Newbie First Attempt...Does This Look Funny?

[jambie]

Assembled my first dummy cartridge, in .416 Rigby, and the shoulder looks flatter than the factory round. The case was originally fired in my rifle...wrong die adjustment or other mistake, or not to worry? I am worried about headspace issues...The factory round is on the left in the pics. Cases that I resized but didn't load a bullet in look pretty close to the factory round. It seemed to have gotten flatter after I seated the bullet and tried to crimp it. Could a misadjustment here have caused it?

Cheers,
Tom

 

[DANNY-L]

It looks like you put to hard of a crimp which pushed the bullet and the case down further.

 

[Walkalong]

Yep..

 

[jambie]

Hi Danny,
If that's the case, I can solve that problem easily. Do you think the case is trashed?

 

[rcmodel]

Partial shoulder collapse can be caused by excess crimp.
Cure is to trim all the cases to the exact same length, and use less crimp.

Or the bullet base hanging up on the case mouth as it is seated.
You can stop that be chamfering the inside case mouth first.

But rather then looking at pictures, does the reload chamber in your rifle or not??

If it does, it is probably not shoulder collapse.
What you need to do is color the shoulder with a dry-erase marker or candle smoke and chamber it / close the bolt.

If headspace is minimum the marker or soot will rub off the shoulder at the tight contact point.

rc

 

[noylj]

I must be nuts. The case on the left appears to me to have the flatter shoulder.
Personally, if they chamber, I would just fire them. Check the fired cases for signs of head separation.
This is a dangerous game cartridge and should be full-length resized. Pretty expensive to shoot targets with.
If you aren't hunting with these loads, don't try to crimp them, though I could see the recoil dragging the bullets out of the case. If so, shot as a single-shot rifle and have fun getting small groups.

 

[jambie]

I'll be using reloads strictly for practice and fun, and will not worry about crimped loads for that purpose. Although, I might invest in a custom Lee FCD down the road. When I carry the rifle for its intended purpose, last chance protection from very large bears while back-country camping, I'll be using factory loads.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[rcmodel]

though I could see the recoil dragging the bullets out of the case.

Recoil will drive the bullets back in the cases in the magazine if anything happens to them.

Revolvers pull un-crimped bullets, magazine rifles batter them in deeper.

rc

 

[jambie]

"I must be nuts. The case on the left appears to me to have the flatter shoulder"

When I refer to flat, I'm referring to the shoulder being pushed down more so that it is more parallel with the horizontal, if that makes sense...

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Gadzooks Mike]

I couldn't tell the difference between the two shoulders. But if you can see the difference, then try another. You said it's a dummy round, so no danger with it, but the headspace on those is measured from halfway up (or down) the shoulder and if it gets squashed, your headspace will be off. But it's such a tiny difference, you might be ok. I'd still go with less crimp.

Ok, I just went back to take another look, and just MAYBE photo number 2 shows a SLIGHT difference. My eyes are too old to tell, honestly.

Another long-winded, no-help post. Sorry!

 

[jambie]

Hey, the more sets of eyes, the better. I'm new to reloading, and obviously I'm not trying to make a tack driver out a .416 Rigby ( unless I'm confronted by some REALLY BIG TACKS! ), but I don't want to deal with the chance of case separation. The dummy round loads in the chamber fine, so I guess I'll pull the bullet, load a primer and some powder ( a starting charge to be sure) and see how it goes. I just hate to waste a $3 case...

Cheers,
Tom

 

[ArchAngelCD]

When I carry the rifle for its intended purpose, last chance protection from very large bears while back-country camping, I'll be using factory loads.

You are using a .416 Rigby for bear protection? Are there prehistoric bears where you live?? Hey, I'm just kidding you but that is an awfully large caliber rifle for bear protection, no?? I've never fired a .416 Rigby but I can only imagine it's not considered a "plinking rifle". LOL How about a photo or two of the .416...

 

[FROGO207]

No question the OP will be able to "get R dun" with that Rigby for sure. Second vote for that picture. LOL I want to see those tacks also, are they big as spikes?

 

[Gadzooks Mike]

I'm thinking he's talking about those lil' tacks that hold the rails to the ties!

 

[Martyk]

Just something I do.. but it's always good to have a box of factory ammo around for comparison to your hand loads.

 

[Maj Dad]

(just restating the obvious )

Use an inertia bullet puller if it won't chamber; save the case & the bullet. If it won't pull it (I've never had one that didn't come out after bashing the snot out of it, but I have an old shop-made aluminum bodied puller), raise the round in your press with no die & grab it with a pliers, padded or not, lower the handle & pull it out.