my loaded 40 rounds don't want to plunk all the way. They stop about 7/8 of way into chamber. Seem to be binding on the brass about 1/3 to 1/2 way down. Loading 200 and 180 lead. Resized brass fit fine but problem is occurring with belling, seating, or light crimping. Any suggestions? AOL is not the issue.
Help with 40
- Thread starter Gaffshot
- Start date
Are the bullet sized properly because it sounds like the neck swelled from as cast bullets to me.
I've always just belled enough so that the entire base of the bullet can side inside the brass. Usually the bullet only goes into the brass by about 1/16" before it stops.
Shynloco
You can lead a horse to water, but ........
Gaff,
Are you saying your rounds won't chamber fully and you can't close the bolt? If that's what you are saying, you may have a tight chamber and may need a Small Based Die to resize the casing to over come the problem. For whatever reason, when you are seating the bullet or setting you "light crimp", you are "squashing" the casing causing that fatness at the base of the casings and hence that is removing the allowable tolerance in your chamber. Try backing off a bit on the die (1/8" of a turn) setting for the crimp and it all might go away.
Alex
Plunk Test: http://www.shootingtimes.com/reloading/reloading-tips-the-plunk-test/
The binding is occurring approximately where the base of the bullet is sitting in the brass. The base of the brass is not binding as a "Glocked Brass" might bind.
I will try to back off the crimp to minimum and see what that does for me.
The binding is occurring approximately where the base of the bullet is sitting in the brass. The base of the brass is not binding as a "Glocked Brass" might bind.
I will try to back off the crimp to minimum and see what that does for me.
Does this happen with every reloaded round? If so, I would bet you have your crimp die set wrong. "Over crimping" will cause the brass to swell near the base. This is often times unnoticed until you are trying to fire a new batch of reloads. (Don't ask me how I know this.) Seating bullet and crimping in same step? Separate these two operations for best outcome. Seating a bullet while crimping is like trying to park a car in the garage while closing the garage door at the same time. It may work for a while, but eventually the car and door are gonna meet. For all of my semi autos, I load on the Dillon and have the Redding Crimp die.
If this only happens every few reloaded rounds, it is often due to cases of a different length. Crimp die set for nominal length will often cause swelling mentioned above with the longer cases. (again, learned the hard way). Sorting brass, and/or trimming to length helps resolve this. I have a trophy 357 case that I missed when loading 38s. Should have caught it when the bullet seated funny.....
I load my ammo in boxes of 100 and often travel to do my shooting. There is nothing more aggravating than getting to a destination and finding the ammo will not work properly. I have dealt with both scenarios above when traveling. Not fun. For special hunting trips, I actually test each loaded round in the gun before I will place it in the travel box.
Good luck...couple of more thinks to look for.....Redding Crimp Dies are well worth the $$s.
Steve
If this only happens every few reloaded rounds, it is often due to cases of a different length. Crimp die set for nominal length will often cause swelling mentioned above with the longer cases. (again, learned the hard way). Sorting brass, and/or trimming to length helps resolve this. I have a trophy 357 case that I missed when loading 38s. Should have caught it when the bullet seated funny.....
I load my ammo in boxes of 100 and often travel to do my shooting. There is nothing more aggravating than getting to a destination and finding the ammo will not work properly. I have dealt with both scenarios above when traveling. Not fun. For special hunting trips, I actually test each loaded round in the gun before I will place it in the travel box.
Good luck...couple of more thinks to look for.....Redding Crimp Dies are well worth the $$s.
Steve
When loading heavy bullets (180-200) in .40 S&W the bullet is long enough for it's heel to push the walls out & cause your problem. Buy a Lee carbide crimp die in .40 S&W (cheap) and it will both crimp & remove your bulge so loaded rounds will fit in a case checker/your chamber.
What headstamp brass are you using. I have not seen this in 40 but it happened with 9s. There was a company that made brass with a ledge inside the case. The idea was to prevent bullets from moving further inside the case. These were a big problem as many people found the case suffered case head separation right where that ledge was. If this is the case with your brass, it should be obvious if you look inside.
Yes, this is the problem. It is bulging where the base of the bullet is sitting. It is not bulging at the base of the brass nor at the mouth of the brass where it might if too little crimp were being applied.
I have shot 1000's of cast bullets in pistol, ipsc, etc, I always taper crimp, and never had the case bulge at the bullet base - I believe you have bullets that are not properly sized, on the 40, I use 401 size die in a Star sizer, I also never used HARD cast, as they tend to cause problems,
check the dia of the bullet, taper crimp and if the bullets are hard cast resize them to .400 or get rid of them.
Bob
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