I broke down and got another set of RCBS dies and have resized, trimmed, belled the mouth of the cases, and filled 50 with 11.5 grs of 2400 powder. Had the seating die set to add a mild crimp resulting in a C.O.L. of 1.680. The bullet looked great until I pushed on it against my bench and it went quite easily into the case. I tried another, same results. The inside of the case measured .306 and the bullets measured .307 (.3075). I tried running a couple cases back through the resizing die remove the bell from the mouth of the case and this seemed to help some but still ended up with 1 out of 5 that the bullet didn't hold tightly. I pulled this bullet and it had a crimp ring around it, not too deep, but you could definitely see where it was crimped. Any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong? Thanks for any help!
Having A Problem Reloading For The 30 Carbine
- Thread starter PCCUSNRET
- Start date
- Status
The bullets should measure .308. I don't really crimp carbine reloads but set the die down just enough to remove the bell. Sometimes if you crimp the case too much the bullet will be loose. Reset your die to only smooth out the bell. You didn't mention what brasn of cases you used.
I'm using once fired R.P. brass. I thought the bullets were supposed to be .308 as well, but checked on Cabela's and Graf's web site and they both have .307 bullets listed for the 30 Carbine. Do you think these .307 bullets should be used in military brass? If I don't put a bell on the case all but one out of 10 have now held. It's really a pain not having the bell as it makes it difficult to get the bullets to balance on the mouth of the case and go in straight. Another question regarding these loads. Hodgdon C.O.L. of 1.680, Alliant shows a Minimum O.A.L. of 1.675. I have some rounds from S&B and Prvi Paritzan and they measure 1.662 and 1.663 (both with 110 gr. bullets. The bullet in the Sellier & Bellot bullet measures .3075 and the Prvi Partizan measures .307. Here's a photo of theirs and mine (mine is on the left). This is one of the ones that held. Prvi Partizan is in the middle and it doesn't appear to have any crimp. The S & B appears to have a light crimp.
Attachments
CoalTrain49
Member
I found that some kind of lube is needed even with carbide dies to resize 30 carbine. I like to seat and crimp in separate operations as dies can be hard to adjust.
I think you may be crimping too much as suggested. I think that crushes the bullet and the brass just expands again to loosen the bullet. Try doing it separately and see if that works. I use a factory crimp die as they are easily adjusted and resizes again when you crimp.
Bullets are fine.
I think you may be crimping too much as suggested. I think that crushes the bullet and the brass just expands again to loosen the bullet. Try doing it separately and see if that works. I use a factory crimp die as they are easily adjusted and resizes again when you crimp.
Bullets are fine.
I'm not positive but I believe part of the problem I was having was caused by the Lyman case trimmer. I have found that if I resize the cases after I trim them and don't use the expander die the bullets don't move when I press on the bench. I shot 20 of them yesterday and they worked great. I've never ran into this problem with using this trimmer on 308 or 30-06 brass but then I don't crimp either of these rounds. Thanks for the help.
For those very few cartridges I do trim, I always resize first. When you resize, the metal has to go somewhere and the only available route is to lengthen the case.
I've had your situation and the only conclusion I could reach was undersize bullet and/or oversize interior case mouth. The two in combination can definitely make for a loose bullet. In my case it was Remington .44 Magnum cases. Their case walls right at the lip were very thin. I switched Winchester and Federal and my problem went away.
Not every bullet out there is compatible with every case out there.
I've had your situation and the only conclusion I could reach was undersize bullet and/or oversize interior case mouth. The two in combination can definitely make for a loose bullet. In my case it was Remington .44 Magnum cases. Their case walls right at the lip were very thin. I switched Winchester and Federal and my problem went away.
Not every bullet out there is compatible with every case out there.
I did resize the brass prior to trimming. After trimming I noticed there was about an eighth of an inch band around the mouth of the brass where the pilot was stretching the brass. Not sure if this caused the problem or not, but since I've started running the brass back through the resizing die the problem no longer exists. Thanks again for the help.
parker51
If you think the trimmer pilot is causing problems...
A little lubricant on the pilot might help, if you are not already doing this.
Get another pilot and reduce the diameter a little, .001" or so, so that it does not expand the case mouth. You can do this with a drill and some emory cloth. Make sure you polish it up with 400-600 grit at the end.
Get a different trimmer that does not use a pilot. An L. E Wilson trimmer or a trim die comes to mind.
Yes, trimming needs to be done after re-sizing, but you are already doing that.
If you think the trimmer pilot is causing problems...
A little lubricant on the pilot might help, if you are not already doing this.
Get another pilot and reduce the diameter a little, .001" or so, so that it does not expand the case mouth. You can do this with a drill and some emory cloth. Make sure you polish it up with 400-600 grit at the end.
Get a different trimmer that does not use a pilot. An L. E Wilson trimmer or a trim die comes to mind.
Yes, trimming needs to be done after re-sizing, but you are already doing that.
What bullet are you using? Grafs lists Berrys, Armscorp at 308 where do you see 307?
Resize before trimming and if your pilot is to large resize after also. (sounds like your problem)
Do not over flair (bell) the case. Do not over crimp.
Use some spray lube when sizing.
Resize before trimming and if your pilot is to large resize after also. (sounds like your problem)
Do not over flair (bell) the case. Do not over crimp.
Use some spray lube when sizing.
The ones I saw on Graf's website were the Prvi Partizan. They were 110 gr. .307 soft points. The same bullets were advertised as 30 Carbine bullets at the following link:
http://www.selwayarmory.com/prvi-partizan-bullets-30-carbine-307-diameter-110-gr-soft-point-round-nose-bag-of-100.html
The ones I saw on Cabela's website can be seen at the following link:http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=705231&categoryId=0&parentCategoryId=0&subCategoryId=0&indexId=0&productVariantId=1362622&quantity=1&itemGUID=8dae2c14ac1084597fdaca38681af065&destination=%2Fcheckout%2Fitem_added_to_cart.jsp%3Fresult%3Dsuccess%26categoryIds%3D104792580%257C104761080%257C112555080%257C%26searchPath%3D%252Fcatalog%252Fsearch%252F%253FN%253D4294759053%2526Ne%253D4294759053%2526Ntk%253DAllProducts%2526Ntt%253D30%25252Bcarbine%25252Bbullets%2526Ntx%253Dmode%25252Bmatchallpartial%2526WTz_l%253DHeader%25253BSearch-All%25252BProducts%2526WTz_st%253DSearchRefinements%2526form_state%253DsearchForm%2526search%253D30%25252Bcarbine%25252Bbullets%2526searchTypeByFilter%253DTopRated%2526x%253D10%2526y%253D6%26productId%3D705231%26backToPreviousUrl%3D%252Fcatalog%252Fproduct.jsp%253FproductId%253D705231%26WTz_l%3DChart
This is what I'm doing now and it seems to work just fine. I had an extra Pilot and sanded it down to where it fits in the mouth without stretching the brass so now I am only resizing once and the bullets seem to be holding okay.
The bullets I have were purchased from an individual and were listed as Hornady RN for 30 Carbine. They look exactly like the Hornady RN .308 bullets and the weight as been 110 grs. for all but 2 of the 100 I've loaded. Only problem is, they measure between .307 and .3075 (mostly .307). Now that I've sorted out how to load them so they won't set back I'm okay with shooting them. They are just as accurate as I am with a revolver with a 7 1/2 inch barrel at 25 yds (If I set the gun on the bench I do okay).
Agree. Not doing either with these bullets.
No thanks! Only stuck case I've had in the past 20 years was from using spray lube. I now only use RCBS lube with a Lyman pad.
Thanks for your help!
- Status
