brass shavings

[atygrit]

Is it normal to have some brass shavings on the shell holder. I have a Classic Cast Lee Turret and loaded 100 FMJ rounds of 9mm and there appears to be quite a bit of brass shavings.

I don't believe they are shavings from the bullets because I made a lot of practice rounds and never noticed any deformity of the FMJ bullets.

Just wondering if i need to adjust something, or if this is normal.

 

[Beelzy]

That's a lot of shavings, what do the case mouths look like? I believe the shell holder may be letting the case move that tiny bit that is causing some case shaving.

Or.........It was crappy military once-fired brass.

 

[Wildfire]

More info.

Hey There;
How many cases made that many shavings?
what else are you doing? Trimming? De-burring ?
Inside and out. ? There could be many reasons for the shavings.
more than likely they are coming from the case mouths from mil spec brass.
Are you making a bell at the case mouth to seat bullets. Could be taking that bells edge off.

 

[Wildfire]

More info.

Hey There;
How many cases made that many shavings?
what else are you doing? Trimming? De-burring ?
Inside and out. ? There could be many reasons for the shavings.
more than likely they are coming from the case mouths from mil spec brass.
Are you making a bell at the case mouth to seat bullets. Could be taking that bells edge off.

 

[woodsoup]

My dollars to your donuts That the case is belled/flared too much.

 

[Walkalong]

Are you priming on the press?

 

[Steve Marshall]

If you are using military brass, you might have to re-process the primer pocket.

 

[The Bushmaster]

It's not all that abnormal to see some brass shavings, but not that many unless you are doing a large batch. I see a brass shaving once in a while if I have just trimmed my cases and didn't get all the bur out when deburing...

 

[rfwobbly]

I recently ran across a friend's Hornady LNL making such shavings on the belling stage. It looked like "brass wool" mixed with brass paste up inside the die. I'm not familiar with your exact press or setup, but I've seen this when one of the dies is going too deep. See THIS THREAD

It can also be caused by a insignificant machining burr on one of the dies. It doesn't have to be a sharp edge that would cut your finger. Just an insignificant looking .001 to .002" ridge that the brass has to ride up over each time.

 

[Walkalong]

Like a rough crimp die?

 

[243winxb]

FLRS, then Chamfer and Deburr the case mouth a little, then bell more. Thats my guess.

 

[atygrit]

The brass shavings were from a run of 80 9mm FMJ. The brass was my once fired Blazer Brass cases. I will look at belling them a little less, but the bullet seemed to barely go in, so i don't know how much more i can reduce it. But i'll give it a shot.

These were pistol rounds and I did not trim or debur the cases prior to reloading. I also primed on the press.

 

[rfwobbly]

On the Hornady I was telling you about, the belling is done on a minimally dimensioned die. When you adjust the die to get slightly more belling the case simply bottoms out and starts making shavings. Point is, depending on the die design, trying to get more belling might not be "gooder".

Look inside all your dies with a strong lamp. Those shavings are being made by one of the 3 or 4 dies in the process. One of them will have tell-tale brass inside.

Are you using case lube during sizing? Or do you subscribe to the myth that no case lube is needed with carbide?

 

[Walkalong]

One of them will have tell-tale brass inside.

Exactly.

 

[rfwobbly]

Exactly.

Precisely, my dear Watson!

 

[Walkalong]

On the Hornady I was telling you about, the belling is done on a minimally dimensioned die

I threw out my only Hornady expander die 20 plus years ago, and will never have another.

 

[243winxb]

I also primed on the press.

If your using the large primer seating plug, instead of the correct small one, you might be shaving the brass when seating the primers. I really cant see the shaving that well in photo, so guessing again.

 

[Beelzy]

There you have it......not enough belling of the case.

You are shaving the bullets. More belling my man!

 

[atygrit]

It does not appear to be shavings were off of the bullets. Before I made the "real" rounds, i made probably about 30 practice rounds without primers and powder. I was reusing the bullets and they looked perfect, no shavings, dents, etc.

So, I'm going on the assumption that I had too much belling and will watch it closely to see if I'm still getting shavings.

 

[SSN Vet]

Here's my bet...

Your using Lee dies and the expander plug on the powder through expansion die has a roughly machined surface on it.

I've had this on two sets of Lee dies.

I like Lee equipment and use a lot of it, but they can't sell at half the price of the competition and not cut some corners. Final finishing is one of those corners.

The good news is that it's an easy fix.

Disassemble the die and chuck the expander plug into a drill press or portable drill. Spin the drill press and hold some 100 grit sand paper up against the plug and lightly smooth out the lathe cutter marks that were left there by Lee. It shouldn't take to much sanding to smooth the surface. If you want to polish the apple, move up to 220 grit or even 400 grit emery paper.

Put it all back together and give it a whirl.

I'll mail you my bill

 

[Walkalong]

Yep. I have done all of my Lee expanders. Makes a big difference.

 

[Deavis]

Did you use Lee's FCD to crimp the rounds? I'm not clear on where in your process you noticed this or if you took the picture after all processing.

 

[atygrit]

Yes, I'm using the Lee FCD and the shavings were from the end of making my rounds.

 

[flashhole]

My money is on Steve Marshall - I think the brass is coming from the primer pocket ... IF ... he's using the priming arm on the press.

 

[Deavis]

How hard is your crimp? Check your case mouths and see if there are any "wear" marks on them. It will be a ring around the mouth that extends slightly down the brass. If you turn down the crimp too much on the FCD it will shave the case mouth and leave exactly that type of shaving on your press. You can feel the the shaving because there is a definite release when you pull the round out of the die and the marking. Polishing the inside of the crimping sleeve helps but it will come back within ~500-1000 rounds. You wouldn't notice it at first, it takes time to develop. Just an idea for you.