Guys,

I am new to reloading. I made my first batch of reloads yesterday. The factory shells from the gun came out deformed at the mouth and case needed trimming. I trimmed back and went to shoot another batch and when I came home they where again stretched to the point where I had to trim back. Is this normal or is there a problem with my gun? The caliber that I am shooting 30-06 with Federal brass. The rifle is a Husqvarna model 9000. The powder charge was H4350 54 grains with Hornady 180g BTSP bullets.

Thanks,

Claude

Claude,

"The factory shells from the gun came out deformed at the mouth"

Please describe what you mean by deformed. What did they look like?

knobmtn

Oversizing or too much headspace in the chamber. In either case, it's oversizing your brass.

When you size, don't set the shoulder of the resized case more than a thousandth or two. That still might not take care of the problem if the chamber is sloppy and the neck area is too big. In that case you'll have to have the die altered somewhat to reduce the oversizing.

A few things that cause frequent trimming are not trimming enough, over FL sizing, too much sizing down and up at the neck by the die, dies that are made wrong and a chamber that's oversize on the body of the case.

The thing to do is to set the FL die so that you can feel the case a little bit when a test case is tried and to trim about .010" off from the maximum of 2.494".

Is there a large bulge near the base of a fired case?

As to the necks getting dented I am not that familar with that rifle but one could draw the bolt back slower at the range and watch what happens.

Howdy,
welcome to the forums...

if it's factory ammo, in a factory chambered gun, and you measure them to need to be trimed after ONE firing, you may need new calipers...

not joking, I am dead serious...

if the cases can resize WITHOUT trimming, and not require any huge effort, then it's just about impossible (unless it's bertram brass) for the neck to grow enough to trim in 1 shot.

try this... pull a couple NEW cases down, and measure the length... see what they are, right that down, and try again..
OR!!!!!!!!

are this heavily crimped factory cases?

If so, match the crimping and it should not be an issue

jeffe

I thought about excessive headspace and erased it as it's happening a second time it seems.

knobmtn:

I mean the mouth is not a cicle in some cases. Its kind of bent. some even elpitical shape in others its almost a cirle then one side is crushed in.

Claude

I don't think its the calipers because I am using the lee cutter, which is guaged exactly for the 30-06 and after shooting it measures too big with the calipers, I put it in the cutter, and brass is removed. I measure again 2.494 exactly the SAAMI spec. The cutter works to remove enought brass to bring it back to SAAMI Spec. Anyway thanks guys for all your opinions.

Claude

BigK75,

I have not seen a Lee Cutter but if I made a similar device as you describe it would cut an 06 case to 2.484" and not 2.494".

How long are your cases before firing, after firing, after sizing, after trimming and does your caliper return to zero?

the dinged up mouths probably come from your manner of ejection. ease up and open the bolt slowly and catch the brass before it hits the bench.

Savage, I am going today with a buddy and I will try and get some numbers to see if the calipers are of from his Sako. I will post the numbers in the afternoon.

Claude

Claude, here's how to solve excessive case stretch. Take a shell that's been fired in your rifle. Smoke the neck and shoulder of a case with a butane lighter, candle or match. Back your full length sizing die out of the press by a full turn. Lube the body of the case and run it into the die. When you withdraw it, you will see how far the neck has been sized, by how much of the smoked area is gone. Turn the die down a little at a time until the smoked area on the shoulder is touched. Try to chamber this shell in your rifle. It probably won't go in or will with some effort. Now turn the die in a little more and try to chamber it again. What you want is a slight resistance to closing the bolt. These shells will not work in a rifle with close to specs headspace. Yours seems to be on the excessive side. This procedure is also called partial full length sizing.

I generally file down the Lee case length part of the trimmer. The tip rests on a flat surface, so I always flatten the tip with a file. This will give you a case a couple of thousanths shorter, but not so short as to look weird.

The lock stud may not be flat either. I have one and I had to file off a litle tit dead center, just where the cutter tip hits. Now the lengths are correct.

Trim AFTER sizing.