pastorjohnd Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 I’m a little stumped and wondering if anyone could help me out. I bought some 147gr HST pulls and when I load them I’m getting a bulge in the middle of the case where the base of the bullet is. I’ve adjusted my dies every way and in every combination I can think of. This happens with all head stamps. Even with everything left the same I’ll get some that go into my case gauge fine while others are way off. Anyone got any ideas on how to fix this? Example: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaot1c Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Seating and crimping in the same step? Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastorjohnd Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, Khaot1c said: Seating and crimping in the same step? Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaot1c Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Some folks have a lot of success doing it that way. However, this appears to be one of those times you may want to try seating and then crimping in two separate steps. Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastorjohnd Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 When I adjust my die to where there is no crimp, the bulge is just as bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHI Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 What diameter is the bullet? Can you load longer( to get out of the internal taper)? Speer /federal/ remington/blazer cases internal taper starts lower and tends to allow to be loaded shorter with heavy bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevrofreak Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Federal nickel brass is your friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4n2t0 Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 How did you determine the OAL? What was the longest length at which your rounds would still plunk and work in the magazine? Are you sure the rounds are failing because of the bulge? Are the cases being sized as far down as possible? What case gauge are you using? Certain dies produce "wasp-waisted" ammo which is accentuated when loading 147gr bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastorjohnd Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, AHI said: What diameter is the bullet? Can you load longer( to get out of the internal taper)? Speer /federal/ remington/blazer cases internal taper starts lower and tends to allow to be loaded shorter with heavy bullets. I think the taper is what’s catching me. I just miced a couple bullets and they all came out at .355. The round above is at factory length (1.102). The Lyman book puts COAL at 1.115. I loaded a few at 1.110 and the bulge was there, but appeared less pronounced. The round I put in my post is a Remington case. Edited January 19, 2020 by pastorjohnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastorjohnd Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 7 hours ago, chevrofreak said: Federal nickel brass is your friend. I’ve wondered if that would make a difference. I don’t have any FC nickel brass. I may shoot a couple of my factory rounds just to open up a case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastorjohnd Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 5 hours ago, 4n2t0 said: 1 How did you determine the OAL? 2 What was the longest length at which your rounds would still plunk and work in the magazine? 3 Are you sure the rounds are failing because of the bulge? 4 Are the cases being sized as far down as possible? 5 What case gauge are you using? 6 Certain dies produce "wasp-waisted" ammo which is accentuated when loading 147gr bullets. 1 Lyman reloading manual. 2 Not entirely sure. I haven’t loaded them that long. 3 Yes. I’ll have some that go and some that don’t. The only variable is the bulge. 4 As far as I know. Is there a special resizer die that does better than others? 5 Wilson. I’ve also been chamber checking them. 6 I am using cheaper Lee dies, you think that might be the problem? I don’t shoot a lot of 9mm, and when I reload for it it’s usually 115gr bullets. This is my first foray into 147s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevrofreak Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 1 hour ago, pastorjohnd said: I’ve wondered if that would make a difference. I don’t have any FC nickel brass. I may shoot a couple of my factory rounds just to open up a case. I have loaded a ton of 147gr HST and had to overcome this same issue. Brass cases bulge the worst, nickel is better in general, but Federal seems to have the least internal taper. I ordered 2k pieces of once fired nickel and sorted out all of the FC headstamps to be loaded for social use, and every other headstamp is for practice. A charge of 5.1gr of VihtaVuori N350, a CCI magnum small pistol primer and an OAL of 1.125" round everything out. I average about 1050fps out of my CZ P10C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltdmstr Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 Are you using a U die? Whatever it is, you're sizing way more than necessary. You only need .002 under bullet OD. Spend the money for a decent size die, like a Redding carbide, and do the seat and crimp in separate steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HesedTech Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) This has been covered in other threads. The solution is: sort your brass, CBC is the worse for bulging. The sizing die will not eliminate this problem. It will help with bullet setback, however. More crimp will not fix it either. Buy different bullets. As so many will attest the only sure way to determine OAL is the “plunk test” and powder levels by Chrono, accuracy and examination of shot brass. The Lyman book is a guide. Edited January 19, 2020 by HesedTech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastorjohnd Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 52 minutes ago, chevrofreak said: I have loaded a ton of 147gr HST and had to overcome this same issue. Brass cases bulge the worst, nickel is better in general, but Federal seems to have the least internal taper. I ordered 2k pieces of once fired nickel and sorted out all of the FC headstamps to be loaded for social use, and every other headstamp is for practice. A charge of 5.1gr of VihtaVuori N350, a CCI magnum small pistol primer and an OAL of 1.125" round everything out. I average about 1050fps out of my CZ P10C. Well I’ll be darned, it worked. I had already sorted my brass by headstamp. After reading your post I went to my Federal pile and loaded a couple of brass cases. There was a discernible bulge in each of them, but they were much better than the others. I had 2 nickel cases in my pile so I loaded them up too. Loaded you can kind of see a bulge on one if you know what you’re looking for, but you can’t feel it. The other one looks perfect. Thank you so much for helping me with this. Now I’m off to find a source of nickel cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoyGlock Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 Nickel cases are generally thinner than brass cases its why. Maybe load long so the slug wont reach the inside taper much. Heavy heads are longer than light ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeG Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 I use the full length crimp die by Lee and it does a great job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-Texas Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 (edited) Seat and crimp in 2 separate operations if you want better consistency in OACL. I loaded the 147 gr. HSTs for an article at: https://blog.westernpowders.com/ might be back a few pages. Since the case is thicker at the location of the bullet's heel, it's pretty typical. The 9mm's casehead MAX DIA. dimension .200" above the rim is .391" and .380" at the case-mouth. Measure the dia. where the bulge appears and it should be about midway in-between. Edited February 16, 2020 by K-Texas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockster1 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 That's a direct result of your reloading expander die. You need to shorten or taper the end of it. That's a common issue, especially with 45ACP cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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