starting on 40 S&W

[kyshootingguy]

I am new to reloading the 40 S&W and I have a question. I have reloaded 44 mag and 9mm before, but nowhere near as many as you guys and haven't seen this with them. When I deprime the 40 shells and size them I can see a buldge where the die stops. It is towards the bottom of the shell, is this normal? I have not seen this on my 44 and 9mm cases.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[zonzin]

How much of a bulge are you seeing? Can you measure or post up a picture?



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[HardBall]

Have these been fired in a Glock? The .40 is a relatively long, straight case and to ensure positive chambering some (possibly all?) gun manufacturers have an area of the chamber that is unsupported, Glock also has more of a tapered chamber- especially the early Glock 22.

Both Redding and Lee make a push through sizing die that will remove the bulge. This die will not de-prime so it will require an extra step.

 

[jacksgd]

Before you run out and buy a debulging die make sure that the sizing die is set up correctly. Adjust the die so that the die hits the shell holder WITH a case in the shell holder.

That addresses most all of the bulged case problems for me.

 

[flashhole]

I use the Lee Bulge Buster. It's not a big deal to run them through the die before normal processing.

 

[PO2Hammer]

My RCBS sizing die gets right down to the web.

If a .40 case has an obvious bulge it should be discarded. Even though you can bring it back to shape with a push through die, the bulged area is still weak.
Lee has a CYA disclamer on their site;

Glock Cases: We do not recommend "fixing" cases fired in pistols with unsupported chambers, because there is no way to make them safe once they have bulged. The case wall is thinned where it bulges, and resizing the outside of the case back down to the correct diameter does not restore the case back to its original thickness. If this case is fired in a pistol with an unsupported chamber again, and this thinned section of brass happens to line up with the unsupported part of the chamber, there is a high probability that the case will rupture.

I toss any .40 case that has an obvious bulge.

 

[Neutered10mm]

recently covered in my kB thread here ... give it a read: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=646086

In a nutshell, there is bulge:



... and then there is proper expansion:

In the .40 round in Glock chambers (looser tolerance than say an M&P), the expansion bulge is much more pronounced.

After I resize:

 

[kyshootingguy]

Here is a picture of my brass. It might not be as bad as you think, but I wanted to make sure it was ok.

 

[PO2Hammer]

Is the bulge on top, facing the camera?

 

[greenlion]

If you are seeing bulges THAT bad, it is time to buy a new gun.

If you are shooting a newer GLOCK you shouldn't have any problems. I do nothing different for loading .40's than I do .45 or 9mm. Just don't load to light-speed velocities, and watch your bullet depth. If you want to go faster, buy a GLOCK 20, 10mm.

 

[Neutered10mm]

Top image isn't mine, it's an example of a severe bulge ... what most people call a bulge is in fact case expansion.

 

[LiveLife]

Here is a typical bulge from hot loads in looser chambers.

They can be resized flat like this (If they don't fully resize on first attempt, I rotate the case 90 degrees and resize a second time. If they won't drop in tight Lone Wolf chambers freely after being resized twice, they get recycled). I use Lee carbide dies with #19 shell holder/plate. The bottom of the dies are radiused and do not leave a sharp cut on the bottom of the case.

 

[GLOOB]

Before you run out and buy a debulging die make sure that the sizing die is set up correctly. Adjust the die so that the die hits the shell holder WITH a case in the shell holder.

That addresses most all of the bulged case problems for me.

+1. And you can sand your 40SW shellholder down a bit to get the case to size further down. Push-through sizing is a pain, unless you have a very sturdy press and bench.

If you still have a bulge, you can do push-through sizing with the 40SW FCD, if you have one. All you need to do is cut down a 9mm case to about 1/3-1/2 its normal length and fill it with epoxy. Let set and sand it flat. Remove the top of your FCD. Put your modified 9mm case in the shell holder. Hold the 40 case on top and guide it into the FCD. The 9mm case will push the 40 case all the way through the FCD, and the 40 case will pop out the top.

One nice thing about push through sizing is you can do it on assembled cartridges, and it shouldn't ruin your neck tension.

 

[kyshootingguy]

Greenlion, this is not from a gun. This is after i deprime the case on my Lee die. I am thinking that I do not have the die set correctly. I have it set to the directions that come with the dies but it is resizing all the way down except about the last 1/4 of an inch.

Thanks for all of the help

 

[edfardos]

you can spot glock-fired brass by the funny rectangular firing pin mark on the primer. I used to cull them out, but now I reload them like any other brass... Dozens of times now.

edfardos

 

[popper]

kyshootingguy - mine look like that also. Make sure they chamber correctly, no need to trim. Watch for split mouths after expanding. You have the die set correctly, all is good.