Is this normal

[roachcore]

I am really new to reloading and I just got a lee clasic turret press for Christmas. I figured while I was waiting on components to come in the mail I would run all of my brass through the carbide sizing/decapping die and I noticed a ring around the bottom of my brass. I was hopping that someone could tell me if this is normal or if it is even safe to reload.

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[roachcore]

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[918v]

Yes. Whenever you move brass, there's going to be a mark. The issue is whether the mark is smooth or rough.

 

[roachcore]

It feels smooth but it is noticeable

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[918v]

Smooth is normal. Noticeable is normal. Handgun dies size the brass more than factory size to account for dimensional variance from brand to brand as well as springback due to work hardening.

 

[Bovice]

That's normal. What you want to watch out for is when the reformed brass doesn't have a gentle swell, but a sharp and peaked "wave" after resizing. It will feel "rough" like 918v said if you have trouble seeing it.

If I'm not mistaken, that's a piece of 40 S&W brass. The irritating thing to me with regards to reloading .40 is that my initial resize and depriming does not do a full-length resize, leaving the bulge at the bottom. With brass that's relatively new, all is right with the world. The problem is with brass that's got a couple firings from it, maybe a range pickup that was originally fired in a non-fully-supported chamber. It's no big deal until my factory crimp die gets it, which does a full-length resize and pushes the bulge in. Then I see that it's got that sharp, rough edge. By that time, it's a fully loaded round and I have to pull the bullet and salvage a primer. I don't know if it would blow the case or not, but my spider senses tell me that it would if all conditions were right. If I put it into my go/no-go cartridge gauge, it doesn't want to drop in and out freely. That sharp ripple causes a lot of friction. For that reason alone, I'll pull the bullet and try to save the primer.

Make sure you check each and every one of your loaded rounds for this condition.

 

[rcmodel]

Run them through a case tumbler when you get one and the sizing ring will be mostly polished off.

rc

 

[FROGO207]

The reason that it is there is the casing is ever so slightly tapered and the die is made to size the mouth to correct diameter and the rest of the casing is sized straight down the same as the mouth. It has to go in and then out through the smallest part last. When you flare and add a bullet/crimp, the mouth area will be enlarged by the bullet giving it a good friction fit also giving the finished round a hourglass look to it. This is also normal as long as the round will fit in the chamber correctly. Like RC said it will not show as much when it is polished after sizing. If you polish in a tumbler make sure there is no media left in the flash holes. If you find any there it needs to be removed, I use a piece of stiff copper wire and that works fine. Oh and by the way welcome to the world of reloading.

You can use the barrel of the pistol to test if it will chamber a round but to do it safely you need to remove the barrel from the pistol. You should be able to drop the finished round down into the barrel and it will fall in with a "plunk" and end up where it needs to set without any additional pushing or such. Try a factory round and see how it is supposed to look and feel first.