6BRA 108 ELD's Alpha brass (issues)

[Mxracer532]

So I have put 350ish rounds down the pipe and now on my 2nd fired brass I am having issues with the bullets seating Hella hard and scrapping the copper off the bullet.
Cases are sized with a Wilson die with a .267 bushing. .015 neck tension. All cases are chamfered plenty good. What gives??? I also run them through an expander mandrel (.242) just to be sure they are uniform after getting banged around.
I also punch primers, resize and wet tumble in stainless media.

 

[tillroot1]

That sounds like a huge amount of neck tension.

 

[Clancy]

Just a couple of things, are you deburring the outside and then chamfering the inside? If not, you can push some sharp edges back inside the neck. I always do the outside first.

Second, many a rifleman has had this problem when using stainless media. You can ditch it like most of us or get some imperial dry neck lube and the application beads.

I don’t tumble at all anymore. I’m happier now. I clean the inside of the necks with a worn out, oversized nylon brush and if my cases get tarnished I hit them with some Nu Finish.

 

[Clancy]

That sounds like a huge amount of neck tension.

Hopefully he meant .0015

 

[6MMsteve]

chk your bushing size if using, .015 is kinda tight prolly a typo, also take a case and a magnifier glass and hold up to light and check the outside chamfer, could be belled I put a heavy chamfer on my cases cause I don't nk turn, and a heavy inside chamfer there sharp but I don't have any issues with the case mouth being uneven, uneven case mouths can make tension uneven

 

[Bill W]

Whats a loaded bullet measure? Usually run a .001 under that with a bushing for sizing. Can always try a .268 bushing followed by a mandrel, see what results are.

 

[JMayo]

lube ...

 

[Bc'z]

My observations
I believe I see the preasure ring in the neck....
Thats alot of tension!!
Seating stem is marking the nose of bullet....
Need a VLD stem
Measuring a loaded round and a bullet separately will give you a number that is the thickness of your case necks after its divided by 2.
Chamfer necks after tumbling in pins and most definitely use some lube.

 

[Mxracer532]

Hopefully he meant .0015

Yep sorry typo.

 

[Mxracer532]

Whats a loaded bullet measure? Usually run a .001 under that with a bushing for sizing. Can always try a .268 bushing followed by a mandrel, see what results are.

 

[Mxracer532]

My new Alpha Brass has wall thickness at .014.

.014 x 2 + .243 = .271 Depending on your numbers what you think is .0015 NT might be closer to .004/5.

If yours measures the same then use a larger mandrel or bushing or both. I have used a .243 mandrel before on new Alpha brass as this stuff is heavy duty and doesn't like to move much with a good degree of spring back. If the mandrel is tight go larger and/or run it through twice or hold it inside longer to ensure it does its job. Mandrel AFTER sizing - measuring the outside before and after to see its effectiveness. Try to limit the amount you are moving your brass between the mandrel and bushing so as not to over-work it. Make sure you chamfer the inside of the case mouth.

Annealing will help significantly. Also try to reload once without wet tumbling. Just wipe off the outside of the brass and clean the primer pocket. Allow the carbon to stay in the neck with just running a brush inside it once and see the difference.

It shouldn't take much to clear this up.

So my mandrel is loose after running through bushing die. It takes hardly anything to run the mandrel through.
Loaded cases are .268
Unloaded sized brass is .2665

 

[Mxracer532]

Is this Alpha OCD brass or original?

OCD

 

[rickhirsch]

so, try a little moly with a bore mop. it also helps with cold Fuzion and hasn't hurt my groups at all.
maybe a flyer or two less. doesn't hurt brass or mandrel. win/ win as I see it. hope this helps Rick .

 

[Mark W]

The first thing I would do is stop wet tumbling and leave some carbon in the neck.

 

[dgeesaman]

My observations
I believe I see the preasure ring in the neck....
Thats alot of tension!!
Seating stem is marking the nose of bullet....
Need a VLD stem
Measuring a loaded round and a bullet separately will give you a number that is the thickness of your case necks after its divided by 2.
Chamfer necks after tumbling in pins and most definitely use some lube.

I agree - I see what appears to be the end of the bullet bearing surface about 1/4 of the way down the neck.

But by the numbers, it seems like the neck tension (in terms of diameter) is perfectly normal.

I haven't seen any mention of annealing. If those necks are hard, they might grab harder on the bullet.

I would use dry neck lube on the inside of each case and make sure to get some on the inside chamfer surface too.

Those look like Hornady bullets. My experience with them is the jackets are thin and soft and easy to damage. Do you have this issue with another brand of bullet?

David

 

[Mxracer532]

I agree - I see what appears to be the end of the bullet bearing surface about 1/4 of the way down the neck.

But by the numbers, it seems like the neck tension (in terms of diameter) is perfectly normal.

I haven't seen any mention of annealing. If those necks are hard, they might grab harder on the bullet.

I would use dry neck lube on the inside of each case and make sure to get some on the inside chamfer surface too.

Those look like Hornady bullets. My experience with them is the jackets are thin and soft and easy to damage. Do you have this issue with another brand of bullet?

David

Same issue with annealed necks. I did get some liquid graphite and dipped the necks in it and let them dry. Dropped in powder and seated and then cleaned the graphite off the outside of the neck. They seamed to seat quite a bit easier than without.

I also loaded some today with the dry graphite lube. They also seated easier but I wouldn't say they seated as easy as I feel they should.

 

[Mxracer532]

I agree - I see what appears to be the end of the bullet bearing surface about 1/4 of the way down the neck.

But by the numbers, it seems like the neck tension (in terms of diameter) is perfectly normal.

I haven't seen any mention of annealing. If those necks are hard, they might grab harder on the bullet.

I would use dry neck lube on the inside of each case and make sure to get some on the inside chamfer surface too.

Those look like Hornady bullets. My experience with them is the jackets are thin and soft and easy to damage. Do you have this issue with another brand of bullet?

David

Alittle update. The 2 middle groups had an SD of 9.8 and 4. The liquid Graphite being the group that had an SD of 4

 

[Clancy]

Well….

Ditch the steel media
Anneal
Get that shoulder bump consistent (see b)

And I think you’ve got it made.

 

[Mxracer532]

Well….

Ditch the steel media
Anneal
Get that shoulder bump consistent (see b)

And I think you’ve got it made.

See b?

 

[Clancy]

@Mxracer532

Oh haha sorry man I forgot to label those A,B,C

Annealing will fix the shoulder bump inconsistency, and thereby eliminate those spoiled rounds from “chambered hard.” You know that I’m just reinforcing it.