Thread: Loose projectile

Unloaded my pack after the weekend trip to find one of my handloads the projectile had pushed down into the case and so had powder in my ammo bag floating around.

Its Norma brass and its been used 3 times. The way I set my die up is to put the case in the press and raise it up until its at the max height and wind the die down until it just touches then back it off half a turn, I'm out on a limb here as no one lives close so its all trial and error.

I learnt this from watching youtube videos, so my question is this am I doing it right?

Thanks

Personally for sizing dies i do what you have done,except, get the ram to the top of its stroke, thread in the die till it contacts shell holder, then in a further 1/4 turn of the die.

I dont think with you backing it out half a turn you would lose the appropriate amount of neck being sized.

Best to set the full length resizing die without a case. Just down to the case holder only, then back off a little.
Strange its only happened once though. Possibly an out of spec bullet shank.

I looked at your hand loads mate and I reckon your seating those game kings too deep.
They are a longer higher bc projectile than the factory soft points you used as a baseline.
Post up some pics and see what others reckon.
I remember thinking they looked really deep, I think I even commented on it.

My Lyman die instructions say wind down until it touches the shell holder, then wind in a bit more. Other dies may be different, my Lee collet dies I wind in a lot further, so I don’t get cam-over.

Sounds like I need to organize that trip up to yours sooner rather than later and get ya sorted mate.

If you can remove your firing pin, size the case so you can just feel the bolt feel resistance as you close it.
A few people use a micrometer to measure, but I was taught the bolt closing method by a very experienced chap and it is spot on for your chamber.

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As Woody has said. If I understand you correctly what you have done will not size the neck at all.

Grab your vernier and measure a fired case neck and then measure your processed case neck. If there is no difference you have not sized the neck. Measure at the mouth and mid point of the neck.

If you haven't sized the neck though, the projectile should just slip in without any restriction, by hand. You will feel this when seating.
Unless you for some reason have a real tight chamber (unlikely on a factory rifle) the case neck will stay sprung out after firing and a projectile should slip in easily.

I have a 6mmBR that runs a real tight neck and after firing I cannot quite slip a projectile in by hand giving the appearance that it has already been sized. Unlikely to be your situation though.

Sometimes fired cases have a very small curl in at the neck mouth. This could be just enough to very lightly grip a projectile but you would feel it when seating ie virtually no force required.

I still say your sizing die isn't the problem... post a few pics of your rounds @Happy Jack

@Happy Jack, what make of sizing die are you using, any more details about the specific model would help as well. Redding dies for instance have several versions of the sizing die.

Most dies come with instruction sheets, or you can find them online. For both Lee and RCBS FL dies, the instructions are to touch the ram and then go in a further 1/4 turn.

Excuse the crude artwork very much not to scale but this is what I believe is your problem or at least part of your problem.
The shaded #### area on my diagram is the section of the projectile that is caliber diameter, those game kings taper at the base and to a much more extreme amount towards the tip.
I suspect you have seated them pretty much just a fraction deeper which means that the section of the bullet that starts to taper is inside the case neck meaning less surface for the neck to hold the projectile.
Hopefully that makes sense I'm not up with the fancy names for different parts of the bullet.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Unloaded my pack after the weekend trip to find one of my handloads the projectile had pushed down into the case and so had powder in my ammo bag floating around.

That can lead to embarrassment if flying.
Several years ago I took a day pack that had been hunting to aussie as carry on. Coming home my carry on got picked at random for a swab test. Bag comes back positive for explosives.
Interesting times ensued with the aussie customs and police staff who aren't very happy at the best of times.
Finally resolved when I said I used the pack occasionally for hunting and carried ammo and fired cases in it.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Unloaded my pack after the weekend trip to find one of my handloads the projectile had pushed down into the case and so had powder in my ammo bag floating around.

Its Norma brass and its been used 3 times. The way I set my die up is to put the case in the press and raise it up until its at the max height and wind the die down until it just touches then back it off half a turn, I'm out on a limb here as no one lives close so its all trial and error.

I learnt this from watching youtube videos, so my question is this am I doing it right?

Thanks

What kind of die are you backing off half a turn???

your sizing die instructions will have you screw die down until touches shell holder....some will tell you set it here,some will say screw in tiny bit more this will make case back to saami spec die was made too...I back die out tiny bit,this leaves body of case closer to dimension of chamber it fired in...eg it hasnt been squeazed in as much.... even if this "partial length resize" is taken to extreme and you back die out say 2 turns you still size SOME of the neck...you can see how much is worked at times and micrometer tells all.... buller seating die instructions will have you pur empty case in shell holder drop ram to bottom of stroke and slowly screw in die till it twitches like your old fella when pretty girl walks by..... then back out slightly,or screw in slightly if want a crimp,depending on wants n needs and type of die.
the only time Ive had projectiles move once seated was from cases where projectile had been pulled and then load re done without resizing.danyB could be onto it....but loading 125grn BTs of .308 calibre into 7.62x39mm case had them so deep the fattest part of projectile had started to go into neck,not much but a slight overhang was there...didnt seem to matter at all and had to do it to fit in magazine.can you seat them longer or do they hit front of magazine???

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

can you seat them longer or do they hit front of magazine???

He's got shit tonnes of room in his mag, have already discussed how he can check his maximum seating depth with a projectile seated way out then lubed.....close bolt on it then open quickly but carefully etc.
When all this snow pisses off I think I'll pop out for a visit if the wee fit man will have me