Brass Shavings during reload

[B767capt]

I've had a Dillon 650 since 2010 and recently bought a 750 2 years ago so I've been reloading about 12 years.  I reload for many pistol and rifle calibers but recently just started with 10mm.  I'm using Montana Gold .400, 165g since I have a stash of those for 40sw and reloaded at 14.5, AA #9 since I had that at 1.250.  I bought the new Sig XTEN and bought 1k of 10mm brass from Starline.  I already had the dies from 40 SW.  I loaded the first rounds straight from Starline without resizing.  I haven't had 1 malfunction in the XTEN after 500 rounds so far.  So now with the once fired brass, I deprimed, washed and started to reload the cases a second time.  This time I made a few changes where I have the 40/10mm Dillon resizing die in station 1 and I bought a Redding competition seater die with the micro adjustments on top for station 4.  The last station has a Dillon taper crimp die and I have it adjusted just to take the bell out since I'm using a Mr. Bullet feeder.  The case mouth has the same measurement as the side of the case.  I now have brass shavings piling up on my shell plate and can't determine which station it's coming from.  I do notice a slight coke bottle now on the case after the bullet is inserted since I'm now resizing the case wall.  In the 12 years of reloading, I've never seen brass shavings that I can recall and I reload for 10 different calibers.  Since the case mouth is probably smaller after the resize, I wonder if the powder funnel is causing this but I don't see flakes falling.  I can't see any place on the brass that it might be coming from either.  Any ideas and would you says that's abnormal?   

https://imgur.com/a/xbaMMsT

[Banacek]

Pretty common for me when reloading on my 650.  I am curious about the mirror thingy you have there, can you send more pictures of that?

[Furrly]

What sizing die are you using? Trying loading one round at a time, that might help identify what station  the shavings are coming from. 

[SnipTheDog]

I don't know if you're lightly lubing your brass, but it helps.

[HesedTech]

1 hour ago, B767capt said:

I bought a Redding competition seater die with the micro adjustments on top for station 4.

This is the issue.

 

I have the same die and noticed the same shavings issue. Replaced it with the Dillion seating die and like magic the shavings went away. What is happening is as the die is coming down it is taking the bell out before it seats the bullet.

 

 

[B767capt]

1 hour ago, Banacek said:

Pretty common for me when reloading on my 650.  I am curious about the mirror thingy you have there, can you send more pictures of that?

I have the Mark 7 autodrive on it and that's the laser that checks that the bullet is sitting on top of the case ready to be seated.  If it falls off when the shell plate moves, the press stops.

[B767capt]

1 hour ago, Furrly said:

What sizing die are you using? Trying loading one round at a time, that might help identify what station  the shavings are coming from. 

That's a good idea.  That Redding seater die is also new to this round of reloads and wonder if the slight bell in the mouth is causing that when it goes up in to be seated.

[B767capt]

29 minutes ago, HesedTech said:

This is the issue.

 

I have the same die and noticed the same shavings issue. Replaced it with the Dillion seating die and like magic the shavings went away. What is happening is as the die is coming down it is taking the bell out before it seats the bullet.

 

 

Just the answer I'm looking for.  I was using the Dillon seater on the first reload and no shavings.  I hated making fine adjustments on it and also using the seater for 40sw, I figured this would be easier to use.  I also read that this seating die pushes on the bullet near the ogive so get you more constant COAL.  I am going to start using 180g Blue Bullets and this wouldn't be good as it would rub the paint off.  This website is an awesome place to get problems solved.

[B767capt]

1 hour ago, Furrly said:

What sizing die are you using? Trying loading one round at a time, that might help identify what station  the shavings are coming from. 

Using the Dillon 40/10mm sizing die I bought back in 2010 with my initial 650 purchase.  

[B767capt]

1 hour ago, SnipTheDog said:

I don't know if you're lightly lubing your brass, but it helps.

I have pistol lube from Brass Juice but I tried it without to see how it would go.  I hate the way this fine powder sticks all over the case when there is case lube.  223 drives me nuts with this so I resize them only, and they definitely need lube, then rewash then reload.  The autodrive digital clutch is set at 4 and goes to 20 so there isn't much force going on as the press hasn't stopped yet because a force of more than 4 is being applied.  I bet when I hand loaded, I applied much more force than this autodrive is doing at 4.

[Furrly]

I have the same seating die and I've loaded over 50k of 40cal, never have I've had a single shaved brass. 

Make sure your bell is not to big 

[Furrly]

15 minutes ago, B767capt said:

Using the Dillon 40/10mm sizing die I bought back in 2010 with my initial 650 purchase.  

