Bullet sinking when pushed with finger?!

[hachaduryan]

While reloading two of my .357 shells (recovered from the range, first reload) simply swallowed the bullets when pushed with finger.




Cases have been resized and the flare was minimal. All the rest of my cases are solid with the exact same treatment, same bullet, same everything.

Never had that happen before. Both seem to be CBC. I had a couple more but got rid of them before I wasted more material.

Saw brass and figured it's gonna be reloadable. What am I missing here?

I got to save the powder, but I guess the primers are gone. Bullets got bastardized too, I really gotta get myself a proper bullet puller..

 

[rcmodel]

Thin brass, or over-size expander.

Take it out of the die and measure it.
It should be no more the .355" for .38/.357 if you want proper case neck tension.

If it's bigger then that, chuck it in a drill and work it down with a emery cloth strip.

And buy a bullet puller.
Then you can save the bullets, powder, and primers and use them all again.

rc

 

[gamestalker]

It happens. I've seen it a couple of times with some 38 spcl. in which the brass was simply just thin, for one reason, or another.

Another possible could be an under sized bullet, did you measure it to R/O the possibility?

GS

 

[hachaduryan]

Die is fine. All my blazers and PMCs are solid.

And I have too few of these to fix. Plus, isn't is easier (and cheaper if you give your time any worth) to just toss these and pick up a few from the range next time. NOT the same brand!

 

[plmitch]

Looks like you used a beaver to open that case. Nice job.

 

[hachaduryan]

Looks like you used a beaver to open that case. Nice job.

I know, not very graceful. Looks like my can opener was in play here.

Guess what I just ordered from Amazon..

 

[hachaduryan]

It happens. I've seen it a couple of times with some 38 spcl. in which the brass was simply just thin, for one reason, or another.

Another possible could be an under sized bullet, did you measure it to R/O the possibility?

GS

Yep, bullet was within normal. The one I extracted without damaging went into a different casing and fit perfectly.

 

[38riverrat]

"And buy a bullet puller.
Then you can save the bullets, powder, and primers and use them all again."

I don't understand how to save the primer part.
Can these be pulled from the defective cases.
I have fired them in my gun for disposal.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[hartcreek]

I have had that happen to some .38 as I use a common bullet for .380 and .38. The guys have answered it it can only be two things if you are using the right bullet. I can actually slide the bullet in with my fingers just a bit crooked so that when I crimp it straightens out in the canalure.

 

[fiftybmg]

Was there any crimp involved ?

 

[cowtownup]

Yes on saving the primer.. Just stick in your resizing die and gentle let the deprimer push out the primer... No harm..

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I push out new primers and reuse also, I think most of us do. Just make sure your resizing die has a solid pin (not spring loaded) and go slow. They'll come out the same as they went in. It take an impact to set them off.

Did you check the expander in your flaring die? Just because it works on some of the thicker brass doesn't mean it's right. All my dies seem to work on all my mixed range brass including Remington and CBC with no problems.

They are some brands of brass that just aren't considered reloadable or shouldn't be reloaded but I didn't think CBC was one of them.

 

[germ]

I recently ran into this same problem with Remington cases and cast bullets - thin walls. And I have multiple custom sizes of M die plugs.

 

[SAGEEN]

hachaduryan 1st welcome as a new member more or less and it seams you figured out it was the brass case when something happens don't worry get out your tools and measure...test in other case etc you will find its not too hard and get the hammer type bullet puller you can reuse the parts again

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I recently ran into this same problem with Remington cases and cast bullets - thin walls. And I have multiple custom sizes of M die plugs.

My point with what RC Model said is that I use CBC and Remington brass all the time and have no neck tension problems with it. I always have sufficient neck tension and I don't split the thicker cases. I wonder why.

I sort all my magnum brass by headstamp so when I run Remington or any other brass known to be thinner I adjust my expander up to compensate. If the expander is a little to large in diameter I wouldn't be able to do that. Guess the resizing die has to be doing it's job to begin with.

