Seating Die: This Happened

[Timnterra]

Unfortunately I did that to a $3 piece of ADG 338 rum brass in a Redding seater die. It wasn't the die being adjusted wrong it was the neck was too tight on the new brass and the bullet didn't go into the neck. I've never had that happen before but I ran all the brass through the fl die and the expander ball was working pretty hard to open the neck on the initial up stroke of the ram.

 

[Alibiiv]

Hello General Lee, welcome to the club!! If there's ever anyone who tells you that they have been reloading for many years and have reloaded thousands of rounds, and......never made a mistake or crunched a piece of brass then they are not being truthful. For me from that point on I would be able to tell when they are not being truthful because their lips were moving!! You may consider yourself a "newbie" {{{don't like this term for some reason}, however you are a smart "newbie" because you were smart enough to reach out and ask about what was going on and how to fix your particular issue. I may have missed it in the replies/OP, however what round are you trying to reload for that got crunched up???? I've been reloading since dinosaurs were still walking the earth, really do not crimp any bottle necked cartridges with the exception of rounds that are used in a tubular magazined rifle like 30-30, 32 Special, 35 Remington never any issues whatsoever. If you do decide that you want to crimp a round, try to use a bullet that has a cannular groove on it to give the brass from, a roll crimp, a place to go, otherwise you can/will run into a problem with crunching the brass again if the seating/crimp die is set too deep and the roll crimp/brass has no place to go. "If" you do decide to crimp a particular cartridge I suggest that you take a strong look at the Lee, Precision Crimp die. This die is cartridge specific, however you will never find a die that will give you a better crimp than this die, it's easy to set up and does an incredible job making a crimp. I read about the die on this forum, bought one to try out and now I have four of them. I was loading for my 45-70 and having difficulty getting the crimp die to work properly and was "crunching" some of the brass. After reading about the die and having problems with my brass I decided for $12-15 what could I lose. I bought that die and never looked back, it made incredible crimps and the die is forgiving as far as COAL goes. The die does not roll the crimp it actually has three or four ribs in a steel collet that squeeze the brass into the cannular grove. I now use this die on all of the straight walled cartridges that I reload for and also for the 30-30 round that I reload for. There's a good group of guys on here who are extremely knowledgeable and who are willing to share their knowledge without being judgemental, keep being smart and reach out for suggestions and advice. Here's a link in reference to the Lee die that I wrote about:

www.brownells.com/reloading/reloading-dies/rifle-dies/rifle-factory-crimp-dies-prod54163.aspx​

 

[Skeet1961]

I was loading a dummy round no primer and no powder to check COAL and magazine compatibility and this happened when I cammed over the press with the Hornady seating die. I was able to extract the bullet. I'm a newbie but I guess I learned use only enough pressure on seating die to seat the bullet?

Or…you can read the included pamphlet that came with your dies, or your reloading manual. There's a lot of good information in them. Be safe

 

[Rich Coyle]

General RE LEE,

I suppose this might bother some posters here because it's not part of you question. But here goes.

I suggest you read the primer brand and number before you start and after you finish loading. Do the same with your powder. That way, when you make a mistake you catch it before you ever leave the loading area.

 

[TXTrained]

I was loading a dummy round no primer and no powder to check COAL and magazine compatibility and this happened when I cammed over the press with the Hornady seating die. I was able to extract the bullet. I'm a newbie but I guess I learned use only enough pressure on seating die to seat the bullet?

You did not have die set correctly. I did it o ce when I 1st started reloading and did not know h I w to set up die correctly

 

[5gauss]

I was loading a dummy round no primer and no powder to check COAL and magazine compatibility and this happened when I cammed over the press with the Hornady seating die. I was able to extract the bullet. I'm a newbie but I guess I learned use only enough pressure on seating die to seat the bullet?

seating die is never "cammed over" in my experience....only the resizing die would be set that way. Seater simply seats the bullet to proper depth..

 

[Chas1]

Been there, done that. It happens, adjust die and enjoy.

 

[Alibiiv]

General RE LEE,

I suppose this might bother some posters here because it's not part of you question. But here goes.

I suggest you read the primer brand and number before you start and after you finish loading. Do the same with your powder. That way, when you make a mistake you catch it before you ever leave the loading area.

That's a great idea. I also have a policy to leave only "one" can/pound of powder on the loading bench next to the powder dispenser/measure and that can of powder is what I am using in my reloads. I also leave the cover off of that same can to make sure that I don't get anything else mixed into another can of powder. It really sucks (especially at today's prices) when there's two cans of powder on the bench, after charging the brass you empty the powder measure back into the powder container, and then question whether you emptied the powder from the measure into the can it was supposed to go into. With the opened pound of powder next to the powder measure it also affords me the ability to check the load with the powder that I am using.

 

[StoneyBurk]

I was loading a dummy round no primer and no powder to check COAL and magazine compatibility and this happened when I cammed over the press with the Hornady seating die. I was able to extract the bullet. I'm a newbie but I guess I learned use only enough pressure on seating die to seat the bullet?

That usually happens when you don't chamfer the neck ! The bullet hangs on the case mouth and pushes down ! Try a little lubricant inside the case neck and chamfered the neck and you will cure that problem

 

[barefoot1]

If that does not work, make sure your sliding stem does not get hung up.

Just had this happen on an RCBS Comp seating die yesterday. I hadn't used it to reload .223 in years couldn't figure it out, so I reverted to my normal seating die. This morning I took the comp die apart and boy was that stem hung up. Here goes the Brakleen followed by some Kroil.

 

[Frankie Crum]

Others above are correct...

Unthread your die all the way back out, put your brass in your shell holder and set the bullet in the top of the neck, then raise your ram all the way to the top of it's stroke with your brass and bullet coming through the top of your press.

At that point, thread your die in until you feel it barely touch the bullet and begin to seat it further in the brass, then adjust your seating depth from there.

Thread the body of the die in or out for a course adjustment, and thread the seating stem in or out for fine adjustment.

Bingo!

 

[LVJ76]

Yup, done that. I screw seater a little further in to the die and problem fixed

 

[beto]

I was loading a dummy round no primer and no powder to check COAL and magazine compatibility and this happened when I cammed over the press with the Hornady seating die. I was able to extract the bullet. I'm a newbie but I guess I learned use only enough pressure on seating die to seat the bullet?

That's a crimping problem.

 

[NielsC]

Your die is not properly adjusted. It is trying to crimp the neck and seat the bullet deeper at the same time. Something has to give and that something is the neck.

For most rifles, especially bolt action, crimping is not needed. Some people want a taper crimp in autoloaders to prevent the violent action of chambering from seating the bullet deeper. I don't ever crimp and have never had a problem.

To adjust your die so it does not crimp, back the die out a turn or two and run a sized and empty case all the way up on the ram. Then turn the die down until it just makes contact with the neck. Turn it back out a half turn or so and lock it down. This will seat bullets without crimping.

Just follow instructions.