Bullet stuck in die

[Cranky CJ]

I'm a rookie at reloading and ran into a problem. When loading Nossler Ballistic tip, yellow tips into 270 brass, the tip of the bullet got stuck several times in the die. Had to take the die out and take it apart to dislodge the bullet.

How do you keep this from happening? The cases this happened in the bullets were somewhat loose, they were run through the sizing die before trying to seat a bullet. Eventually I sprayed a little light lube on the tips of the bullets and it didn't happen after that.

Any help?

 

[snuffy]

Take the seater plug out of the die, run a drill in and up further, big enough to clear the tip of the bullet. The seater plug bears on the ogive of the bullet anyway, so you're not damaging it, just making it work better.

 

[howlnmad]

Are you noticing a ring near the bullet tip? If so, the seater plug may be biting into the bullet jacket. I'd go with snuffys idea and one bit further. I'd polish or take a stone to the inside edge of the seater plug just to soften the edge a bit.

I'd also be looking at your brass. The bullet shouldn't pull back out that easy. Check your neck ID after sizing. Your expander may need a little tweaking.

 

[Cranky CJ]

thanks will take a look at it. how do you tweak the sizing die?

 

[243winxb]

how do you tweak the sizing die?

Adjust it. Make sure the crimper in the seating die is not coming in contact with the case mouth while seating a bullet. What brand, make of dies?

 

[Cranky CJ]

RCBS 270 dies.

I'll take a look at all my adjustments. My rounds are very close to what the Lyman book says they should be (dimentions). I'll fiddle around with them to adjust them better.

Another issue came up today when we went out and shot the rounds we made for my son's 270.

the rounds we made with Hornady 130g soft points would not chamber. all the rounds were within specs (dimentions) the book said they should be. some of the rounds we made with the nosler accubonds (white tips) would only chamber if they were pushed into the chamber, not forced, but pushed. some slid in fine. all were of the same specs size/dimention wise. once in the chamber, they fired fine. accuracy was just so so, but that was the 13 yr old shooter I'd suspect.

any thoughts on this? thanks guys.

on the up side, the rounds I made for my 300WSM shot well. Too bad I forgot to put the butt pad on it.

 

[howlnmad]

Let's get a bit more info and see what the wizards can come up with.
1- The dies are F/L and not neck sizing, yes?
2- The brass: new or used and what headstamp.
3- You have the sizing die set up correctly?
4- When you say "Won't chamber", how far would they go in?
5- Do you notice any rifling marks on the bullet?
6- What reference material are you using?

Let's start with these and get this back up top and see who jumps in.

 

[Cranky CJ]

1. full length dies, most of the brass was once fired brass from new factory loads from the last shoot. case length .001 shorter than the Lymann book said the length should be.
2. Some new, most once used. Remington and Winchester
3. I thought so. the sizing die was used to deprime on the once used brass.
4. Won't chamber as in got stuck when trying to get it all the way in. had to pull back on the bolt harder than one would like. took those rounds and set them aside. they would go in all but the last 1/8" to 1/16" or less. Bolt wouldn't close. Some I had to push the bolt closed, but I didn't push hard.
5. Not really, but I really don't know what to look for.
6. Lymann and Nosler. Shot some nosler ballistic tips and accubonds. None of the rounds loaded with hornady sp would chamber, and they were spec'ed the same as the noslers. the yellow tips cambered fine, slid right in. some, about half of the white tips had to be pushed in but shot fine. all were in dimentional specs of what the lyman book said they should be.

also, primers were flush with the bottom of the case, not sticking out any

thanks for any help guys.

 

[TheCracker]

If the rounds would not chamber you probably didn't have your full size die set up correctly or you were accidentally using a neck sizing die. You may not gave been making firm contact with your shell holder and the bottom of the die. I've screwed that up before and had to pull and resize/reload 87 rounds once.

Get a bullet puller if you don't have one yet. No sense in throwing away those components. Pull the bullets and try resizing with the full sizing die and see if just the brass case will chamber before you reprime or even charge and seat a bullet. If so make one round and make sure the whole thing will chamber. Obviously make sure your OAL is in spec.

Not chambering correctly sounds like a sizing issue to me.

Watch some videos on YouTube on setting up your dies. Ammosmith (YouTube channel) is pretty awesome!

 

[Cranky CJ]

Hydro; what you described is pretty much what I just got done doing. I rechecked the sizing die to see how far it was going down, It was lacking the last eigth to quarter inch. Lowered the die to go all the way down and really had to get on a couple cases to get them to size toward the end of the case. Ran them into the chamber and they fit.

I took apart one round and used it, had several others that didn't want to go into the chamber, smoothly, without a bullet in them. Made a dummy round to test.

I think the whole problem was not sizing them correctly/completely the first time. Now I have 20 rounds to take apart and re-do.

 

[howlnmad]

There you go, that's how this family works.

After you get them pulled apart, take the decapping pin off the expander and resize them. No need to depime them.

Be sure to make a dummy round for each new bullet type and mark them and keep it for future set-ups.

 

[grumpy66]

Are you putting a crimp on them?
If so, you could be rolling the neck a tad too much.
I've had some 30.06 do this.....a slight bulge in the neck will keep them from chambering.
Measure the neck diameter at the shoulder then just below the *mouth*.

 

[788Ham]

Snuffy,

I had the same problem with my seating die, would mash the tips of Hornady plastic tipped bullets. I took my Dremel tool and a drill bit, gently drilled out a smidgen of the inside of the seat die, completely removed any more problems! The 52 gr. pills now have a correct tip!

 

[Clark]

I have had a few bullets stuck in the seater die.
I have had a few bullets get a ring cut by seater die.

Some solutions are:
1) Take out the seater stem, and spin it in a drill or lathe and rub fine sand paper, emery cloth, or wet and dry paper on the opening.
2) As above, but put a combination of toothpaste and valve grind compound on a bullet and shove it in the hole as the hole spins.
3) As above, but reshape the inside of the seater stem mouth with drills and a boring bar.
4) Put wet epoxy in the seater stem mouth and partially seat a bullet, and leave the press in that position until the epoxy sets up.