Shaving bullets during seating

[servicegun]

I recently purchased some once fired Lake City 223 brass which was primed and sized and a friend told me that it did not need deburring. I noticed upon seating my Sierra 77's and 80's that there was some slight shaving of the bullet. Common sense told me that this was probably not good but my friend insisted it would not hurt anything as the bullet had to go down the barrel anyway. I have shot about 300 rounds like this and from the 200 and 300 yard rapid fire stages I have shot several 6 7 and 8 x cleans. From the 600 however I have noticed my scores are a little down from what they should be. My thought was that maybe this is hurting accuracy at this distance. Any thoughts?

Keep in mind this is out of an AR-15 service rifle shooting NRA highpower.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[markm87]

It's either neck chamfering or neck sizing. I wouldn't use some companies processed brass to compete with.

The may have used and expander ball and pulled all the necks out of concentricity.

I use an RCBS neck expander die in place of my old expander ball when loading for AR15.

 

[fullersson]

I agree with markm87. I know you are running an AR-15 so you need a little more neck tension than a single shot bolt gun would but maybe you could try to lighten it up just a bit and see how that works. IMO your cases may need deburring but I would venture a guess that the neck tension is going to be the culprit. Brian Brown.

 

[necchi]

Naw, shaving copper randomly from the side of an other wise concentric bullet won't affect anything,, :
Is your friend shooting against you with a possibly higher score?

All teasing aside, of course it matters. You'll need to do a little prep work to get your bullets to seat properly.

 

[servicegun]

Thanks for the replies guys, this is why I love this website!

 

[artbosco]

Deforming bullets during reloading never enhances accuracy. The only way it can go is downhill.

 

[tenring]

I would assume the shaving begins at the base of the bullet. You can damage the tip of a bullet, and there will be little lost. But damage anywhere on the base is a no-no, and will affect its gyroscopic rotation. Follow the above suggestions. First step is to debur the case mouths.

 

[fdshuster]

All my brass, regardless of use, thru a bolt gun, AR, etc. has had the case mouths inside taper neck reamed with the K&M tool. Many times the traditional case mouth de-burring tool like those made by RCBS, Lyman, Redding, etc. will leave a small sharp edge around the circumference and it's that sharp edge that is damaging your bullet jackets. The K&M tool cuts a smoother, tapered entry angle for the bullet. Also helps in the bullet being seated straight. After inside taper neck reaming I'm able to take a flat base bullet, (even those with a pressure ring) and place it on the case mouth, rotate the case with the bullet pointing down & it will not fall out of the case. Anyone who tells you that shaving the copper jacket, no matter how slight, will not damage the bullet does not know what they are talking about! The manufacturers go to great care to make a match quality bullet (and those 77 & 80 gr. SMK are Match quality), & any damage what-so-ever will affect the accuracy.

 

[wapiti25]

Try a VLD chamfering tool as they use a longer angle. I don't recommend the RCBS as the one I bought is made very crude on the cutting edges.

 

[people]

You will have to use a de-burring tool to remove some of the metal in the casings mouth. This will allow your bullets to slide right in. I have tried and tried to use square ended casings. How the factory gets away with it is they use a tapered plug and expand the case mouth then crimp the mouth closed like a person would do on handgun ammo.

 

[jonbearman]

After you size a case,measure the inside diameter and see what the bullet measures and compare.If you have a .006 interference to the size of bullet or even higher,then go to a bushing die.If not,use the vld tool.That tool has been a godsend to stop any peeling what so ever.I use a little graphite or mica inside the necks before sizing if using an expander spindle in the die.I use a light taper crimp on all my ar-15 loads to prevent the bullet from moving.

 

[AckleymanII]

Simple solution

Shaving brass = not enough neck chamfer. The neck chamfer is actually a "bullet guide" that aids the bullet getting started in the case.

Many reloaders simply de-burr the case mouth, actually you need a heavy chamfer. A heavy chamfer with a regular Wilson or RCBS chamfering tool actually will fix your problem. At times I have used a VLD chamfering tool, but after I discovered putting the heavy chamfer with the regular tool, I have not had to use the VLD in years. If the neck is HUGE in your rifle, you may experience early case failure with splitting necks, but I have only seen this issue in one rifle that was a Howa 22/250.

There could be other issues, but other posters have covered them.

Lee sizing wax on the end of a Q tip rubbed on the inside of the neck walls will also aid in seating the bullet.