10 October 2002, 09:17
jason.whytekeep crushing my 44 shell when seating bullets ?
i crush every 3rd or 4th one i try to seat i know im doing somthing wrong .. i have loaded bullets befor but nothing that has this big of a bottom for a bullet (usually boat tails ) please help
10 October 2002, 09:34
AquavitSounds like either your brass is not all uniform length and you need to back the die out a bit - the crimp is engaging too much on the longer cases - or you're not putting enough bell to the case mouth.
I would bet that you need to back the die off slightly.
10 October 2002, 09:37
Bill MHello Jason,
I'm assuming 44 Rem Mag? There should be a separate neck expander die, and it sounds like you might need to adjust the expander down into the case more. Sometimes the expander is "two stage" - the first is just barely over the bullet diameter and the second is probably 0.005" over bullet diameter. I like the expander set where the "second stage" goes about 1/16" into the case. Also, make sure that you have an adequate chamfer on the case mouth. If they are crushing during crimping (not bullet seating), you might want to consider seating and crimping in two steps. Back off the die so that it doesn't crimp and seat all of the bullets, then back off the seating plug, adjust the die back down, and crimp.
If you're using a Dillon powder measure, adjust your powder die down so that you get a nice "bell" at the case mouth.
That's the best I can do with the information provided, hope it helps.
Bill
10 October 2002, 09:39
DaveCI am assuming that you have a 3 die set, one die to de-prime and size, one die to expand (bell) the case mouth and one die to seat bullets.
The key here is the 2nd die. After running a case into the die, can you tell if the mouth is expanded (belled)? If it isn't, turn the expander stem down a little at a time and keep trying it on a case. You want to get to a point where a bullet will just sit inside the mouth, but don't expand too much, or the case will not enter the seating die.
10 October 2002, 14:01
<BigBob>JASON.WHYTE,
There may be a couple of reasons for this. Belling the mouth of the case has already been mentioned. Another reason is one that doesn't come up very often. Measure your cases for length. If the length varies more than .005" This may be it, especally if this is new brass. If the seating/crimping operation is performed in the same die, there is a chance that the crimp was adjusted with one of the shorter cases. If so, everytime you attempt to seat/crimp a longer case the case becomes crushed. You may have to seperate cases by length, or trim your cases to the same length. On benefit of trimming the cases is that the accuracy is improved. I hope that this is of some help. Good luck.
![[Smile]](images/icons/smile.gif)
11 October 2002, 03:22
ClarkIf I try to seat and crimp in one step, the same thing can happen to me.
I now seat the bullets with the seater die slighly raised, and then in a later step, raise the seating stem and lower the seating die. This is the slow idiot proof way.