40 S&W Once Fired Brass

[Dukerdog]

I purchased 1k once fired 40 S&W brass form Dillon, for my Sig P226. They are a mixed lot of Speer, Federal and Winchester. It seems that some of the Speer and Federal brass, when I am resizing gets scraped on one side as if the die is stretching the brass or on some the whole case is being stretched and leaves a little lip 1/8 of an inch from the bottom and don’t fit thru my case gauge.

I don’t know what kind of gun these were shot out of and I am using an RL550B and Dillon dies. Is this ruining my dies? Maybe these were shot out of a Glock?

Do I resize all and just throw away the ones that this happens to.

I would really like some input.

Thank you,

Marc

[Matt Cheely]

Call Dillon and tell them what's happening. I had a 40 die from them that broke the carbide ring, shortly after that started happening to my brass...

[lugnut]

Duker- toss those. The sizing die isn't going alway way down and the bulge is leaving a lip. Honestly those look a lot worse than some I've seen. Sometimes you can see where the sizing die "stopped" but when you see a lip like that get rid of them- I'd be concerned about head case separation on those. A U die might do better not sure if they would fix cases like that though.

[wide45]

U die will not fix brass like that.

Check your size die with some brass that you know is good.

If you can isolate the problem to the suspect brass, that brass was likely loaded hot, and/or fired in an oversize chamber. The brass would now be junk, no way I'd try to squeeze it down. Some will tell you to roll size it. False economy IMHO.

[CocoBolo]

Those things are what I call Fat Boys, I have a 5 gallon bucket I throw bad brass in when it is full I take all them fat boys to the salvage yard.

Redding has a new sizing die called a G-RX that pushes the brass all the way thru the die, it will size them, but looking at those I would be afraid to shoot them afterwards they are just morbidley obese.

I tried the EGW die didn't do it, so I ground it down so it would go further down the brass that didn't work either, so I became an RO now I got plenty too much brass, ama a great tan. I wind up throwing 30% in the salvage bucket. I de-prime and size then drop check them in the SAMMI gauge it they pass they go up to the case feeder. Its a shame to waste primers when there is such a shortage.

I would never offend the Dillon users, its a great loader. I sold my Dillon dies and replaced them with Hornady, after that I quit using One Shot and have more time to spend with the Wife. Spray a little one shot on your brass roll them around and it will make sizing easier, but it won't cure the Fat Boys, they just need to go to the crusher.

Edited May 21, 2009 by CocoBolo

[KyroWebs]

I've been having this problem lately. Approx half of my resized brass is ending up with a sharp lip on one side of the brass like the picture. I'm using a 550B with the redding carbide sizing die. I bought all my brass as once fired mixed headstamp and it seems like there is no single headstamp giving me problems. Looking at the primers, I would say half of the brass getting the ring does not have the characteristic rectangle of a glock striker. What's going on here? Did I just get a crappy order of brass or is it something with my sizing die?!? Or is it something else??

I've seen on some other forums that redding reccomends to size only the part of the brass that is used for seating the bullet so I may try backing out the die a bit, but I'm worried that they won't fit into my KKM barrel without FL resizing. If this doen't work I may pick up a set of RCBS dies at the local Scheels and try another sizing die(only brand they have in stock now). With the price of brass I'm not going to be happy if I end up tossing half of it

Any thoughts?

-One frustrated reloader in Iowa

[bigsaxdog]

i had a couple of those awhile back when i first started loading .40. never had it loading .45 or 9mm. i think i didn't lube the cases enough. i spray alot of that alcohol/wax kinda lube all over the cases before i size. don't be shy w/the stuff. i haven't had any since. if you have that 'glock' buldge really bad, w/o lube it bites to the die too much, i think. that's my $.02........

[apdsgt806]

I had the same problem with the 40 brass that I picked up over the years from my old PD range. Most of it had been fired in our Glock 22s. I just got a Redding G-Rx die. I ran several hundred through it and they now work fine in my Dillon Square Deal. As I now only shoot 40 in a Browning HP, I will only have to run the brass through the Redding die once.

[rupie]

I use a dillon sizing die and no lube, I have a failure rate of 3 to 6 out of 100, in my chamber gauge, my biggest problem is primers not puching out, sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 tries to get the primer to pop out, anyone seen this with other brands of sizing dies?

