Midway/Lee Nagant pistol die problem

[RandyP]

I am looking to reload for my M1895 Nagant revolver, using Starline 32-20 brass, Ranier .312 plated FN bullets and the Midway 7.62 Nagant Lee three die set for this very purpose.

With NEW brass? Works great, plenty of neck tension, mild load of 3.2 gr Win 231 and an OAL of 1.5".

Once fired however the brass forms to the cylinder chamber walls, taking out the shoulder in the 32-20 brass, and becomes straight sided with a case mouth of .315 after resizing/decapping. Needless to say my .312 bullets now free fall into the case.

Is there an adjustment I should be making to the dies to get more neck sizing? Get thicker walled brass? I can see where the die IS making some small amount of burnishing of the case mouth for about 1/4" but it is not creating a tight enough opening.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[RandyP]

A quick follow-up - I have been advised on a Nagant Revolver forum to get the .30 carbine sizing die instead of the one supplied in the Midway 3-die Nagant set to better reform the fired brass.

An order has been placed and I'll report back once I get to try it out.

 

[FROGO207]

You could also try reforming the brass with the decapping rod out of the sizing die. If you get good tension after that you need to reduce the size of your center punch reamer. I have had to do this on various rifle dies that I own. I would think that the M1 die would reduce the neck size way more than you need while overworking the brass.

 

[RandyP]

Received the .30 carbine die today. Still no joy.

It does not resize the case mouth/neck of the fired Starline brass sufficient to even loosely hold a .312 bullet in place. I even tried completely removing the die from the press, removing the decapping rod and tapping the fired case all the way into the die...still the case mouth is measuring about .314/.315. The 'OD' of the resized brass case neck is .324

The bullets have been triple checked and they are indeed ..312 - The only variable left that could be causing the problem is perhaps the neck wall of the Starline brass is too thin? Frankly I am at a loss and now out $30 for a .30 carbine sizing die that doesn't help -lol

All suggestions welcome. Remington sells 32-20 brass in bags of 50 but it is out of stock everywhere across the internet.

 

[RandyP]

OK, here's an idea - what if I exchange the .30 cal carbine die for a standard 32-20 die set? I know that the Nagant custom 3-die set works for 'regular' 32-20 new brass - so a 32-20 resizing die should resize my fired oversize brass to original 32-20 dimensions in my 4-hole turret #1 position, then the Nagant custom die set -sizing/decapping - powder/flare - seat crimp - in the other three spots?

Does that make any sense or am I grasping at straws here?

 

[RandyP]

An update I am delighted to share.

My Lee 32-20 die set arrived today. I put the 32-20 sizing die in position #1 on my Lee Classic turret and resized the once Nagant fired Starline, Winchester and Remington brass to 32-20. I then skipped over the Midway Nagant die and flared and powder dropped and finally seat/crimped with the remainder of the custom die set (actually they too ARE just 32-20 dies). The Ranier .312 plated bullet seats absolutely snug and to the OAL I wanted = 1.5". FWIW I am using Win 231/HP-38 powder dispensing 3.4 grains.

Tried them out just now and they function and fire just fine, the fired cases fall right out of the cylinder without even needing the ejector rod, and then back on the press they went to resize back to a small enough neck diameter from the 32-20 die to start the process all over again.

It appears I now have no need at all for the Midway/Lee custom Nagant die for my once fired brass. I DID however need the Nagant die to resize the NEW brass otherwise it would not fit into the cylinder in the revolver.