Loaded Round stuck in Body die

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amathis

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So after 10+ thousand rounds reloaded I finally have my first stuck case.

The caveat is that the case is loaded.

I pressed somewhere near 1000 rounds of 223 checking every couple rounds in my case gauge. Well it turns out the gauge was wrong much to my dismay. It was off by a few 1000th of an inch just making the rounds a little to long to chamber properly.

So I purchased a body die with the purpose of being able to push back the shoulder a tiny bit.

I got through a few hundred rounds without an issue and then I get to this one. No problem till I went to back out the cartridge.

So here's the issue. I've got a case, primer, powder, and bullet sitting in this die and I need it out!

I tried popping it out with a brass punch but the bullet just slipped back into the case. I fear punching it to much may ignite the primer so I refuse to do that.

The shell holder ended up ripping off most of the lip so that is a no-go.

I am considering using a file and filing both sides of the brass and extracting the primer. I'd do this slowly so it wouldn't heat up.

Any ideas?
 
Do you have enough rim left to get a grip on it? If so, set the die and cartridge on a rag in an insulated box with some dry ice on the bottom. After an hour, quickly pull it out and screw it into the press (with gloves on) and slip the shell holder in over it and pull before it gets warm. Brass and copper shrink more per degree drop in temperature than steel does.

If not, you've got a loaded gun. There's really no truly safe way to work on it. At that point I would go out to the country cabin and set the head of the case down on a hot plate, plug it in by remote control (extension cord) and let it heat until it pops the bullet out. Then you can freeze the case and use a punch to knock the bottom of the case down.

Or just do what Brain said.
 
Just as Unclenick, Other than holding a Can of Air Upside-down and Frost the thing from the bottom.
 
I'll try the dry ice method. I don't have much rim left, but I could gently use a pair of vice grips.

I get nervous enough worrying primers will blow let alone having as Unclenick said a loaded gun on my hands

Hopefully I won't have to throw it away. . . . I just got the die today. . . . .

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
"So I purchased a body die with the purpose of being able to push back the shoulder a tiny bit"

I for one am glad what ever you decided to do did not work, as fast as reloaders are to catch on especially when it comes to something new on the Internet everyone would be pushing/bumping? the shoulder back with a body die inside a few working days.

"I pressed somewhere near 1000 rounds of 223 checking every couple rounds in my case gauge. Well it turns out the gauge was wrong much to my dismay. It was off by a few 1000th of an inch just making the rounds a little to long to chamber properly"

I do not know what case gage you were using, I have no way of knowing what method and or technique you used to ("Well it turns out the gauge was wrong much to my dismay")check the gage, my chambers and gages agree, when they do not I go with the chamber, there must be something about the value of .000 reloaders do not understand.

You pulled the rim off the case when you lowered the ram, next time rotate the shell holder until you can remove the shell holder off of the ram and stuck case at the same time.

F. Guffey
 
Be careful the vice grips don't crush the head and primer to the point of setting it off. This may be another thing only to do by remote control.

Doing as Mr. Guffey suggests in the future will let your remove the die for freezing before giving the press another go at it. But in the future you may also want to apply a bullet puller before fixing the cases.
 
Who made the die in question? If the bullet is now inside the case chances are you can shake out the powder charge. Then press it out with a steel punch.
 
While I appreciate your insight and concern F. Guffy, I am confident in what I was doing.

Please forgive me, if I am reading your tone wrong, but I knew someone would start talking about this being a bad idea, and that is partially why I very rarely post anything I do, because many people have different ways of doing things and forums tend to be a hotbed of "that's not how we do it."

Frankly, I don't know what went wrong with the case gauge other that it was off a thousandth or so. It could have been me, although I don't think so, but in any case, the rounds do not chamber properly in two of my rifles. All I know is that I have a problem and need to fix it. Hence the body die.

Strictly speaking using the body die is not a problem of safety as long as everything else remains the same(ex. total length). Whether nor not someone else would do the same thing or pull all the bullets and start over is completely up to them, but this is what I chose to do.

I did rotate the shell holder and attempted again, but to no avail.

When I am done removing the cartridge, I will finish "bumping" the shoulder back on the rest of them.

The die was a Redding .223 body die. There isn't quite enough space to get the powder out as I fill my cases around 80% or so to catch a double charge.
 
"While I appreciate your insight and concern F. Guffy, I am confident in what I was doing"

Amathis, you are O.K. others believe I should agree with them, not the best description but Redding claims there is a little clearance between the neck of the die and and case as in not sizing the neck when the body die is used. How Little? We do not know if there is enough room for the neck with a seated bullet. I have body dies, I have had them for years, I do not consider them nice or necessary. My 30/06 sizer die is a body for my 270 cases and 280 cases. The 280 Remington case requires I raise the 30/06 die off the shell holder .051", lots of clearance between the neck of the case and die. Then there is the 8mm06 sizer die when body sizing my 30/06 cases, not as much room, then there is the 338/06 for body sizing 8mm57 and 30/06.

308 Winchester and 7mm08 body sizing and or 243 Winchester. I am not saying anything about your confidence, I would choose not to size a loaded round, there is something about the combination that makes me think of a grenade.

I have dies, lots of dies, If I found body sizing dies necessary or just nice to have I would make them out of dies I have and do not need, around here there is no shortage of cutting tools/grind tools, I would start with cutting the neck portion of the die off then use a butt grinder to give clearance for the neck, the body die does not need the neck portion of the die, again, if there is clearance.

Bumping the shoulder back, I do not have a die that is capable of doing that, by the time the shoulder of the case gets to the shoulder of the die the case body is totally engaged in the die, meaning if the shoulder of the die gets bumped into the case the case body also is getting bumped? and that puts me back to full length sizing, If I were to bump my shoulders back with out case body support the sides of the case would be forced out.

F. Guffey



F. Guffey
 
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Vermont has deep lakes. Put it in your tackle box. When your out in the middle of a deep lake fishing latter this summer >pitch it. Let nature & time take its course and resolve your problem safely.
 
Take the die out of the press and submerge it in water. Drain the water and powder from the die. Now you are left with only the primmer to worry about.
 
"There's a good reason why reloaders need to make a few rounds and then see if they shoot before going further."

As I DID. . . . . . and there were no issues.

I am going to gently try the freezing method tomorrow. If it doesn't work VERY easily, I'll end up getting another die.
 
If you have time to wait, you can submerge the die in a high capacity copper solvent like KG-12. The brass will disappear over time, the powder will be wet and the jacket on the bullet will be spoiled. And you'll be out the cost of the solvent.
 
Necro thread revival.

Amathis, I sent you a PM how I just removed mine a couple of days ago.

A loaded round can be safely removed from a body die.

It is no more dangerous than using an inertial bullet puller.
 
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