Todays problem

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alanwk

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Today I loaded 40 S&W cartridges. I have been reloading for a while. SO I decapped,& resized and checked the fit in case gauge. All was ok. Then after charging the case and seating the bullet and then crimping with Lee Factory Crimp Die the cartridge is way too tight (wont fit) for case gauge. This is a first for me. What am I missing? Thanks
 
  1. Make sure your OAL is short enough for bullet to clear the start of rifling.
  2. To not over crimp and bulge the case neck, add .022" to the bullet diameter to return flare back flat on the bullet and skosh more. So for .400" diameter bullet, case mouth should measure .422".
  3. On rare occasion, if not enough flare is used and case wall is soft, bullet seating can collapse the case wall to bulge.
  4. Inconsistent case wall thickness and out of round bullet can stack to produce oblong/oval case neck that can fail case gage but will often fully chamber in barrel so use your barrel as the gage. If finished round won't pass barrel, use the FCD to fix the round.
 
Last edited:
Ironicaintit said:
Could be too much crimp, causing a bulge in the sides.
With dial calipers, you should be able to compare before and after measurements to see what went askew
Click to expand...
This ^^^^ and/or could be too long for the ogive of the bullet. What kind of case gauges and does it plunk in your chamber?

But most likely too much crimp.
 
Try the .40 in your pistol! after all said and done, that’s all that really matters.

If not, try bulges busting the case
 
Today I loaded 40 S&W cartridges. I have been reloading for a while. SO I decapped,& resized and checked the fit in case gauge. All was ok. Then after charging the case and seating the bullet and then crimping with Lee Factory Crimp Die the cartridge is way too tight (wont fit) for case gauge. This is a first for me. What am I missing? Thanks
Click to expand...
The Lee combined seating and crimping die is off. Reset your OAL for seat first in bullet and second in crimp its a 2 step process at best. The crimp die is compressing the case.
 
alanwk said:
Today I loaded 40 S&W cartridges. I have been reloading for a while.
Click to expand...
Yes, but is this the first time you reloaded 40 S&W?
Based on your steps and the fact the sized only case passed the case gauge, it would follow that the seating or crimping step is suspect. Gauge after the seating step, I’m presuming you seat and crimp in separate steps. If that passes, it’s the crimp step. Back the FCD stem way out, and turn in till it just touches the case mouth. Do small incremental steps just until the finished round will gauge correctly. You only want to remove the bell in .40. Good luck.
 
do a few more. it may be just a bur on the rim and that one is failing. make some dummy rounds with no powder or primer until they pass all the checks and keep those to check or set dies with, measure to spec etc. once you have dummy rounds that match all the specs for a new cartrdige, then you're just matching the dummy rounds, and adding primer and powder.
 
Many good suggestions as stated above. I would suggest to use the seating and crimping dies separately. I do this on my 550C for 8 different calibers and never a problem except for 1 or 2 occasional brass being too thick and not going fully into the test gauge.
 
Missed the separate crimp stage. What case gauge? As stated, you mic up the OD at the neck and it should be around .422. If it is .423 or greater it may not go in the gauge, especially if it is a L.E. Wilson gauge. I find them to be tighter. I had to send my 10mm back for them to cut it more because it didn't accommodate enough room for the bullet ogive. This was also mentioned above about bullet seating and clearing the rifling, but in this case the gauge.
Is the case round where it bulges from the bullet? If it is not round and bulges more to one side this will cause it to not fit the case gauge. In most cases it will still plunk test in the barrel
 
Last edited:
alanwk said:
It is not a new batch. Thanks for your reply.
Click to expand...
If bullet, die settings and OAL did not change, something changed for finished round to not pass the gage. My best guess now would be thicker walled case. Check the headstamp and see if it is thicker walled brass that is bulging more at bullet base to rub the case gage wall (FYI, it's case wall thickness .200" below case mouth we are concerned about where case wall is thicker) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...nd-bullet-setback.830072/page-3#post-10713822

Update:
  1. Make sure your OAL is short enough for bullet to clear the start of rifling.
  2. To not over crimp and bulge the case neck, add .022" to the bullet diameter to return flare back flat on the bullet and skosh more. So for .400" diameter bullet, case mouth should measure .422".
  3. On rare occasion, if not enough flare is used and case wall is soft, bullet seating can collapse the case wall to bulge.
  4. Inconsistent case wall thickness and out of round bullet can stack to produce oblong/oval case neck that can fail case gage but will often fully chamber in barrel so use your barrel as the gage. If finished round won't pass barrel, use the FCD to fix the round.
  5. Thicker walled case may bulge at bullet base more and may need to sort/cull this headstamp cases out.
 
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