What other bullets did you load in this new brass? Do you have any pics of other loaded rounds, and did you experience any similar deformities using other bullets?
Deforming Nozler Accubond bullet tips
- Thread starter MontanaJack
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Labwhisper
Active Member
Has the OP responded to any of the questions in the replies, ie. measurements, bullet diameter, neck diameter, chamfered mouth, etc. I have been back and forth thru this thread and found nothing. Certainly looks to me that the issue is dimensional rather than tool related. Be interesting to learn what all pertinent measurements are.
Orange Dust
Well-Known Member
I have seen this with brand new brass. The necks were not properly annealed, if at all. Anneal the neck on a case and try it again. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts this is the problem.
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
I've experienced that undersized necks will indeed cause that. All the more if the mouths aren't chamfered sufficiently.
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
Never even thought of this but that makes sense!
antelopedundee
Well-Known Member
I suppose it's just as likely that his batch of bullets has unusually soft tips. Also the OP didn't say if he was seating against a compressed load so we don't the reason that there was so much resistance to seating the bullet. Maybe try seating one in an unprimed new case right out of the package and see if the same thing happens. I deliberately tried seating a Hornady SST into a tight neck with no issues. OTOH I have had case shoulders collapse when trying to expand them up with a mandrel.
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
Hadn't considered that possibility...what are the odds the op just happened upon a defective box of accubonds?
Orange Dust
Well-Known Member
ABLR's are notorious for doing this without a properly annealed and sized neck. They are very soft in the nose. That's why they expand at low velocities. What you are seeing is simply that it takes less pressure to deform the bullet than it does to expand the neck to allow the bullet to fit in it. The choices are to either soften the neck or to expand the neck closer to bullet size with a mandrel die, or both.
Orange Dust
Well-Known Member
One other thing. Are you cleaning your cases using the wet method and SS media? This really cleans the inside of the cases, and increases the amount of force needed to seat a bullet. If you are doing this, consider dipping the necks in mica power or similar before seating.
Another measurement that would be nice to have is the expander ball on the resizing dies diameter. It could be that on a 6.5 someone accidentally put a 257 expander ball in the die and that you were coming out with all of that extra neck tension.
I have had this kind of problems before. How many times have you fired the case? I found that If I fired more than three times without tumbling the brass the brass necks would get coated with enough carbon that the bullet would come out looking like that but to a lesser degree. Once I tumbled the brass using the Hornady case cleaning liquid, my problems went away. It could also be that you may be developing a doughnut in the case neck. My 6.5x284 seems to be notorious for this. Does the seating process seem a little more difficult when you reach about half way through the seating stroke process? If so, I would definitely look at possible doughnut formation in the case neck.
^^^ I think the OP states it's all "new brass".
Sorry. Didn't read through the thread carefully. My bad.
Charlie Brown Jr.
Well-Known Member
One thing you can do is pull your seating stem out, chuck it up in a variable speed drill with the seating cone up, put a dab of epoxy in it and stuff a LRAB in it with releasing agent on the bullet, now slowly spin the stem in the drill you can see the slightest runout with the bullet spinning, play with the runout until you can no longer see the bullet wobbling, then with the bullet straight up in a vertical line let it set overnight, when the epoxy has hardened you will have a perfect fit on what ever bullet the epoxy has hardened on.. In a pinch you can even use a 6mm seater and use this method with a .224 bullet in the epoxy, when your done check the runout in a loaded cartridge with a bullet spinner, they usually come out better than they did with the factory seating stem.. Just looking at your case I'd say it would be a good idea to open up the neck in your die a few thousands just by chucking your die up in a lathe and sanding with 400 grit paper on a dowel, size a case and seat a bullet, when the seating feels about right polish with 800 or 1000 grit, the die will still be plenty hard and you won't have to use a cheater to seat bullets anymore.. Good Luck
