22-250 bullet to brass problems advice

[Allen Roberts]

With new unfired brass or with once fired brass, I cannot put a Berger 55 grain bullet into the brass case and reload it. It will barely accept a 55 gr boat tail Sierra bullet. What am I doing wrong. Do I need some sort of neck expander? I never encountered this problem in the 223,

 

[SSL]

Should be a tight fit and require pressure to seat it...just not so much you collapse the neck of the case when seating the bullet. Your sizing die probably has an expander ball on the depriming pin. That should give you plenty of opening for the bullet to fit.

 

[Steve Donlon]

If it's a flat base bullet you will have to chamfer the mouth of your brass a lot more. In fact you should chamfer all your brass so it will have less run out.

 

[searcher]

If it is difficult to get the boat tail bullet to seat, I'd guess the issue rests with your expander ball. When you are in the "up stroke" when sizing, that expander should be leaving you with a properly dimensioned neck, able to easily accept a boat tail bullet. I'd refer to your die instructions for proper adjustment of the expander ball. Not having a chamfer on the inside of the neck can make bullet entry more difficult - but a boat tail bullet should not be a problem to seat, even with a light chamfer. It would be rare to have the manufacturer accidently install an undersized ball expander - especially since the next size down is .20 caliber, which usually takes an entirely different-sized de-cap assembly. Check for that expander ball position. Easy to run the ball up or down by screwing the de-cap rod in or out. Might waste a case or two, but I'm guessing this is where the problem "most likely" is. Of course, the sizing die could be cut too narrow at the neck - but that would be a rarity. If you are using bushing dies - go larger bushing

 

[Gary in MD]

Once fired brass and you sized it. Most dies should work fine but what dies are you using? Did you chamfer the mouth of the case? This is basically a must, I like a vld chamfer tool.
Assuming you primed and charged the case, now ready to seat bullet. Most of the time a boat tail will sit in the mouth of the case to allow you to send the case and bullet up into the die by lowering the press arm. A flat base can be a little more difficult, sometimes you have to hold it in place with your fingers centered in the case mouth while getting the case/bullet started up into the seating die by lowering the press arm with the other hand. Dies that have a “seating window” similar to the rcbs competition dies make getting the bullets aligned a little easier. The Wilson hand dies are probably some of the best for seating but work best with a separate arbor press.
Repeat… you have to chamfer the mouth of the cases.

 

[K22]

To provide focused help, need to know what type of die you are using and how you set it up. For example, the expander ball must be below the neck sizing portion of the die.

As others have said, if you set the die up properly and chamfered the necks, it is rare that such a problem could occur. If fact, I have never encountered this problem having loading thousands of 22 250 and 223 Rem cases with standard RCBS dies and with a lot of flat based bullets. However, with the lack of quality control today, anything is possible.

 

[justinp61]

Have you measured the I.D. of the necks?