Expander issues, case mouth flare

[hicap40]

been loading long time and never had this problem

7/300 wsm

4th firing on this brass
necks turned to .013 norma brass
annealed with amp annealer i dont have aztec mode
full length sizing in whidden die
always expand with .283 expander
180 bergers 57.5 gr n555
I can usually shoot 5 shots under an inch at 300 yards , yes it hammers!

went to load for a match and bullets wont load, finally figured out it was the expander, ( i tested 2 different ones) and both flared the case neck.

gotta be over annealed?

anyone else ever have his problem?

john

 

[David Christian]

Can you post pics? Before and after…

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

Do you put a small chamfer on the inside of your case necks? Just enough to take off the square edge!

Frank

 

[LHSmith]

Tumble with SS pins? This only happen after 1st anneal? Sized after anneal?

 

[mikecr]

Why won't bullets load?

 

[hicap40]

will post pics soon
i always chamfer
dont use ss pins anymore, just tumble with water, armor all wash n wax and lemshine
sized after annealing
the flare at the case mouth .320 (ill double check that ) will not allow bullet to chamber
i found it happens after expander process

 

[jepp2]

and both flared the case neck.

anyone else ever have his problem?

Once. Had my expander set just barely too low. Put just a smidge of a flare in the case mouth.

 

[KMart]

will post pics soon
i always chamfer
dont use ss pins anymore, just tumble with water, armor all wash n wax and lemshine
sized after annealing
the flare at the case mouth .320 (ill double check that ) will not allow bullet to chamber
i found it happens after expander process

Just for clarification. Are you saying that the bullet won't seat in the case? Or, are you saying that the loaded round won't chamber in the rifle?

 

[rijndael]

Is your case mouth bottoming out on the expander?

 

[K22]

Just for clarification. Are you saying that the bullet won't seat in the case? Or, are you saying that the loaded round won't chamber in the rifle?

Yes - need to know what exactly the OP is talking about!!!

 

[rwj]

Is the .283 diameter neck expander commonly used for the 300 WSM? When seating a .308 diameter bullet, that results in a .025 inch interference fit!

 

[WSnyder]

Is the .283 diameter neck expander commonly used for the 300 WSM? When seating a .308 diameter bullet, that results in a .025 inch interference fit!

He's loading a 7/300WSM so a .283 expander would be in the realm of correct for a .284 bullet.

 

[DiRTY DOG]

I had a similar problem with a Mighty Armory FL sizing die. The expander button flared the case mouth, and that extra width of the lip on the case mouth hung up in the neck of the chamber and wouldn't allow the round to fully chamber or the bolt to close without slamming the bolt forward. It had nothing to do with tumbling or annealing because it still happened with zero tumbling and zero annealing. Chamfer/deburr and trimming had nothing to do with it, and bullets seated just fine with the flare.

It had something to do with the shape or position of the expander. It only happened when I used the factory expander. Firing the flared brass fireformed the flare away. Using the factory expander put the flare back in. No factory expander, no flare.

I switched to a honed Forster FL die w/o the expander assembly, and a 21st Century turning mandrel and the problem immediately went away.

(edit) Mighty Armory attempted to resolve this issue with a new expander assembly, but I ended up just exchanging the whole die for a different MA item. I have several other MA dies & decappers etc and they are all fantastic quality and function flawlessly.

 

[hicap40]

Just for clarification. Are you saying that the bullet won't seat in the case? Or, are you saying that the loaded round won't chamber in the rifle?

correct, will not chamber in rifle, the flare measures .320

 

[hicap40]

I had this problem with a Mighty Armory FL sizing die. The expander button flared the case mouth, and that extra width of the lip on the case mouth hung up in the neck of the chamber and wouldn't allow the round to fully chamber or the bolt to close without slamming the bolt forward. It had nothing to do with tumbling or annealing because it still happened with zero tumbling and zero annealing. Chamfer/deburr had nothing to do with it, and bullets seated just fine.

It had something to do with the shape or position of the expander. It only happened when I used the factory expander. Firing the flared brass fireformed the flare away. Using the factory expander put the flare back in. No factory expander, no flare.

I switched to a honed Forster FL die and a 21st Century turning mandrel and the problem immediately went away.

thats picture perfect of mine

thanks

 

[hicap40]

ill report back after I work on it some more

i loaded up some last last with full length whidden die, .005 neck tension just to see how it shoots

thnks dirty dog

 

[hicap40]

i will try the 21st turning mandrel, I cant remember if i was using 21st or sinclair expander

john

thanks all

 

[hicap40]

well, its not the expander, has to be brass during the seating process.

full length sized and seated 2 different bullets with 2 different dies a wilson and whidden
and neither loaded, took a black marker around top of case neck and you can see where its rubbing

 

[Ringostar]

Did you remove the factory expander from the die, as DIRTY DOG mentioned?

 

[lawman29]

John there was a recent thread posted with some advice on how to ask for help - this thread is an example of why..... the root cause is just being lazy and in a hurry to get help... leads to "garbage in garbage out"

Suggestion for Those Requesting Advice

I've seen a lot of posts recently from members asking for help regarding sizing of cases. It might save a lot of time and anguish is the OP provides complete information up front. Suggested information I recommend: 1. Description of problem encountered. (Clear and close up pictures are...

forum.accurateshooter.com

Let's summarize what we know out here in the world wide web...
1) 7/300 wsm
2) 4th firing on this brass
3 )necks turned to .013 norma brass
4) annealed with amp annealer i dont have aztec mode
5) Whidden full length sizing die (we're assuming it's a non-bushing die)
6) 283 expander (we're assuming it's a Whidden expander button)
7) bullet won't chamber (after some discussion we've figured out that a live round won't chamber in the rifle, after posts trying to help figure out why a bullet wouldn't seat in a case...)
8) i found it happens after expander process (what does this mean, during the full length sizing the expander button being pulled back through the neck...or something else.)(What did the case mouths look like after this process???).
9) Dirty Dog posts and as a result it seems you might have removed the expander button from the Whidden full length size die???? and then used a mandrel in a separate operation to expand the neck???
10) After conducting the process in #9 the case mouths were okay???
11) Then you seated bullets in cases per #9 method and using two different manufactures (Whidden and WIlson) the case mouths were flared after the seating process was completed???

Question: What is the length of your cases? Have you trimmed?

Still no photos...why it takes more effort....lots of experienced folks out here ready and willing to help, but they need good information to do it.

Tim