the first go-around for this batch of brass? may need a small base die if its once fired brass from another rifle... Edited August 13, 2010 by Corey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbs007 Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Plus one on trimming and case gauge to set the sizer die. Then try shooting factory rounds to make sure nothing's wrong with the rifle, my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyyy Posted August 13, 2010 Author Share Posted August 13, 2010 (edited) everytime i load, I always follow religiously the same procedure - tumble, lube case, resize/deprime, clean primer pocket, trim cases to 1.755", chamfer/debur, tumble again, seat primers, load powder and lastly seat bullets to 2.255"-2.260".. the cases used are already in its 3rd-4th reload cycle..used in the same rifle/barrel since from the start checked the barrel's chamber, no dirt or obstruction of any kind dies in the dedicated toolhead didn't budge at all..also, i measure every case that gets trimmed and gets seated with heads factory rounds are chambering fine..so are my old reloads trying out the sharpie method right now..will post pics in awhile Edited August 13, 2010 by foxyyy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyyy Posted August 13, 2010 Author Share Posted August 13, 2010 (edited) screw the sharpie..found out that the latest batch of reloads i made have the same deformation in the shoulder area checked my primed cases and they all look fine...chambered them and they went in smoothly decided to put powder in one of the primed cases & seated a head..there it was, it deformed my shoulder! what seems to be causing this in the seating procedure? and why just now? decided to re-adjust my seating die..reseated another head, again, a deformed shoulder =( am using a Lee Seating Die..already placed an order right now for a Redding National Match Die Set to replace this darn die Edited August 13, 2010 by foxyyy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anachronism Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 It looks like you're trying to seat the bullet & crimp at the same time, and your crimp die is misadjusted. Your cases are crushed at the shoulder, and should not be reused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff686 Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 (edited) It looks like you're trying to seat the bullet & crimp at the same time, and your crimp die is misadjusted. Your cases are crushed at the shoulder, and should not be reused. I 2nd that! Run some brass through the seating die without a bullet. If it is damaged, then the whole die is in too far (massive over-crimping). Screw the seating dye out until it doesn't deform the brass, then adjust the seating depth with a bullet. Did you check the die for foreign objects? Clean it? Edited August 13, 2010 by Jeff686 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikaze1a Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Your seater die is crimping too much before the bullet is fully seated. Get one of the good rounds, with the seater die and seater plug backed out, pull the press handle all the way down and the ram to the top, adjust the die until it touches the case and then adjust the seater plug to touch the bullet. That will be seating without a crimp. If you want more crimp, back out the seater plug and turn the die down and then the seater plug... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rishii Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 screw the sharpie..found out that the latest batch of reloads i made have the same deformation in the shoulder area checked my primed cases and they all look fine...chambered them and they went in smoothly decided to put powder in one of the primed cases & seated a head..there it was, it deformed my shoulder! what seems to be causing this in the seating procedure? and why just now? decided to re-adjust my seating die..reseated another head, again, a deformed shoulder =( am using a Lee Seating Die..already placed an order right now for a Redding National Match Die Set to replace this darn die is it a collet seater?, I had one of those and it would jam every few rounds and cause the shoulders to set back just like your pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyyy Posted August 18, 2010 Author Share Posted August 18, 2010 it was indeed the seating die..i guess, it was a seating/crimping die in one.. borrowed a friend's seating ONLY die & everything went out smoothly btw, can i still use the cases with deformed shoulders? tried resizing them and so far, they all went back to their normal shape thanks for everyone for their replies! =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikaze1a Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 If they chamber, the next time you pull the trigger, the cases should fire form back to spec if the sizing did not. Crimping is debatable and a personal choice. If you choose to crimp, there are many dedicated crimping dies. OR you could back out the seater and adjust down your seater die to crimp only as the last step...personally, I have found the Lee Factory Crimp die gives me tighter groups out of my AR and the reduced probability of bullet setback is a plus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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