How do I fix this?

Because you've asked:
I don't think (I)would reuse the brass. Well defined crush line I see. One or two firings such cartridges cases as shown may indeed suffer a shoulder separation. And being a BIG mag cartridge >that is something to be concerned about.

Tip: If your unfortunate to have a case separation in the future. The portion of your brass stuck in the barrels chamber quite often is easily removed via the barrels muzzle end with a sturdy metal cleaning rod or you can purchase a specialized tool for the purpose also.

Yup!! To much crimp. i.e. Your seating dies (set-up) steps weren't followed correctly. Your not alone in crushing a few shoulders. Every hand-loader has done the same at one time or another. On this occasion without sounding condescending. I would highly suggest you go back and read the instructions the die/s came with and follow those step by step procedures as written.

This hobby > reloading: You'll quickly realize. "You learn from you're mistakes"
 
So I pulled one and resized it. No problems and it chambers just fine. I have created a little crimp in the shoulder.
It looks worse in this picture.
When a case ruptures what happens?
It must happen semi frequently to handloaders looking to extend brass life.
070c633a0dab8a93ec4796874f822c22.jpg
 
Looks like you've got the hang of it and are ready to go again. Case rupturing or separation commonly refers to separations or pending separations about a quarter inch or a little more above the case head. The cause is usually the result of continually setting the shoulder back excessively when sizing the fired cases. The cases stretch to fill the void in the upper portion of the chamber. However the case is pretty much anchored near the base and thinning of the case takes place at that point. After so many firings and resizing with excessive shoulder set back, the case can come apart at the thinning near the base. Pending separations can sometimes be detected by the appearance of a small shiney ring where the thinning is taking place.

Case neck splitting is a more common but unrelated occurance.
 
Couple of thoughts; Are you seating and crimping in the same step? The "bulging" you show is often done when the crimp is being applied and the bullet still being seated (moving). For new reloaders, I often suggest a "To Do Later" box. As a new reloader whenever I screwed up I'd drop the "bad" ammo in a box. I'd come back to "fix" them or salvage them after I gained more experience and knowledge on the a solution for the problem. If those were my rounds I'd pull the bullets and powder for reuse and drop the brass into my "To Do Later" box, until I felt I had enough info to salvage the cases...
 
No, I am doing them in separate steps. I am just bad at this right now.
I don't have a dedicated "bad" box but I do pretty much bag them and label them with pertinent information and throw them in the safe for later.
 
Yes the above (post #24) could be a contributing factor so crimping and bullet seating need to be coordinated so that they occur simultaneously. A procedure for accomplishing that was set forth in the recent thread "RCBS crimp and seating die instructions". But when over crimping into a cannelure, the crimping shoulder in the seating die grabs tightly onto the rough cannelure recess and drags the shoulder down with the crimping, causing the bulge. The bulging would be less likely to occur, if at all, if attempting to crimp on a smooth non-cannelured bullet.
 
And then someone has to consider there is a remote possibility crimping and seating is a bad habit. Again, I visited Dillon; they suggest I purchase a RL550 type press and then they started listing all the advantages. First, the Dillon is set up to seat on one position and crimp on another. It did not take me long to explain I load on a 5 position press because I do not load on a progressive without a lock out die. Their logic; I had to have two seating dies or start over with Dillon dies and I explained; I was not going to start over on dies, basically I have all the dies I will ever have so if your press will not allow me to use my dies I am not interested.

Dillon rational to a bad habit. When seating and crimping at the same time the crimp causes the case neck to bite into the bullet, When the case neck neck bites into the bullet while the bullet is moving down the case bulges below the crimp. And we all know the seating dies does not offer case body support so Lyman in their old reloading manuals was correct when they said crimping bottle neck cases is a bad habit because by design crimping can loosen bullet hold.

That was before neck tension was invented’ and I have always been the fan of all the bullet hold I can get. Even then I had tension gages, all of them were calibrated to pounds and there was no conversion from tensions to pounds.

F. Guffey
 
No, I am doing them in separate steps.

Crimping is no more than a hint of effort; again, the seating die does not have case body support and crimping bottle neck cases can be a bad habit.

One day I decided to make a seater, I say seater because it does not have a die body. All it did was align the bullet with the case mouth, it supported the neck and shoulder. Seating is almost effortless.

F. Guffey
 
I wouldn't pull the bullet. I'd use a Redding Body Die to resize the loaded round. A couple of years ago I had a rifle rebarrelled, which left me with hundreds of loaded rounds sized for the old barrel chamber. I pulled a hundred or so till someone mentioned the Body Die approach. I got myself a body die, used it a bunch, and resized all the remaining loaded rounds. No problem. Nothing approaches the primer at any point. I'll admit to being a bit nervous on the first couple of rounds.

As for the pulled bullets, which I used an RCBS collet style puller to pull, there was a ring dent of various severity on each bullet. I reused them and have found them to be as accurate as the new undented bullets, which was a surprise.
 
Again, I visited Dillon; they suggest I purchase a RL550 type press and then they started listing all the advantages. First, the Dillon is set up to seat on one position and crimp on another. It did not take me long to explain I load on a 5 position press because I do not load on a progressive without a lock out die.

All Dillon progressives have different stations for seat and crimp, only the 650 and 1050 were intended to have a powder check die.
 
603:
Using a standard sizing die with the decapping stem removed of course, would there be any concern with the resized round sticking in the die and perhaps ripping off the rim during removal? Or apply a little lube just in case? Resizing the loaded round does seem doable without excessive danger but you do not want to be the first to become a statistic trying to demonstrate the point. But could the case neck with bullet attached, perhaps exerting excessive pressure against the neck surface of the die, be a concern when extracting the resized round?
 
Last edited:
Condor, you don't want to size the neck, and I don't know if you could get a loaded round into and out of a standard die. I wouldn't try it. But, with a Redding Bushing Die, just take the bushing out and it becomes a Body Die. That, or just buy a Body Die. They aren't expensive. That'll smooth out that crumpled shoulder and let you chamber and shoot the round. You will need to lube it, just like you would to FL size it.

I have noticed that accuracy of the dewrinkled rounds often isn't as good. I assume that I have reduced concentricity. But, they still shoot pretty good, even worst case, just not one-holers.

I have some 223's to 'smooth out' soon.
 
603:
Roger on the reply. I was concerned mainly with trying to use a standard die which is what some or most would have available and probably try to use, not knowing about the body die and the possible neck area hang up with the standard, if you could even insert the round that far into the neck section of the die. Perhaps you couldn't. But because I haven't done it doesn't mean that I won't but with using the proper equipment. I would guess the body die would accommodate the job properly.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top