[GrumpyOne]

I use a dillon sizing die and no lube, I have a failure rate of 3 to 6 out of 100, in my chamber gauge, my biggest problem is primers not puching out, sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 tries to get the primer to pop out, anyone seen this with other brands of sizing dies?

20,000 or so .40's loaded on a Dillon 550, never had that problem. Is the spring on the punch good and strong?What kind of brass? Sellier & Belliot are hard to punch out (so I've been told, I never noticed it ) Like I said, 20,000 .40 S&W on the 550, no bulged cases like in the first post, never had a problem with the primers. If you get the re-sizing die just as low as it will go, it will even take out the Glock bulge. Shot many a thousand "Glocked" brass after re-sizing it.

The primer may be punching out and sticking to the punch, when it snaps back up, it re-seats the primer....a known issue at times with the Dillon, albeit not terribly common.

edited for content.

Edited July 28, 2009 by GrumpyOne

[wide45]

I use a dillon sizing die and no lube, I have a failure rate of 3 to 6 out of 100, in my chamber gauge, my biggest problem is primers not puching out, sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 tries to get the primer to pop out, anyone seen this with other brands of sizing dies?

It isn't the dies, it's the primers. Search this one, the answer has been posted many, many times. Most recently here.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=88862

[rupie]

I use a dillon sizing die and no lube, I have a failure rate of 3 to 6 out of 100, in my chamber gauge, my biggest problem is primers not puching out, sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 tries to get the primer to pop out, anyone seen this with other brands of sizing dies?

It isn't the dies, it's the primers. Search this one, the answer has been posted many, many times. Most recently here.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=88862

I just put a taper on my pin and ran through 100 rounds without a missed primer that is awesome thanks

[Ray_Z]

I'd be a little nervous about using it even if I were to put it through the Redding G-Rx die I have. The brass just above the base of the case looks like it has been thinned out. Good chance for case head separation.

[D. Manley]

I'd be a little nervous about using it even if I were to put it through the Redding G-Rx die I have. The brass just above the base of the case looks like it has been thinned out. Good chance for case head separation.

I just would'nt use it, bad ju-ju in .40 caliber (or any other, IMO)...to easy to get good brass and not worth the risks.

[Sgt Smith]

I've had problems in the past with the relationship of the case rim and the shell plate on the 550 with .40 caliber cases. Number of firings (rim damage) and what gun they were fired in (Glock) has an effect. If the cases aren't centered in the plate they scrub one side of the sizing die more than the other and leave a little lip at the base of the brass.

I was able to improve the overall performance by adjusting the paper clipped shaped case positioner at the first stage. I originally was loading the .40s using a 9mm shell plate and experienced a lot more problems with case deformation. The .40 shell plate solved 99.9% of the damage issues. I think if you take a close look at the case positioning spring it might improve performance.

[GrumpyOne]

I've had problems in the past with the relationship of the case rim and the shell plate on the 550 with .40 caliber cases. Number of firings (rim damage) and what gun they were fired in (Glock) has an effect. If the cases aren't centered in the plate they scrub one side of the sizing die more than the other and leave a little lip at the base of the brass.

I was able to improve the overall performance by adjusting the paper clipped shaped case positioner at the first stage. I originally was loading the .40s using a 9mm shell plate and experienced a lot more problems with case deformation. The .40 shell plate solved 99.9% of the damage issues. I think if you take a close look at the case positioning spring it might improve performance.

"Well, there's yer problem!" I originally was loading the .40s using a 9mm shell plate

[Sgt Smith]

"Well, there's yer problem!" I originally was loading the .40s using a 9mm shell plate

Should have added that when I started loading .40 Cal, many years ago, there was not a shellplate available for the round, and Dillion customer assistance indicated the 9mm shellplate I already had could be used until they got the .40 cal plate on the market.

Just trying to cover as many possible sources for the problem listed as possible.

My mistake, I should have come to you first, after all from what I hear you've loaded 20,000 rounds of .40 S&W, like I said you've loaded 20,000 rounds S&W.

I do appreciate your experience, might work on your presentation.