Loose .308 necks with 110 gr. bullets

[Naterater]

Has anyone ever experienced that 110 gr. bullets seat quite loosely? I have reloaded a few hundred 110gr Hornady V-Max bullets and when i measure the O.A.L, i can actually push the caliper together to shorten the O.A.L by a few hundredths of an inch! I'm not pushing hard and any other bullets (168 and 150gr) won't budge as far as O.A.L. is concerned.

Can anyone explain this?

The brass and bullets all appear to be up to spec.

 

[A-FIXER]

It sounds like you die expander could be oversized or have a inperfection, is your die a necksize or full length and just how far down is the neck getting sized?

 

[FROGO207]

Agreed---The neck expander may have crud built up on it and is opening the neck up excessively. Or the bullets are slightly undersized is another possibility. If the bullets that are working are boat tail or have a slight radius on the base they will fit well when inserted in a tight neck. If the bullet has a flat base and you are not taper expanding the neck you could be crushing and spreading the neck so that the bullet fits loosely when inserted. Use your calipers on the different bullets, the sized brass inside and out, and the loaded brass--both the good stuff and the problems. I bet you see the answer in short order.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Huh. I've loaded many hundreds of those V-Max rounds in my 308 and never had that occur.

Frogo, V-max is a flat base. I agree with your suggestions.

 

[918v]

Are you using a Lee Collet Neck die?

 

[gamestalker]

It deffinitely ain't the bullets. Something is going on with your resizing die and it's very likely a build up on the expander. If you measure the bullets, which would be the first thing you should measure, your going to find they are .308".

I make a point of keeping the dies maintained. When we resize brass there is a concentrated amount of lube and media dust that is destined to build up every where in the dies, not just the expander.

Some folks poke fun at how much time I spend getting my brass ready for resizing then loading. But the fact is, if media dust, lube and propellant residue can seriously interfere with the resizing process, consider the effect those elements can have on bullet to neck bearing contact.

 

[Naterater]

Well I'm slightly confused because I always tumble my cases well before I size them, but that said, I was using a FL sizing die and I hadn't noticed any buildup on the center rod expander anywhere. I figured it was doing just fine because my other bullets were seating fine.

huh. I guess I'll have to check my die again, and now that I have a neck collet die, I'll try it too. Thanks for the suggestions!