40 S&W problems

[rambokid]

I got a bunch of Montana Gold .40 cal 165 GR HP that a friend reloaded in mixed brass and nickel for me. After shooting some with no issues I started to open up the unfired ammo boxes and noticed that there were several shells in each box that were quite a bit shorter. Upon futher inspection I could easily move the bullet in the shorter shells. So what can I do now? The more I looked there are shells with the right COL but I can push down with my thumb and light pressure. Can I run them through the crimper die again or should I pull them? By the way he loaded almost 1500 of them for me. :-(

 

[918v]

Pull them. They are overcrimped. When you apply too much crimp, the case just behind the crimped part peels away from the bullet, leaving only the crimped portion holding on to the bullet.

 

[LiveLife]

I could easily move the bullet in the shorter shells. So what can I do now? The more I looked there are shells with the right COL but I can push down with my thumb and light pressure.

I would show the friend what you found. Have him remeasure the dimensions of the loaded rounds. Do the loaded rounds chamber fully in your barrel? What is the OAL? You can also measure OAL after you chamber the bullet from the magazine with the slide to see if OAL decrease. Since they shot well, he may not have used the max load data. Ask him how much less powder charge he used from max.

Did he full length size the cases? May be the cases are out of dimension. Either way, loose bullet in case neck will be pushed deeper when stripped from the magazine and rammed against the ramp by the slide, thus increasing the chamber pressure. Properly taper crimped bullet won't move no matter how hard you push down on the bullet with your fingers/thumb/hand.

It should be your friend's problem, not yours. He may put more taper crimp on the cases, but if the cases weren't full length sized and out of dimension, not sure if that will solve the problem. If he is your friend, he should make it right.

Another option. If putting more taper crimp don't solve the problem and you have to pull the bullet, you can resize the cases with your decapping pin removed. This way you can reused the cases as primed cases. As to pulled FMJ bullets, I don't reuse them.

 

[rfwobbly]

What ever is going on, I sure wouldn't fire them any more. If HIS inspection process didn't uncover something as simple as this, what kind of complicated stuff is he not aware of? It's just not worth it.

 

[rambokid]

Pull them. They are overcrimped. When you apply too much crimp, the case just behind the crimped part peels away from the bullet, leaving only the crimped portion holding on to the bullet.

If the bullets were over crimped and I pull them will I be able to reuse them?

 

[LiveLife]

"As to pulled FMJ bullets, I don't reuse them."

 

[rambokid]

I just pulled two of them and the cases are shorter than the trim to length in the book. Did they not get enough crimp?

 

[Walkalong]

Not enough neck tension to start with, or a severe crimp which ruined it. More likely the former, or you would notice the mangled attempt at crimping I imagine.

Pull them.

Let your buddy run them back through the sizer with no decapper installed to save the primer. Try seating a new bullet or two without expanding the case first and check neck tension. If it is not good, the sizer is over sized. If they are good, try expanding a couple, seating a new bullet, and then checking neck tension again. If it isn't OK the expander is too big. If it's OK, he somehow manged to ruin the neck tension by over crimping to the point I would think it would have been obvious.

Neck tension holds the bullet in .40. A light taper crimp is all that is needed to remove the bell and maybe a hair more. (.001 or .002 at most) Any more is a waste, can create artificial headspace, and if extreme, can ruin the round completely.

 

[Walkalong]

I just pulled two of them and the cases are shorter than the trim to length in the book. Did they not get enough crimp?

Crimp has nothing to do with case length.

I have never trimmed a .40 case, nor a 9MM or .45. That is not the problem.

 

[918v]

If the bullets were over crimped and I pull them will I be able to reuse them?

Yes. You just have to resize the cases with the decapper removed so you retain the primer, bell, seat, and taper crimp only enough to remove the bell. You need case tension on the bullet, not crimp.

 

[rambokid]

Thanks for all the help guys...I will start pulling them this weekend.

 

[918v]

and bell only minimally, just enough for the bullet to enter the case. If you overbell, you'll lose case tension.

 

[Walkalong]

Mic the bullets after pulling to see if they are OK to reuse, just to be sure. No need to run a test on the dies with undersized bullets.

If they were not over crimped severely to start with, they should be OK.