40 s&w has bulge after bulge busting - seating die issue maybe

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georgiacatweazle

New member
So here is a weird one i've been going back and forth with with Lee. My 40 S&W's haven't been going in to battery, yup glock bulge problem. weird thing is all my brass has been bulge busted. so my investigation ... take a de-bulged case, use case gauge, passes. load a bullet, very light or ZERO crimp, flare enough to hold the bullet, case gauge, FAIL. yep, the bullet seat die to causing a case bulge to re-appear. if i run a complete cartridge through the bulge buster, the world is good. question being, why does the bullet seat die mess up the round ?

i am thinking that because the original case had a bulge, the seating process even without crimping is re-introducing the bulge when seating the bullet. so maybe the best use of the bulge buster is on a completed loaded round instead of an empty initial case ?
 
I have seen reloaded 9mm and 45 where the bullet is actually cocked in the case even when fully seated.This created a bulge where the bullet base was and also showed up as a longer col as the flat point of the bullet was not parallel to the cartridge base. In the case of the 45 the bulge was enough to cause feeding issues. This type of bulge is only part way around the case. If the bulge goes all the way around then maybe your bullets are a bit oversized and are causing a crushing effect. Bullets from the manufacturers are not always what they should be. Neither are dies. Have fun playing detective.
 
I don't load 40 S&W. But I do load 10mm Auto. And I do use a Lee Bulge Buster. Fact is, most seating dies allow a little "wiggle room" within their confines, and this allows for some case bulging during the seat/crimp process. Brass is very soft and pliable and some case distortion is a very real phenomenon.

This is why I use a Lee FCD for the final crimp on all my 10mm. Not only does it correct the case diameter over the bullet itself, but it also corrects a bulge that sometimes (about 1 in 15) occurs near the base.

(When I load 10mm, I use an RCBS seat die. I seat and crimp in one operation; then I follow it up with the FCD. So in essence, I crimp twice. And since I'm crimping with the RCBS, it also ensures that the die body is adjusted properly. I only load plated {Berry's, and X-treme} and Jacketed bullets - no lead for 10mm.)

Assuming your Bulge Buster is a Lee, you should de-configure it for crimping. (Bulge bust too; but use it for crimping as well.)

Two other things: First, I would strongly discourage you from bulge busting loaded rounds. There's probably little chance of a primer ignition; but if it were to happen, the consequences would be highly severe. Just not worth the chance.

Also: For all my Glocks, I have Lone Wolf barrels. Even if you weren't experiencing this issue, the LW barrel is much easier on your brass. IMO, if you have a Glock and you reload your brass, you need a LW (or other aftermarket) barrel. Just my 2 cents.
 
Thanks Nick, that sounds like a plan.
I was thinking a wolf 40 barrel would make sense. i'll re-configure the FCD this weekend and try it as a crimp die. let you know if it changes anything with the rim area bulge.
 
No die will ever cause a bulge in anything. It's the bullet causing the bulge. In any case, use the pistol's chamber as a gauge. If the loaded round drops in, it's fine.
 
Ok, here is where I'm at.
I reset my bullet seat die and has zero crimp.
I took my FCD from my bulge buster and turned it back into a FCD.

Seated a bullet, low and behold, it's only half fitting in my case gauge and not fully dropping into my barrel. i.e. out of spec.
so now I try using FCD, round goes in, round comes out, it passes the drop test and barrel test. yeah good, but nope something is bad.
The instructions say screw in until it touches shell holder and then screw in the adjust knob until it contacts the case. well i can screw it in all the way and it gets within 1/3 inch from the tip of the bullet. so my FCD will NEVER be able to crimp a round.
so i guess for now, i can run each round through the FCD which will re-straighten the base. the crimp will need to happen in the seat die.
 
I use the Lee FCD for 40S&W without any issues:
1) Screw in FCD until it touches the shell holder
2) Back out the adjustment screw
3) Insert completed round (including bullet)
4) Screw in adjustment screw until it touches the case mouth
5) Lower the ram and screw the adjustment screw in 1/2 turn

So in #4 you say it does not touch the case mouth?

What press are you using?
 
Are you expanding the case or just flaring the case mouth? If the case isn't expanded, the bullet has to "fight" its way into the case and can seat crooked.
Does you seating stem fit the bullet? If the seating stem doesn't fit the bullet, the bullet may be seated crooked.
I have been argued at that bullets don't seat crooked. All I know is if the above two aren't addressed, you can get case bulge at the bottom of the bullet in one location that sure looks like a crooked bullet.
The solution to chambering problems is always the same:
Take the barrel out of the gun. Drop rounds in until you find one that won't chamber. Take that round and "paint" the bullet and case black with Magic Marker or other marker. Drop round in barrel (or gage) and rotate it back-and-forth.
Remove and inspect the round:
1) scratches in the ink on bullet--COL is too long
2) scratches in the ink on edge of the case mouth--insufficient crimp
3) scratches in the ink just below the case mouth--too much crimp, you're crushing the case
4) scratches in the ink on case at base of bullet--bullet seated crooked due to insufficient case expansion (not case mouth flare) or improper seating stem fit
5) scratches in the ink on case just above extractor groove--case bulge not removed during sizing. May need a bulge buster.
Note: I have added "in the ink" because one person noted that since he had never seen scratches ON THE CASE, that I was full of it. I hope this clarifies that the scratches on an inked case will be shown by scratches through the ink.
 
I must be one of the lucky few. Over 15k rounds through my G35, all bu t maybe 100 of them are reloads with whatever range brass I find laying around. Never and I mean never has a bulged case been an issue with this gun or almost a dozen different other 40s that I've owned over the years.
 
I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to add my experience with .40 bullets not seating straight, as it may help others doing research for the same problem. Let me start by saying I have been reloading for over 40 years, but only started with the .40 about a year ago. Most of my handgun ammo is .38 and .357, with the .38 all being done on a Lee Pro 1000 - never experienced any issue with them using any type of bullet. So all that experience didn't help much when I hit this problem with the .40 S&W.

After I started shooting .40 S&W it didn't take me long to start experimenting with some cheaper cast bullets for range practice. Using my Lee Pro 1000 press, I had loaded about 500 hard cast SWC that all ran fine in my guns (and seated straight too). But those bullets (or more accurately, how I loaded them) were the key to what went wrong next...

I started testing loads using Nosler 135g JHP, and found that not a single one would seat straight! I fiddle farted around with various things trying to find the issue with no success - finally blamed it on the universal floating bullet seating punch in the Lee die not being compatible with that specific bullet and figured that I needed to order a custom seater plug from Lee. But the solution turned out to be much more simple!

The actual cause was a buildup of bullet lubricant inside the seating punch. I had been loading those cases with only the minimum flair needed to start the bullet, and that left the edges of the case mouth so close to those cast bullets that they regularly shaved a small amount of lube as the bullets were pushed home. Once I cleaned out the seating punch, I had no more problems with crooked bullets.
 
Yes, there was a clear bulge at the base of the bullet around part of the case. I had to run them all through the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die to have them chamber reliably.
 
I used to seat and crimp in one station, and had too much crimp that caused the bullet to get stuck and brass to collapse.
Now I seat in one station and crimp in the next.
Try backing off the taper crimp a little and see if anything changes.
 
Just curious? After using the Lee Bulge Buster do you use the standard sizing die next then the expander die? Don't think the bulge buster, at least not my Redding GR-X, is meant as bulge busting and sizing in one operation? Bulge bust, size with the sizing die, expand, then load would be my next step. I prefer to seat and crimp in separate steps.
 
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