Loading .313 cast in 7.62x54 brass

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mudriver

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I seem to have a hard time getting some hard cast .313 into the brass centered. The bullets seem to make the cases 'bulge' to one side. Thoughts on how to fix this?
 
Loading the lead bullets into the neck cause it to expand more than the jacketed bullets do. Having a .311 expanding button will be needed, some dies come with a .308 button so that you can use standard 30 CAL bullets. You might have this problem.Getting a die with a tapered expander that will bell the top of the mouth will be a big help. Also check that the shell holder is in the press all the way and the groove that the bullet base sits in is free of debris/grease or whatever. This could cause the brass and therefore the neck to be off center. Also check that the seater plug is clean and debris are not pushing the bullet sideways.
 
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A Lyman M-die will greatly help this. It has an extended expander plug with tapered expanding wedge about 1/2" up the plug. You'll need to order the .311" expander. I use one in .309" for loading my .30/30 with .311" bullets.

Also, depending on the quality of your brass, you may need to neck turn the cases.

I've run into this with the .22Hornet case, which can be quite thin. Slight thickness differences in neck thickness cause the brass to stretch out in the thin areas when expanding the necks after sizing.

But, like the previous poster stated, the "easy and cheap" fix may just be to use a .310-.311" expander ball on the decapping pin.
 
Lee has that .310 expander and I've got .313 bullets. I'll try that with my cast neck expander, it only bells the top of the brass. I couldn't find a lee .311 or .312 decapper.
 
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