Seating die squish???

Hi All, I'm wondering what happened here:
View attachment 383697
Trying to seat these BD2s in 7-08, and this one, the third case through, does this. We did 20 others and they all came out (and shot) fine. Is this a defect in the case, some weird interaction with the seating die, or something else I'm not seeing? I'd like to avoid randomly squishing cases in the future. This was the standard Redding seating die with micrometer.
Side by side with factory ammo, since we shot all the others we loaded up:
View attachment 383701

Also, should we shoot this? I'm tempted to see if it chambers, and if it does can we fireform this back into proper shape?
You buckled the shoulder with the seating dies roll crimp. The dies to low. Rise it, Never roll crimp. And ALWAYS check your brass's length. If its within 3-5 thou of max length trim it. I usually do before any other cartridge prep happens. I like to clean, trim, deburr and clean primer pockets, anneal, clean, size, clean, and load. Reason i trim first is to ensure any lip disfigurement on the case mouth by trimming is completely removed before loading, for uniform neck tension.
If you have to crimp buy a Lee collett factory crimper. But you probably dont need to unless your shooting a really heavy recoiling rifle.
 
That's an easy fix. Your seating die needs to be unthreaded a bit. You have the die screwed down too much. Remove it 3 full turns and then test it. The center of the die can be turned down to adjust seating depth.

It has nothing to do with the brass's length. Die is not set up right . Which doe set is it
 
Hi All, I'm wondering what happened here:
View attachment 383697
Trying to seat these BD2s in 7-08, and this one, the third case through, does this. We did 20 others and they all came out (and shot) fine. Is this a defect in the case, some weird interaction with the seating die, or something else I'm not seeing? I'd like to avoid randomly squishing cases in the future. This was the standard Redding seating die with micrometer.
Side by side with factory ammo, since we shot all the others we loaded up:
View attachment 383701

Also, should we shoot this? I'm tempted to see if it chambers, and if it does can we fireform this back into proper shape?
With all the new brass I've ever purchased the box had a note to run brass thru the sizer, measuring and trim if necessary. HTH
 
Hi All, I'm wondering what happened here:
View attachment 383697
Trying to seat these BD2s in 7-08, and this one, the third case through, does this. We did 20 others and they all came out (and shot) fine. Is this a defect in the case, some weird interaction with the seating die, or something else I'm not seeing? I'd like to avoid randomly squishing cases in the future. This was the standard Redding seating die with micrometer.
Side by side with factory ammo, since we shot all the others we loaded up:
View attachment 383701

Also, should we shoot this? I'm tempted to see if it chambers, and if it does can we fireform this back into proper shape?
I suspect that your crimp die is set too low and the roll crimp hit this particular piece of brass and crunched/buckled the brass. Try running an empty case all the way up to the end of the press' toggle, then screw the seating die down until it hits the top of the case, then back the seating die off by a half turn then lock the die in place. If you are in fact using the die to apply a crimp, then before using this die, make sure that all your brass is the same trimmed to the same length, otherwise a longer piece of brass will/can cause a buckle.
 
Last edited:
I have run into this from time to time too and it always has to do with the crimp. I can't tell from the picture whether there is a canellure on the bullet but looking at the cases side by side it appears that they are the same length to the top of the case meaning the damaged one would have been too long for the setting of the crimp. Always check the length on all brass, no matter if it is used or new. There is a lot of variation even with new factory brass.

I would not try to fire this case or any one like it. Put it up on display on your loading bench as a reminder not to do this again. :oops:
I wish you lived near by. Maybe you could come help me get started. I have reloaded in the past, but for some reason, I seem to be having trouble getting up and running this time. I am SURE that it is not Old Age creeping in. LOL.
 
Hi All, I'm wondering what happened here:
View attachment 383697
Trying to seat these BD2s in 7-08, and this one, the third case through, does this. We did 20 others and they all came out (and shot) fine. Is this a defect in the case, some weird interaction with the seating die, or something else I'm not seeing? I'd like to avoid randomly squishing cases in the future. This was the standard Redding seating die with micrometer.
Side by side with factory ammo, since we shot all the others we loaded up:
View attachment 383701

Also, should we shoot this? I'm tempted to see if it chambers, and if it does can we fireform this back into proper shape?
Had same issue with new brass. I needed to chamfer inside neck. Apparently, it had a non-visible edge in the neck that prevented bullet seating smooth. Caused same type squish you have.
 
I've had this happen when the necks are too tight. A chamfer worked for that. You said it was new Nosler brass, while I appreciate their consistency and accuracy I would still be running an expander through every neck since they are pre-chamfered. It could be that a crimp got you and this piece of brass was too long, but I doubt that it was long enough to do that. I would not fire this case as I think it's possible that your shoulder and neck are now compromised, if it even chambered. I doubt that you could size this out, it's unfortunate but I think you wasted a piece of brass.
 
Hi All, I'm wondering what happened here:
View attachment 383697
Trying to seat these BD2s in 7-08, and this one, the third case through, does this. We did 20 others and they all came out (and shot) fine. Is this a defect in the case, some weird interaction with the seating die, or something else I'm not seeing? I'd like to avoid randomly squishing cases in the future. This was the standard Redding seating die with micrometer.
Side by side with factory ammo, since we shot all the others we loaded up:
View attachment 383701

Also, should we shoot this? I'm tempted to see if it chambers, and if it does can we fireform this back into proper shape?
Kind of looks that the case was to long. I don't have any idea as to each case length. I use to check all my case after sizing for length. If to long I would trim the case, but my case were inconsistent for length, because I would cut back .0010th. The other cases were somewhere in between. Now I set up and place the case into the trimmer and it trims all to length every time. The trimmer I have cuts, bevels inside and out at the same time. That the first thing I do to my new case. I have just put this into my reloading process. After firing the cases I anneal, then size, cut for length. I may change it some as I go. It's another step in caring for the case. Everything is set so the case are all the same each and every time. Not require, but your reloads will be more consistent. Just one of many steps, that can be done or not. I would at lease check the case length every time, to be sure that the case isn't to long and out of speck. All the necks I cut for thickness. So that one of the reason I trim to length. If you shooting at or under 500yds, it doesn't need to be that close, but belong that it's a different thing. Hope this helps.
 
Remove die from press .Put case into shell holder and run all the way too the top of the stroke,Take your die and screw down until you feel resistance.The resistance is the roll crimp part of the die.Back off a quarter turn.Now the die is set up correctly.Now measure brass length.Even new brass can be different lengths.I have bought Nosler Custom brass that had a few different calibers mixed in,so they are far from perfect.Evidently one brass was longer than the others causing this.It only takes a few minutes to check the lengths with a caliper.
 

Recent Posts

Top