Starline brass
- Thread starter Jeryray
- Start date
A little more information would be helpful.
A pic of this "ring" would be a great help. Otherwise, could you be a little more descriptive? Is this ring the bullet or the brass? What kind of bullet are you seating? Are you seating and crimping in the same step? Does the loaded ammo chamber in your firearm?
Help us help.
A pic of this "ring" would be a great help. Otherwise, could you be a little more descriptive? Is this ring the bullet or the brass? What kind of bullet are you seating? Are you seating and crimping in the same step? Does the loaded ammo chamber in your firearm?
Help us help.
NoSecondBest
New member
+1 with Nick....more info. If you're talking about a ring around the case where the base of the bullet ends up at, that is caused by a bit of a mis-match in sizing between the inside case diameter and bullet diameter. If they feed in the gun it's not a problem. If it's something else, post a pic.
but could the bell or flare of the case be a tiny bit too small and is shaving off a bit of the plating or lead? Some of my first attempts seating plated bullets (lead ones too) shaved the plating. Increased the bell a tad and problem fixed.condor bravo
New member
It sounds like the ring, amounting to a case diameter enlargement, starting at the base of the bullet after seating the bullet, which is somewhat common and no reason to throw away the Starline brass. 
condor bravo
New member
The ring then is around the bullet rather than the case and as you surmise, probably due to the tighter fitting brass requiring more pressure to seat the bullet. That situation is brought up from time to time and the usual cure is to smooth out the inside of the seating stem where it contacts the bullet. More flare might help but not guaranteed.
buck460XVR
New member
The ring will not impact accuracy, and most likely not feeding. Starline brass sometimes is thicker than other brass types and since the brass when sized is dimensionally the same on the OD as other brass types, due to the increase in wall size, the ID will be smaller, thus a tighter fit and more pressure needed to seat the bullet. This increase in neck tension tho will help greatly with bullet retention and resistance to bullet setback.
Gary Wells
New member
I'd dump the Berry's plated long before I dumped the Starline.
Might consider buying or borrowing a small qty. of LSWC.
Might consider buying or borrowing a small qty. of LSWC.
ShootistPRS
New member
The Berry's bullets are .452" in diameter which is .001" larger than jacketed bullets. If the cases are sized and expanded for the standard jacketed bullet I would expect there to be a narrowing between the seated bullet and the base of the cartridge. when I was shooting 45 ACP with 250 cast lead bullets the difference was .002" over the jacketed bullet diameter and they always had a "wasp waist" (narrowed case diameter under the seated bullet. It never seemed to affect the function of the Colt Combat Commander although the gun was never "reliable" even using factory FMC ball ammo.
Jeryray,
Did you pull the clip pin out of the seating die and look at the two ends of the Dillon seating ram? The are reversible. One end is for round nose and the other is for semi-wadcutters. Pick the one that fits your bullets best by taking that stem out and trying both ends on one of your bullets. You can also radius and polish the edges with some emery cloth and crocus cloth, respectively, while you have it out.
If you do end up using the opposite end of the stem from the one you are using now, you will want to readjust the die. The easiest way is to back out the adjustment several turns, put one of your already-finished rounds at the seating station, run the press ram up, then tighten the die adjustment back down again until it makes solid feeling contact with the bullet.
On nickel-plated brass, use some care. The nickel is harder than brass and while it simply wears off some brass gradually, it flakes off others. The flakes can embed in your sizing die carbide ring and scratch other cases run through the die. If you put a light coat of spray case lube on the brass before resizing, it will help prevent this problem. It's just added bother.
I once bought 500 nickel-plated .308 cases with the idea the plating would help me segregate my brass from other shooter's brass at matches. The problem was the nickel reflects the color of grass and dirt accurately, so it proved harder to find. The matches only allowed us a limited amount of time to police brass between relays, and in the end, that nickel-plated camouflage caused me to lose more cases than when other shooters were picking my brass up accidentally.