Edit: I don't use Lyman M-dies so I don't know what is going on with what Germ is experiencing.

 

[gregj]

I reload mixed headstamp and had the same thing, it was thin walled crappy brass not providing enough neck tension. I switched to an EGW-U undersize die for all my 45ACP rounds for USPSA matches/practice. No problems since.

 

[Gadawg88]

Not a bad precaution to put on some eyes and ears when pushing out those live primers.

 

[fallout mike]

What kind of crimp did you use?

 

[Potatohead]

I run into this problem with 380 more often than I'd like. Pretty frustrating. I usually toss the brass but keep the primer and bullet.

 

[hachaduryan]

Was there any crimp involved ?

What kind of crimp did you use?

Yes, rolling crimp from the seating die. I can post a picture of it from a good round, let me know if that's needed.

Yes on saving the primer.. Just stick in your resizing die and gentle let the deprimer push out the primer... No harm..

Holy crap! I didn't know I can save primers. I had three cases that I pulled out of the batch and was going to throw them away, but I did gently de-cap them and it worked like a charm. Thank you!

 

[hachaduryan]

hachaduryan 1st welcome as a new member more or less and it seams you figured out it was the brass case when something happens don't worry get out your tools and measure...test in other case etc you will find its not too hard and get the hammer type bullet puller you can reuse the parts again

Thank you for the welcome SAGEEN! I did narrow it down to the brass but I didn't have the bullet puller hence the ugly mess. However I ordered the RCBS one, not the hammer. It made sense when reading at the reviews. Plus it seems that it's less messy.

 

[mstreddy]

Keep in mind that the collet bullet pullers will not be usefull on lead bullets. And that you will need a collet for each caliber.
The hammers are quick, will fit most calibers and allow you to recover the bullet and powder. Many of us fill the portion where the bullet ends up with some foam (ear plug) to keep the bullets from getting damaged. On mine I glued a piece of card stock to the open top end cap to keep powder from spilling out.

 

[hachaduryan]

Keep in mind that the collet bullet pullers will not be usefull on lead bullets. And that you will need a collet for each caliber.
The hammers are quick, will fit most calibers and allow you to recover the bullet and powder. Many of us fill the portion where the bullet ends up with some foam (ear plug) to keep the bullets from getting damaged. On mine I glued a piece of card stock to the open top end cap to keep powder from spilling out.

So you feel the hammer is better? It's not too late to cancel my order..

 

[germ]

...Edit: I don't use Lyman M-dies so I don't know what is going on with what Germ is experiencing.

The various sized m die plugs allow me to adjust expanding to the bullet. i.e. our 642 prefers .358 while our 686's prefer .357. Given minimal expanding, even the .358's slip right in...and keep going. I use the Lee and most recently the Hornady sizer dies. I'm not saying this is limited to Remington cases, but the only one I've had trouble with so far.

Ok, just pulled out a remington and federal case. Ran 'em both through the hornady sizer, no expanding. Remington id = .357, Federal id = .354. Take this with a grain of salt as I only have a dial caliper and not a ball expander to measure with. But the fact that I can push a .357 sized bullet into the Remington case with my thumb pretty well backs up the measurements.

 

[hachaduryan]

The various sized m die plugs allow me to adjust expanding to the bullet. i.e. our 642 prefers .358 while our 686's prefer .357. Given minimal expanding, even the .358's slip right in...and keep going. I use the Lee and most recently the Hornady sizer dies. I'm not saying this is limited to Remington cases, but the only one I've had trouble with so far.

Ok, just pulled out a remington and federal case. Ran 'em both through the hornady sizer, no expanding. Remington id = .357, Federal id = .354. Take this with a grain of salt as I only have a dial caliper and not a ball expander to measure with. But the fact that I can push a .357 sized bullet into the Remington case with my thumb pretty well backs up the measurements.

So I guess every now and then we'll just get crappy brass?

How do you extract a bullet when it sinks so darn deep?