Your sizing die could be going bad, it happens? 

[B767capt]

20 minutes ago, Furrly said:

I have the same seating die and I've loaded over 50k of 40cal, never have I've had a single shaved brass. 

Make sure your bell is not to big 

I make sure my bell is as small as possible.  Those MG bullets measure .397 and I error on smallest bell as possible.  What ever it takes so the bullet stays on.  I'm going to send a picture to Redding and see what they say. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by B767capt

[HesedTech]

28 minutes ago, Furrly said:

Your sizing die could be going bad, it happens? 

In my case that’s not even close. The Redding die is designed for .40 FMJ bullets and the amount of bell to seat .401 coated without scraping off the coating is larger than the ID of the Redding die.  Even the instructions which came with the die mention the case guide will reduce the brass size as it comes down. The only solution I see to continue using the Redding is to highly polish the inside of the case guid, something I’m not willing to do. Additionally the Redding die leaves a ring where it contacts the coated bullets.

 

Overall, my experience is the Dillon seating die produces equal precision and doesn’t leave a “ring around” the bullet from seating. 

What’s interesting is with 40SW I found the Lee sizing die actually was more consistent than the Dillon. I think it’s because the Lee slightly undersizes the brass over the Dillon. 
 

This is what works in my 40sw process.

 

BTW swear by the Redding Precision Comp. seating dies for my rifle reloading. 

[Furrly]

His using the dillion sizing die. my experience with dillon sizing dies have not been favorable, I also use the Lee die, U die to be exact. 

[sharko]

I get tiny brass shavings all the time when reloading pistol. I believe it comes from the crimp. Definitely not sizing because I do that separately.

[B767capt]

I took the new Redding seating die apart and there were significant filings up in the die.  I cleaned it all out and took .003 off the case mouth bell and ran 200 rounds through.  The bell is a little too tight but I'm able to slow down the shell plate indexing speed with the autodrive.  That function is great when loading 9mm to prevent spillage.  Slowing that down I was able to keep the bullet from falling off and to my surprise, no brass filings.  We'll see as time goes on but I wrote Redding and I'm curious what they will say.

[B767capt]

15 hours ago, HesedTech said:

In my case that’s not even close. The Redding die is designed for .40 FMJ bullets and the amount of bell to seat .401 coated without scraping off the coating is larger than the ID of the Redding die.  Even the instructions which came with the die mention the case guide will reduce the brass size as it comes down. The only solution I see to continue using the Redding is to highly polish the inside of the case guid, something I’m not willing to do. Additionally the Redding die leaves a ring where it contacts the coated bullets.

 

Overall, my experience is the Dillon seating die produces equal precision and doesn’t leave a “ring around” the bullet from seating. 

What’s interesting is with 40SW I found the Lee sizing die actually was more consistent than the Dillon. I think it’s because the Lee slightly undersizes the brass over the Dillon. 
 

This is what works in my 40sw process.

 

BTW swear by the Redding Precision Comp. seating dies for my rifle reloading. 

Great info here as I switch to Blue Bullets.  The Montana Gold 165g measure .397 which surprises me.  The BB I've got coming are .400 and may cause a problem if I have to move the bell out further.  I've noticed the ring from the Redding and may go back to the Dillon seating die with the BB.    

[HesedTech]

5 hours ago, B767capt said:

I've noticed the ring from the Redding and may go back to the Dillon seating die with the BB.    

Happy New Year! I'm looking to a good year of sending a lot of ammo downrange this year.

 

The Dillon seating die is designed for the typical FN 40SW bullet. Rather than push the OGIVE it pushes on the nose. No ring and OAL is consistent.

[Farmer]

17 hours ago, B767capt said:

I took the new Redding seating die apart and there were significant filings up in the die.  I cleaned it all out and took .003 off the case mouth bell and ran 200 rounds through.  The bell is a little too tight but I'm able to slow down the shell plate indexing speed with the autodrive.  That function is great when loading 9mm to prevent spillage.  Slowing that down I was able to keep the bullet from falling off and to my surprise, no brass filings.  We'll see as time goes on but I wrote Redding and I'm curious what they will say.

I’ve noticed that with most of my Redding seating die’s. They are closer tolerance to help keep things aligned but with a wide flair it has a tendency to scrape on the sides of the die. You will notice this much more on a single stage press as you can hear and feel it when seating the bullet. It’s possible to polish them out a bit or send a sample case with the die back to Redding and they’ll do it for you.