Note to self........

cornchuck

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
460
Location
Northwest Ohio
....check case mouths if you haven't trimmed them for a while. When I trim my cases, I trim them to max trim length. So when I started to reload for my 300 PRC last year, I bought new (100) Lapua brass. Right now I am on the 7th loading. I prepped them for this loading and about half them needed trimmed. Trimmed, primed, and poured the powder. Went to seat the bullets and started with the ones I trimmed. Got into the untrimmed and things got weird. Bullets got harder to seat and a couple I pushed the neck into the case body. I got mad. What was going on? I never had a problem before with any of my guns I reload for.

Got to looking at my seating die, Hornady Match Grade. It has a ring in the bullet sleeve the case neck hits. My Redding Competition dies doesn't. Then I started to look at my cases. I noticed the case mouths had a burr on the outside. When I got this batch of cases, I went through the whole case prep. Full length sized, trimmed if needed, flash hole uniformed, primer pocket uniformed, deburred inside and out the mouths.

I deburred and reamed the cases and everything was back to normal.

So the moral of the story is, check the case mouths for a burr if they haven't been deburred for a few loadings.

Jason
 
Update: PSA

I just read a post on a different forum where the poster said he had about the same problem as I had. He had a burr on the outside his case mouths after wet tumbling for 2 hours. I didn't mention this in my original post that this was the first time I used a wet tumbler, for 2 hours also. The poster in the other forum was told that wet tumbling for that long will peen the case mouths. Never thought about that.

Jason
 
Update: PSA

I just read a post on a different forum where the poster said he had about the same problem as I had. He had a burr on the outside his case mouths after wet tumbling for 2 hours. I didn't mention this in my original post that this was the first time I used a wet tumbler, for 2 hours also. The poster in the other forum was told that wet tumbling for that long will peen the case mouths. Never thought about that.

Jason
Yes, that happened to me several years ago and I stopped using SS media for that reason.
 
Why tumble so long? I use about a thimble full of citranox and tumble 45 min - 1hr depending on how bad and how many cases. Never an issue with case mouths. Most of my cases are AI and never need trimming and still no case mouth issue
 
Yes, that happened to me several years ago and I stopped using SS media for that reason.
I didn't have the SS pins in because I read that some guys was getting their cases just as clean without the pins. Plus, I was afraid that the pins would stick to the inside the case.


Why tumble so long? I use about a thimble full of citranox and tumble 45 min - 1hr depending on how bad and how many cases. Never an issue with case mouths. Most of my cases are AI and never need trimming and still no case mouth issue
I don't know why I ran them for that long. I know now that they don't need to be in there for 2 hours.

Jason
 
I didn't have the SS pins in because I read that some guys was getting their cases just as clean without the pins. Plus, I was afraid that the pins would stick to the inside the case.



I don't know why I ran them for that long. I know now that they don't need to be in there for 2 hours.

Jason
I should clarify…I went to ultrasonic. The pins were a huge PITA but the peening was what finally made me give it up.
 
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