The main advantage nickel has is how much longer you can keep it in leather belt loops and pouches before it starts to corrode. Police liked it in the revolver days for this reason. I wouldn't be surprised if some parts of the country still had that. Nickel probably resists weather conditions better in general. But they have to pickle (surface etch) brass to plate it and the brass is usually weakened some by that. Combined with the lower flexibility of nickel, you may find these cases develop mouth splits earlier than all-brass cases do. There seem to be differences in nickel plating process such that some cases suffer this and some don't. There's no sure prediction one way or the other.
The bottom line, though, is I found nickel to be more trouble than it's worth. YMMV, but just some things to think about for future purchases.
Did you pull the clip pin out of the seating die and look at the two ends of the Dillon seating ram? The are reversible. One end is for round nose and the other is for semi-wadcutters. Pick the one that fits your bullets best by taking that stem out and trying both ends on one of your bullets. You can also radius and polish the edges with some emery cloth and crocus cloth, respectively, while you have it out.
If you do end up using the opposite end of the stem from the one you are using now, you will want to readjust the die. The easiest way is to back out the adjustment several turns, put one of your already-finished rounds at the seating station, run the press ram up, then tighten the die adjustment back down again until it makes solid feeling contact with the bullet.
On nickel-plated brass, use some care. The nickel is harder than brass and while it simply wears off some brass gradually, it flakes off others. The flakes can embed in your sizing die carbide ring and scratch other cases run through the die. If you put a light coat of spray case lube on the brass before resizing, it will help prevent this problem. It's just added bother.
I once bought 500 nickel-plated .308 cases with the idea the plating would help me segregate my brass from other shooter's brass at matches. The problem was the nickel reflects the color of grass and dirt accurately, so it proved harder to find. The matches only allowed us a limited amount of time to police brass between relays, and in the end, that nickel-plated camouflage caused me to lose more cases than when other shooters were picking my brass up accidentally.
The main advantage nickel has is how much longer you can keep it in leather belt loops and pouches before it starts to corrode. Police liked it in the revolver days for this reason. I wouldn't be surprised if some parts of the country still had that. Nickel probably resists weather conditions better in general. But they have to pickle (surface etch) brass to plate it and the brass is usually weakened some by that. Combined with the lower flexibility of nickel, you may find these cases develop mouth splits earlier than all-brass cases do. There seem to be differences in nickel plating process such that some cases suffer this and some don't. There's no sure prediction one way or the other.
The bottom line, though, is I found nickel to be more trouble than it's worth. YMMV, but just some things to think about for future purchases.
They don't sell it direct. It's special order from them, so they only make it available in dealer quantities. So if Midway or some other Starline retailer wants some, they can get it. So Jeryray will have purchased in from another vendor, and not from Starline directly.
condor bravo
New member
No, nickel plated not a special order, I definitely have it in .45-70 and I believe one or two others, from Midway and/or Graf.
Gary Wells
New member
Most or all of nickel plated Starline Brass is special order. only.
condor bravo
New member
My other Starline nickel plated cases are .44-40s. Any special ordering would have been done by the vendor, either Midway or Graf I would guess.
Gary Wells
New member
That's a possibility, and another is that when somebody special orders some popular calibers that then intentionally make an intentional over-run & offers it up to some distribution &/or retail companies.
disseminator
New member
If you head on over to Starline's website, you will notice the nickel plated can be bought but only in bulk as they make it to order. End users most likely won't buy 5000 or more at a time so it's through Midway, Brownell's, Graf, etc that the shiny brass is available in smaller amounts.
When I first started hand loading, I bought 500 Nickel 10mm Starline from Midway. They have held up well over the years but I never bought more nickel and probably won't in the future unless it's a super deal.
When I first started hand loading, I bought 500 Nickel 10mm Starline from Midway. They have held up well over the years but I never bought more nickel and probably won't in the future unless it's a super deal.