why is my seating die crushing my brass?

[JFrank]

How do ya do that with a seater? Holy cow ….

 

[Kracken McGraw]

How do ya do that with a seater? Holy cow ….

Probably one of them Rock Crusher Press’s!

 

[Bc'z]

How do ya do that with a seater? Holy cow ….

 

[joshb]

Too much neck tension?
Brass has hardened too much? Annealed?
Wrong bullet?
Covid?
Russians?

 

[762willdo]

Way too much annealing

 

[K22]

Never annealed cases in over 50 years of loading so I'd be surprised if the source of the problem is annealing. I'm not saying annealing can't be important for consistent sizing, etc., but I find it difficult to believe that not annealing could cause this condition.

If you're experiencing this during bullet seating, then the only thing I can think of is:

How much resistance are you encountering during bullet seating?
A boat tail portion of the bullet should enter the case without resistance.
Correct seating stem, no obstructions in the die.
Check is to make sure you are not contacting the crimping feature of the die when you are seating bullets.
Check the case length with regards to the former issue.

If you're experiencing during sizing:

Sizing button too large pushing the neck into the case? How much resistance are you encountering when the button passes through the neck then withdraws?

Sizing button too small creating too much force to seat the bullet causing collapse of the neck.

Is sizing die set properly so that you're not crushing the neck.

 

[DukeDuke]

the dies are properly set up.
the resistance is both procedures is on the high end

thank you all for the input!

 

[DukeDuke]

How do ya do that with a seater? Holy cow ….

apparently I need to workout a lot less

 

[XTR]

View attachment 1326562

I did that once when I tried to put a 30 in a 7-08.

What is the ring on the necks? Is that the sizing line from a bushing? Not implying it's got anything to do with the collapsed case, just something visible.

 

[wkdickinson]

+1 for wrong bullet

 

[divingin]

Run the brass in without a bullet. What comes out? If that looks normal, measure inside neck diameter and bullet diameter. Those two should give you a good idea where the problem is. If not, try seating in very small increments (say .020" at a time.)

 

[6MMsteve]

looks like the outside nk chamfer is not there, if you don't have a good chamfer the sizing die will push the nk inward, causing the dia of the nk to be small thus not let the bullet seat, had that issue before on no turn nks, so I put a heavy chamfer on the outside, use a mag glass and you may see a rolled edge on the outside of the nk, maybe, maybe not

 

[RegionRat]

the dies are properly set up.
the resistance is both procedures is on the high end

thank you all for the input!

What does that second sentence mean where you mention "both procedures"?
Does that mean you also had lots of drag during sizing and then also here with the seating?
Is the failure rate 100% or did you manage to get any seated?
Have you verified you have the right die and bullet in play?


I have seen where a flat base bullet didn't agree with a neck size and refuse to start without an M-die or flare, but a boat tail bullet should have a base diameter well below any neck size diameter such that it should start to slide in. If there is a sharp kerf instead of a chamfer, then all bets are off when the neck digs into the bullet rather than slide.

You have not told us the sizing method or finished neck diameter, you have not told us how you set up the seating die in terms of setting the body depth or the stem depth. Did an empty case allow a full press stroke without a bullet?

When you run into a mystery it is time to back up a few steps and avoid the assumptions that if it worked before it should work again. That went out the window when you crushed more than the first one.

You have not given many detailed inputs, and that makes posts like this into a sort of guessing game that can waste our time and yours.

 

[6MMsteve]

Too much neck tension?
Brass has hardened too much? Annealed?
Wrong bullet?
Covid?
Russians?

Definitely Russians

 

[HandgunHTR]

The areas that are highlighted above tell the story. It looks to me that one of two things are happening.
1. If you are neck sizing, you are only doing a portion of the neck and the remainder is too large and is catching in the seater die. This is driving the neck down into the body during seating. Either that or you are sizing the neck down too much which is not allowing the bullet to enter the neck.

2. The seater die is not set up correctly and that sized down section of the neck is being caused by the brass being forced up into the crimping section of the die. I know you have stated that it is set up correctly, but I have had the lock ring move even when I thought it was tightened down. It only takes a couple of minutes to follow the process of setting it up again. If you haven't done that, do it. Worst case is you spend a couple of minutes to find out you were right and it was set up correctly.

 

[Bc'z]

As @HandgunHTR said above on seating die out of adjustment this piece off 223 was from having die adjusted to far forcing brass into crimping section of die thus collapsing shoulders. Notice the neck has the same line as pictured above where it looks oversized.

 

[GetReal]

If @Bc'z responds to "Why" posts with a " . " ....is that the same as saying "B'cuz"... ????

 

[Bc'z]

If @Bc'z responds to "Why" posts with a " . " ....is that the same as saying "B'cuz"... ????

My wife says BC'Z stands for because.
Which is what I say every time she asks why I did something. Lol

 

[Multiracer]

Wow, You should have felt that much resistance. Back the die up into the tool holder as well as the seating stem and start over.

 

[DocCarbon]

the dies are properly set up.
the resistance is both procedures is on the high end

thank you all for the input!

I only see two things doing this and as I'm NOT familiar with that particular cartridge can't say with absolute certainty . It appear the upper portion of your neck has a . Handgun HTR just posted it