As the title says I am a newbie not only to reloading, but also to this fine forum. I purchased and read 3- different reloading books by Lee, Lyman and Hornaday and also read everything that I could on this forum as well as a few others to educate myself before I made any purchases. I ended up buying a Lee Classic Turret , Lee Classic single stage, Lee dies, Tumbler, case prep tools and gauges, etc...
I took my time and cleaned and prepped all the brass that I have shot and been saving for the past 6-months since I decided that I wanted to start reloading. I read all of the Lee documentation and watched a ton of YouTube videos on setting up the dies correctly. I am starting with .223 so I have lubricated, full resized, trimmed, chamfered, deburred and tumbled all of my .223 brass. I set up the Lee Adjustable Dead Length Bullet Seating Die using the information that I learned from the sources that I have listed above. I also set up the Lee Factory Crimp Die (1/2 turn) to put a light crimp. I am using Sierra Matchking 53 gram .224 HP bullets. I made a half dozen dummy rounds to verify an OAL of 2.250. I then checked them in my Sheridan Slotted .223 gauge and did the plunk test in my barrel. Everything looked and seemed perfect until I tried to push the finished cartridge down on my bench. I had seen and read in a few places to try this to check for bullet setback. To my amazement I was able to push the bullets of all six of my dummy rounds not only just a few thousands, but all the way into the case! It did take some effort, but just pushing down hard with my thumb was enough to do it.
Of course now I am totally bummed out because I really did take my time on every step and paid total attention to all the details to get to this point. After I had made and verified the 6- dummy rounds I thought that I was ready to tackle the next steps to make real rounds, but now I am at a total loss of what has gone wrong. Also just so you are aware, I measured and verified each case with 2- different sets of calipers and also checked the neck tension of each case using a Ballistic Tool Case Mouth and Neck Tension Tool. Each case showed between .001 and .003 of neck tension before I pressed the bullet into the case.
I am sincerely hoping that one of you fine Gentlemen or Ladies, can give me some guidance on what might be my issue and what things that I can check or do to correct it.
Thank you very much for reading this,
Tom
I took my time and cleaned and prepped all the brass that I have shot and been saving for the past 6-months since I decided that I wanted to start reloading. I read all of the Lee documentation and watched a ton of YouTube videos on setting up the dies correctly. I am starting with .223 so I have lubricated, full resized, trimmed, chamfered, deburred and tumbled all of my .223 brass. I set up the Lee Adjustable Dead Length Bullet Seating Die using the information that I learned from the sources that I have listed above. I also set up the Lee Factory Crimp Die (1/2 turn) to put a light crimp. I am using Sierra Matchking 53 gram .224 HP bullets. I made a half dozen dummy rounds to verify an OAL of 2.250. I then checked them in my Sheridan Slotted .223 gauge and did the plunk test in my barrel. Everything looked and seemed perfect until I tried to push the finished cartridge down on my bench. I had seen and read in a few places to try this to check for bullet setback. To my amazement I was able to push the bullets of all six of my dummy rounds not only just a few thousands, but all the way into the case! It did take some effort, but just pushing down hard with my thumb was enough to do it.
Of course now I am totally bummed out because I really did take my time on every step and paid total attention to all the details to get to this point. After I had made and verified the 6- dummy rounds I thought that I was ready to tackle the next steps to make real rounds, but now I am at a total loss of what has gone wrong. Also just so you are aware, I measured and verified each case with 2- different sets of calipers and also checked the neck tension of each case using a Ballistic Tool Case Mouth and Neck Tension Tool. Each case showed between .001 and .003 of neck tension before I pressed the bullet into the case.
I am sincerely hoping that one of you fine Gentlemen or Ladies, can give me some guidance on what might be my issue and what things that I can check or do to correct it.
Thank you very much for reading this,
Tom
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