Thread: STRAIGHTENING A CROOKED BULLET

Hi all. Did some reloading today and one of my rounds came out very crooked, shit load of run-out. Don't know what happened, think I might of been too impatient seating that one and stuffed up my process? Anyway, is there a way to straighten the round without pulling and reseating the bullets?
Thanks

Photo please!

Mark the projectile with a Sharpie around the top of the neck of the case. But it in your kinetic bullet puller and give it a few taps so you can see that it’s come out a hundred thou or so (more the better).

Then run it back through your seating die.

Depends whether the neck has radial runout....if not it will never straighten. In that case you will need to re-size it and check it again....if that doesn't work the only solution is fire-forming and starting again.

However if the neck has no runout and the projectile is offset in the neck it is possible in many ways to bring it back into line without detrimentally affecting the performance. Hornady make a runout gauge specifically for that purpose or you can grip the bullet in a lathe jaw and spin the round with a DTI on the case just above the extractor groove and gradually force it into line...whatever works is OK

A serious guy I shoot F-Open with has a fancy tool for doing just want you want. Makes him feel better but he doesn't win any more than other guys not using one.

Greetings All,
John Barsness, one of my favourite handloading writers, had an article in Handloader mag recently. He looked at reasons for projectile run out and identified the expander ball as a significant culprit. He got better results by sizing the case with the expander ball removed and then expanding the neck by running the expander ball into the case just through the neck and back out again. Obviously you need to remove the spent primer first which I do with a Lee punch and base set anyway. The reason given is that only part of the rim is supported when pulling the case out of the die but the whole head is when pushing it in. Also make sure that you chamfer the inside of the neck before loading including new brass.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings All,
John Barsness, one of my favourite handloading writers, had an article in Handloader mag recently. He looked at reasons for projectile run out and identified the expander ball as a significant culprit. He got better results by sizing the case with the expander ball removed and then expanding the neck by running the expander ball into the case just through the neck and back out again. Obviously you need to remove the spent primer first which I do with a Lee punch and base set anyway. The reason given is that only part of the rim is supported when pulling the case out of the die but the whole head is when pushing it in. Also make sure that you chamfer the inside of the neck before loading including new brass.
Regards Grandpamac.

I have been doing that for a very long time

The taper on Redding expanders is the wrong way around to be pulled back through a neck first

I ALWAYS use the expander as a seperate operation pushing it down through the neck first

That minimises runout to almost zero

And don’t forget when measuring runout it’s not the sum total measured, halve it as your wanting to know the offset from centre

Very very few remember that……..and it’s often taught incorrectly

I use a lee collet mandrel neck sizer after normal resizing/shoulder bump.

Originally Posted by Woody

I use a lee collet mandrel neck sizer after normal resizing/shoulder bump.

John mentioned the Lee collet neck dies and the old Lee Loader as producing very straight ammunition. Light loads for my .303 rifles are neck sized with a Lee Loader and then have the expander ball run in and out. They work well.
GPM.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

John mentioned the Lee collet neck dies and the old Lee Loader as producing very straight ammunition. Light loads for my .303 rifles are neck sized with a Lee Loader and then have the expander ball run in and out. They work well.
GPM.

I do get very straight ammo using the Lee Loaders but this time I used my Lee collet die and Hornady inline seating die and Lee neck flaring die. I do have a 'M' die but I find it opens the neck up too much for jacket and .312 cast bullets, good for .314 bullets for 303

Ground the primer pin off, the Lee collect neck die, means I can pour powder out, resize, straighten the neck without having to deprime the brass. Always remove primers with a Lee all caliber deprimer anyway - easier.

These photos really don't do it much justice but when the round came out the die it was quite noticeable without needing to roll it on a flat surface

Its only lead.....give it a tweak with the plam of your hand....wont take much preasure.
Then shoot as a warmup round.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Its only lead.....give it a tweak with the plam of your hand....wont take much preasure.
Then shoot as a warmup round.

Tried that, no luck

I have the hornady concentricity set up, seldom use it as what ever I'm doing, the run out is 1 to 2 thou out.
Know a guy that simply drills an appropriate size hole in his bench top, puts the project in and moves the case to straighten the whole lot up. Get tons of leverage that way, then he has a we home made jig to test his concentricity.