Brass to shell holder friction

I've been holding off asking this question for too long as I've felt it is probably something I should know.

When processing the brass through the different stages and thus through the shell holders, some cases fit in easily and others are quite stiff, possibly irregular in circumference.

To avoid any doubt, I'm referring to when you place your case into the shell holder before de priming, case forming or adding the projectile etc.

What does it mean and what should I do with those cases?

Dave

 

I'm guessing it is military brass?

 

No, it is brass from factory .223 ammunition which I have kept. Normal small rifle primers etc.

 

5.56 and 7.62 nato can have dinged rims.
anything else just look and see why
I have had shell holders with burrs

 

bolt gun or gas gun ??

 

Bolt gun, Ruger Precision Rifle in .223

 

check the shell holder, or
by a second one to compare to

 

Have two, one on my press and one on my primer loading tool, both have similar happening. No obvious damage and it is not on every case. Got a bit of a Goldilocks thing going on, some are loser than others and some are quite tight making me think it must be a sign of something.
I'm reasonably new to reloading .223 / this rifle, I have never experienced this with the .308 that all my other reloading has been done for,

 

Are the primers backed out? Check for flatness by placing the case (on it's head) on a piece of glass, if it wobbles then the head isn't flat or the primer is sticking out just a tad.

 

All good questions, I'm experiencing this even when there are no primers in.

 

If you mean they have resistance when sliding in, you might want to take a micrometer (not a caliper) to your case just above the extractor groove. Measure new brass, and the 'problem' brass, and compare -if the problem brass is larger, you just might be having case head expansion -a sometimes pretty significant sign of high pressure in your loading.

What load are you shooting? Bullet/powder/charge weight.

Hope this helps,

Frank

 

Swiss RS 40 Powder
Magtech 7 1/2 primers

Initially 80gn SMK's with 22.1 gns pf RS40

Due to difficulty sourcing the 80gn SMK's and the price I have moved to 69gn SMK's and still working up a load. Currently testing between 22.8 and 23.8 gns of the RS40.

No signs of pressure so far. The firing pin is small in the hole, as they are on many RPR's so it is prone to bursting primers if the load starts to get too hot. For this reason I tend to not push the loads.

 

How many firings? As said above, could be case head expansion even at modest pressures.

Measure the rims, and grooves of loose and tight cases. See where the difference is.

 

Ive seen this from time to time with mostly LC brass both in 556 and 762. It has not been consistent. There is a correlation to the tightnes of the primer pockets. Again though it does not seem to be consistent.
I dont think Ive seen this with commercial brass however. As complete conjecture i would suppose that some lots/batches may be softer in the heads than others.
This occurs after firing but not during the reloading process prior to this phenomenom. Yes, this is once fired brass.

 

More than likely the one's sticking have slight dings on the rim/base of the case's and that is the main problem. Can you smooth the base or rim up a little with a small file or steel wool and then see if they slide in better ?

 

Brass was shot in a big chamber, probably a hot load, and not sized correctly

 

Shell holders are no created equal, even from the same manufacturer. If you measure the slot the rim slides in you will be surprised. From one major companies I have 4 of the same number she'll holder. Two are the same. So, from 3 shell holders the slot for the rim has 3 different measurements.

 

Try a different brand of shell holder will probably help.

 

Brand to brand, shell holders are not created equal. Some run looser than others. Buy a couple different brands. This was suggested to me by the Lapua rep. when I ran into a certain lot of 6BR brass that was on the upper end of accepted case head size.

Looks like Jeffppc and Hammerjack can type faster than I can.

 

ive had the same problem with a # 2 shell holder... I had 4 or 5 of them and found one that the problem cases would fit in but also after doing some measuring I had found the base of the case had swelled a little... these cases didn't last much longer before the primer pockets were to loose to safely hold a primer...I had hammered these problem cases pretty good during load development... and knew I had ...