Skinny bullets from Xtreme

moranna · Feb 8, 2021

Loaded up some plinking rounds for SW .40 using new box of 165g Xtreme TCs. OAL set at 1.250 using 4.7g of AA #2 and mild taper crimp. Very mild shooting round

Out of the 100 rounds loaded 10 suffered setback when they hit the feed ramp and gun would jam. Pulled the 10 setbacks very easily and measured the bullet diameters. All measured less than 0.400, couple were at 0.395,

Measured some Berry plated TCs that 0.401 and some Xtreme 180s I have on hand are at 0.400

Question is can I crimp these skinny rounds tight enough to prevent set back without messing up the case mouth headsspacing in the barrel? Brass was a mixture of range pickups.

Anyone ever have problems with skinny bullets from any maker?

joneb · Feb 8, 2021

moranna said:
Brass was a mixture of range pickups

Not sayin that's your issue but mixing head stamps has never ended well for me.
I like some cases that are thinner at case mouth for cast lead bullets that sized larger than jacketed, some brass is thicker at the case mouth and I use that when I need more case neck tension, but that depends on the brass alloy.
So I hope you get my drift, not all brass of the same chambering is created equal.
And by the way if reloading brass that you don't know how many times its be resized you are asking for more headaches, if you are using thick walled brass like Star-Line that has work hardened with a Lee FCD then you are really asking for trouble.
Consistency is your friend.

higgite · Feb 8, 2021

What's the diameter of the bullets right out of the box before loading? What is the case mouth diameter of your finished rounds? I have pulled some of my own rounds loaded with plated bullets and found the seated portion had been squeezed down in diameter by overcrimping. Not saying yours are overcrimped, just something to look for. I have always found X-treme bullets to be extremely (pardon the pun) consistent in diameter.

Walkalong · Feb 8, 2021

moranna said:
Question is can I crimp these skinny rounds tight enough to prevent set back without messing up the case mouth headsspacing in the barrel?

Neck tension holds the bullet in auto calibers like the .40, no amount of taper “crimp” can fix poor neck tension.

Hartkopf · Feb 8, 2021

As higgite asked, any unloaded bullets left in the box? What are the diameters?

1KPerDay · Feb 8, 2021

Are you using the Lee FCD?

rfwobbly · Feb 8, 2021

Following on Walkalong's comments...
You'd need to reduce the diameter of your Expander to get the bullets to grip in the case mouth.

BiknSwans · Feb 8, 2021

moranna said:
OAL set at 1.250

1.250 inches is well above the SAAMI maximum OAL of 1.160 inches. Maybe using a shorter OAL would prevent the jamming and bullet setback. I'll defer to the more knowledgable forum members on this.

If you push a round against the loading bench, can you reduce the OAL? If so, you may need an undersized die with these bullets.

mdi · Feb 8, 2021

In nearly all plated bullets I've tried from 2 different manufacturers, the bullet diameter varied up to .002", which on a thin wall case didn't give good neck tension. If you have a lot of bullets and have time, find the headstamp that is the thinnest, the ones that allow bullets to slip, and sort them out. Don't know if your dies reduce the case OD for neck tension or it uses an M type die, so reducing neck expanding may not be an option. Adding taper crimp will probably just make the problem worse...

sparkyv · Feb 8, 2021

I did get the brass neck tension to hold the "skinny" bullets, but the accuracy was poor in my handguns. XTreme replaced them, but it took awhile.

Walkalong said:
Neck tension holds the bullet in auto calibers like the .40, no amount of taper “crimp” can fix poor neck tension.

moranna · Feb 9, 2021

Thanks for responses.

I meant the OAL was 1.125, not 1.250 and I do use the Lee FCD die for a taper crimp.

After pulling the setback bullets I measured several of the other bullets in the box and all were less than 0.400. Also measured some Berry's labeled as 0.401 which they were and another box of xtremes that were spot on at 0.400

First time issue with xtreme and I've shot a lot of them over the years.

Guess my lesson is to spot check diameters and weights when opening any new box of bullets

Hartkopf · Feb 9, 2021

moranna said:
Thanks for responses.

I meant the OAL was 1.125, not 1.250 and I do use the Lee FCD die for a taper crimp.

After pulling the setback bullets I measured several of the other bullets in the box and all were less than 0.400. Also measured some Berry's labeled as 0.401 which they were and another box of xtremes that were spot on at 0.400

First time issue with xtreme and I've shot a lot of them over the years.

Guess my lesson is to spot check diameters and weights when opening any new box of bullets

How far under .400 were they?

moranna · Feb 9, 2021

Anywhere from 0.395 to 0.398.

None were at 0.400

rfwobbly · Feb 10, 2021

moranna said:
Anywhere from 0.395 to 0.398.

None were at 0.400

Bad batch of bullets.

Walkalong · Feb 10, 2021

Yep, x-treme should make it good

Skinny bullets from Xtreme

moranna

Member

joneb

Member

higgite

Member

Walkalong

Moderator

Hartkopf

Member

1KPerDay

Member

rfwobbly

Member

BiknSwans

Member

mdi

Member

sparkyv

Member

moranna

Member

Hartkopf

Member

moranna

Member

rfwobbly

Member

Walkalong

Moderator

Similar threads