Can anyone tell me what happened to this brass

My money's on the Lee deburring tool. I've seen that same line on many, many cases.

I know you said it can't be, but I still think it is. ;)
 
Well, I found out one thing. Lee was wrong. You have to have that 1/3 extra turn. Or I do. Brass wouldn't fit in headspace guage without it. New dies didn't put rings on brass. Checking out of tumbler. Before sizing. After sizing. After trimming. After deburring. After seating bullet. Don't crimp for bolt rifle so that's my last step. I did mess up on 10 bullets last night. First time I didn't use 2 scales and thought I was loading 41 grains of varget under 180 gr bt. Scale started losing zero and found I was only loading 38.5 gr of varget. 2.5 grains lower than lowest specs. Not sure if that's dangerous or not. I intend to finish off these 180s and go back to 165s. Groups are better by almost half. Needed excuse to buy a bullet puller I guess. Buying something. Ew every week it seems. If they were safe to fire I would just shoot them out. Can't find any info on lower than spec powder loads. Bet I don't load powder without using both scales anymore. Stupid on my part.
 
I've been using balance beam scale from Lee. Hard for my older eyes to see but I used them both a little while ago. Cross reference is all but perfect on Frankford arsenal scale and balance beam. Have small Hornady digital also but it says I'm .4 grains under or over. Add a little take some away it reads right. Wait 30 seconds and it's changing again. Frankford works good if it gets a little warm up time. Couple of minutes.

And you all that guessed it was the deburring tool were correct. Set down with trimmer. No rings. Twisted tool once or twice. Rings back. I'm sure someone makes a tool that won't do this. I see Lee has one that goes in press and trims chamfers and de burs all at once. All reviews say little plastic piece wears out too quick so I've never ordered die for it.
 
You seem to be satisfied with your die adjustment (additional 1/3 turn down) but I am going to inject one final thought. Lee, I assume you mean the Lee rep you contacted, isn't necessarily wrong. From your post #42 it's now apparent you are basing the 1/3 extra turn requirement as necessary since the case will otherwise not fit into the case gage. QUESTION: which is more important, that the case fit in the case gage or fit properly in the rifle's chamber? The answer should be obvious. Do not use the gage to determine chamber fit. Case gages are not even necessary. Products are made with tolerences and you may have a slightly elongated chamber that would benefit from a slightly elongated case. It sounds like you are unnecessarily pushing the shoulder bsck some upon each sizing, resulting in a shorter case and possible sloppy chamber fit that will not benefit accuracy. If a longer case will easily chamber, so much the better. Forget the case gage for determining chamber fit and die adjustment. No one hardly needs a gage for that purpose. Back off some on the sizing die and give it a try.
 
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And you all that guessed it was the deburring tool were correct
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Wasn't a guess ;) Been there, done that.

Pretty much every other deburring tool won't do that. The L.E. Wilson chamfer/debur tool is pretty much the gold standard IMO; easy to use along with the Lee trimming system with a cordless drill. After trimming, hit the case with both the chamfer and debur side of the tool before removing it from the lock stud. Only takes a turn or two as there is 6 cutters on the chamfer side and three on the debur side.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/789334/le-wilson-chamfer-and-deburring-tool-17-to-45-caliber
 
That's a serious looking tool compared to the toy Lee makes. Lees primer pocket cleaner isn't working too good either. Appears to be wearing out after only a hundred or so and doesn't clean very good. I tried just running brass back through vibratory media cleaner but too much hassle getting media out of flash hole.
 
Many of Lee's tools work just as well as other more expensive versions, and sometimes better - but I think the chamfer tool was the first thing I replaced as it takes more work and I also didn't like that ring either.

I actually like the Lee primer pocket cleaner, mine has done tens of thousands of rounds and still works great. No need to get primer pockets spotless or even clean, many don't even touch primer pockets at all - but I like to knock down the buildup of crud to avoid a possibly high primer. Also gives me a chance to make sure the flash hole isn't blocked. But getting them spotless would probably require removing some brass; I use a Redding uniforming tool the first time I prep match brass meant for the semiauto match guns and they look really nice after that :) It makes a good PP cleaner too although a bit spendy for just that.
 
It's easy to avoid, just center the brass in the lee chamfer/deburr took and don't have the tool cockeyed. Basically don't they the brass touch the tool except for the case mouth

Problem solved
 
I just cleaned trimmed and primed my Hornady brass for the fourth time. Not many trimmed any off but are still ok. Really hard to hand prime as they appear to have little pieces of shaved brass around primer pocket. About 1/2 of 40 went good but other half really hard. Once you start hand primer I found out you can't get she'll holder off to get bullet out unless there is a trick to it. Finally just finished priming on the press. I bought 50 rounds of once fired Hornady brass at Bass Pro today. Noticed it all fit in headspace guage and wonder if it needs fls. I'm going to anyway because it wasn't shot from my rifle. Brass is expensive for 308 and my firing range sells theirs so you can't do any pickup. Hope to get 5 to 6 loads out of old brass I shot.
 
You can use a case chamfer tool to make a slight chamfer on primer pockets if you're having problems with the primers catching on the sides of the primer pocket on seating.

This is a must on cases that had crimped in primers but less likely to be needed otherwise.

I find all brass to be expensive these days. Have you looked at Privi brass at Grafs? It's good brass and tends to be less expensive. I wouldn't shoot at a place that wouldn't let me take my fired cases. I can sort of see it as a safety thing with auto pistols but not with bolt action rifles...

Tony
 
Once you start hand primer I found out you can't get she'll holder off to get bullet out unless there is a trick to it.
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Only guessing, if there is a trick it has to do with seating primers. Most shell holders have a slot cut into the deck of the shell holder to prevent contact with the primer, other shell holders have no slot, The shell holders I have without the slot are for 9mm, I have always thought the missing slot for the 9mm prevented a reloader from loading ammo with high primers.

It is not a good ideal to seat primers with the slide.

F. Guffey
 
The range lets me take my brass. They just won't let me rifle through the bucket to get other people's brass. If that was the case I wouldn't go. The hand primer is made by Lee and the shell holder will come out of hand primer but she'll won't if half primed. Different holder than one on my press. It takes a little longer but I'm just going to prime off the press for now. Arthritic hands sure hurt with hand primer. I use the little lee tool to clean the pockets but that's all it does.
 
You need a countersink drill bit and a cordless drill. Will fix you right up. They are like 5 bucks at the hardware store. Anything 308 or 223 should get shaved, unless you want to check every piece for a crimp.
 
Hatcher used his pocket knife. A dealer had cases for sale, someone had used a counter sink, I believe that was some of the ugliest primer pockets I have ever seen. I want all the primer support I can get, lowering the primer pocket hole with a bevel is like using a bevel on a datum.

Counter sinks, I have counter sinks, thousands of them, most are aircraft countersinks with guides, I use them when forming cases, sometimes I use a hack saw and file, other times I use the air craft countersink.

F. Guffey
 
didn't read all three pages post but I am fairly shure you did make this sign with the chamferring deburring tool.
 
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