Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:04 pm Post subject: My 45-70 load..., what's wrong?

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I made up a couple practice dummy 45-70 rounds (no primer/powder) with the Rem 300 gr JHP bullets. I used my Lee hand press with Lee dies. Started with new Winchester brass, I full length re-sized, trimmed to 2.095" with the Lee trimmer, and chamfered inside,outside of case mouth. So far, so good. I ran the case thru the Lee expander to slightly flare the mouth (hardly noticeable). I ran it thru the Lee seater die a little at a time, adjusting to seat all the way to the bullet crimp area (2.525" overall length). Finished up with the Lee factory crimp.

Everything worked great and looks fine except I can see/feel a bulge in the case at the base of the bullet for about 1/4 of the bullet base periphery (I can look at the case and see exactly where the base of the bullet is inside the case due to the bulge). Is this to be expected? Any thoughts on what I did wrong? Does this mean the bullet was not seated correctly? Thanks!

That could be several things. But my first question would be-What is the exact diameter of your bullet--As compared to the inside diameter of your sized case??

The next thing to look at would be your crimping, but I would check the diameters first. Tom.

How many have you loaded? If more than 1, are they all like the one you described? I'd bell the case a bit more, seat a bullet and see what you've got. The setting on your crimp die may not be quite correct, possibly slightly crushing/distorting the case. I've found that crimping is not always necessary.

You have new brass and the sucky Lee dies.
The Lee expander is not very long. The step you have is because your factory brass is sized to minimum and you did not use a long expander.
You will see some of this with most brands of dies but it is a little less apparent when you use RCBS or Lyman dies with a long expander.
Go ahead and load and shoot and ignore the step for now. If you load cases that have been fired and resized it will be a little less apparent. If it really bugs you go to Track of the Wolf and order one of the long expanders that fit the Lee expander die. I use them in several diameters. If you are considering shooting cast bullet you might get several sizes. For .458 jacketed bullets try the .457 and .458 expanders.
If you have any more questions you can PM me or email me at yahoo with the same handle.

Track of the Wolf .457 expander

Nothing wrong, just that your sizing die squeezed the case down undersize and the bullet is stretching it back out. Try just running the cases into the size die jusr a little further than the bullet will go. Make sure the will chamber, if they dont then you must size deeper.

Lyle

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Tomorrow I'll try again with a few "practice" rounds, this time I'll pay close attention to making certain that the bullet is started as straight as possible. I'll also play around more with how much I resize and with the expander. Thanks again!

Are you using pistol dies (0.454 inch) for the rifle cases (0.458 inch)? If the Factory Crimp Die was included with your die set and/or your sizer is carbide, you're using pistol dies.
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"I can see/feel a bulge in the case at the base of the bullet for about 1/4 of the bullet base periphery (I can look at the case and see exactly where the base of the bullet is inside the case due to the bulge)."

Your loads are typical of long straight walled cases, it's nothing to worry about.

Cases vary in thickness so die makers have to plan on a "worst case scenerio". That means they have to make sizers able to make good ammo with both thick and thin brass. It requires sizing thicker brass more than neccessary but it's something we live with. And some bullets are a bit over size which expands (pun) the effect.

Necks always expand more towards the thin/soft side so that's why you are seeing the location of the bullet's base on only part of the circumference.