This is the first straight walled cartridge I've loaded myself.

How far should the expander ball go into the case?

You want to flare the mouth of the case enough to allow the bullet to seat without catching the mouth of the case.
Your seated bullet should not swell the case leaving an hour glass shape.
If it does you may have to set the expanded much deeper.

If the seated bullet expands the case too much for your liking it is not the expanders fault.
Likely it is the sizing die being a little too tight - which is easy to fix. Buy a larger sizer or polish the existing sizer out a little.

quote:

Originally posted by Rapidrob:
You want to flare the mouth of the case enough to allow the bullet to seat without catching the mouth of the case.
Your seated bullet should not swell the case leaving an hour glass shape.
If it does you may have to set the expanded much deeper.

If you have a proper die set it will expand the case in 2 steps.

1. The top step is for the bullet to seat with out shaving and withoout buckling the case wall.

2. The long expander step or bottom step will normally go far below the bullet base.

Let us know what brand of dies you have.
For long straight wall cases Lee expanders stink.

RCBS expanders are pretty good. Lyman M dies are pretty good also.

If you have need for a custom expander for use with either jacketed or cast bullets Buffalo Arms and Track of the Wolf have a wide selection.

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:
This is the first straight walled cartridge I've loaded myself.

How far should the expander ball go into the case?

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:
This is the first straight walled cartridge I've loaded myself.

How far should the expander ball go into the case?

AH,

You may want to back-up a couple of steps.

If you have a factory round, Mic the case outside diameter at the bullet. Mic it again after its fired. Compare to:

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd458winchestermagnum.jpg

Then FL size, mic it again and compare again.

I didn't do this and found a problem when I expanded, flared the case and when to seat bullet. However, the problem was that my die was resizing too much. Had to back it off 1/8" so as to get that 0.481" neck OD right. Then each subsequent step got better.

I have Redding dies and am using Hornady brass and Hornady 500 gr Interlocks.

Right now I have about the top 1/8" flared, it had to back the expander die up quite a ways. Maybe the Redding is designed to go further in?

Haven't loaded these yet. All virgin brass, that I FL resized this morning.

I use Lee expander die for several BP cartridges, making my own expanders with more taper and custom diameters. Works great. Factory expander plugs, not so much, but they are easy to make if you have a lathe and are easier to change on the Lee die than any other.

To clarify, the expander/flare part is only going in just enough for the 1/8" flare. Ie read about some flare die that go quite a bit of the way in. Not sure what the correct use of the a redding is. Instructions were very, very vague.

I found that different bullets left the outside of my case looking a touch different. Too lazy to mic them. Sorry I could care less if I can see the outline of the bullet. Too me that is a die issue not an expander.

Seeing a little bullet bulge does not seem to make much difference...at least in my .458...as they shoot one ragged holes groups.

You need to be careful and not over expand the brass or you won’t have sufficient case tension on the bullet. You want to flair the mouth just enough to be able to start the bullet into the case with out shaving the base or side of the bullet and not crushing the case. Any more you are over working the brass and your cases will not last as long. I expect to see the case swelled from inserting the bullet that way I know I have good case tension.
Bill

How much of the bullet should the "flare' allow in? Should you be able to fit the entire diameter of the bullet into the flare? If so, that would say the flare is about 1/8"+ or so depending on the bullet?

The last 458s I loaded I used no case mouth bell at all, worked fine, no collapse, no bullet shaving. You want to bell as little as possible to avoid working the necks and hastening split necks.

This is a hard question to answer you will develop a feel as to how much is needed. Most jacketed .458 bullets have a slight radius on the bottom of the bullet this helps the bullet to start in to the case with out damaging the bullet. I would lightly deber the inside of the case mouth to help start the bullet.
Bill

I just flare enough to start the bullet. Some of my loads were compressed enough that expanding the cases more would allow the powder to push the bullets back out a little with time. When I checked those particular cartridges. I could twist the bullets in my fingers if I got a death grip on them. Less expansion gave more neck tension and better results.

A little flare. And make sure you chamfer/deburr too, even with fired factory cases. I have had case necks collapse when seating bullets that were once fired factory (e.g. Hornady 450/400) but not chamfered.

Best wishes, Chris

Thanks! This helped immensely!