Used 380 fed. neck tennsion.

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lauderdale

lauderdale

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The case is stepped inside if that's the proper term? Anyhow w/extrm. 100g. fp's @ an oal of .945 I push test them and get slight movement. Lee dies but have switched to a redding crimp die to try to cure the problem. W/the case being stepped (line inside) to keep factory round from being seated any deeper. Has anyone ran into a prob. like this?
 
It sounds like a combination of things working against you.

The Lee expanders are almost universally too big, and too rough as they come.

1. The expander stem should be no larger then .350" - .351".
(If it is polish it down to that with the stem in a drill and emery cloth.)

2. It may be too long and hitting the step inside the case while belling the case.
(That will over-expand the case.)

3. You can't make up for poor case neck tension by any amount of taper crimping.

(The bullet just squeezes smaller inside the over-crimped case. Then the harder case springs away from the softer bullet when it comes out of the die.))

Check #1 & #2 and go from there.

rc
 
Perhaps switch to a different brand of brass without the interior shelf?

Unless that is all you have or lots of it.
 
I took an e-z way out and bought myself a Christmas present/new .380 redding single stage carbide die set for my T-7. But learned as rc. has open' up a new door for me to start milling down my expander stem. Yes it is large. I like the lee brand name but I tend to mix and match dies. Rule/it was the bulk of Head Stamp out of 1000 cleaned and sorted. Thanks fellas. John
 
Do not use Remington brass. That could be one problem. I now ignore Remington brass as Cheap -------
 
thub said:
Do not use Remington brass. That could be one problem. I now ignore Remington brass as Cheap -------
Click to expand...


But I thought the question the OP asked was about Federal brass and loose neck tension...........:scrutiny:

I rarely, if ever, expand/flare my .380 cases, especially with light bullets. Instead I just chamfer the inside of the case mouth to make sure the bullets start without buckling the case. SFSG.
 
On my t-7 turret I'm using new .380 dies. T. Carbide redding and set my lee expander die to compare. The inside step/interior self is giving me the problem. Iv shot a few hundred w/the stepped cases prior no prob. but had concerns when doing the bullet push test. Let me say I don't care for the stepped cases! I put the brass up against some thicker walled starline and other brands. no prob. seem like what rc explained is happening even mre pronounced w/the redding dies.
 
Good lord, here we go again with the Remington brass thing.

The OP was in regard to Federal brass, not Remington.

Like Buck460XVR, I just chamfer those little guys, no need to bell or crimp them.

GS
 
Do not use Remington brass. That could be one problem. I now ignore Remington brass
Click to expand...
I use R-P brass and some with lead bullets that are sized a bit more.
As Walkalong said there is a place for it.
Set it a side for now, you may find a use later.
 
I load thousands of R-P brass a year. In fact, in some calibers it's the majority of the brass I load. It just takes a little knowledge to know how to adapt to small differences between brands of components.

As for the Federal brass with the small inside step, you'll also find it in Blazer .380 acp brass. It's only manufactured for one firing, and that's with the bullet loaded in it at the factory. After that, we're just recycling it.

I've been loading it, but I've found that a bullet the same configuration as the factory bullet loads with ease in it. I also use a modified expander for .380 loading, which helps greatly.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
My .380 brass collection has some Speer (bare brass, not nickel), Blazer Brass, and Federal; with the step in some but not all of each type.

It seems like recent production in all of those brands has eliminated the step. I loaded some of the stepped brass with my usual load (X-treme 100 gr plated bullet .950" OAL) and a few of them didn't Plunk in my L.E. Wilson case gauge, but they all Plunk in my Dillon gauge and function normally in my Glock 42.

EDIT:
My .380 brass pile is probably 1/3 fired-by-me new ammo within the last 2 years, and 2/3 purchased from used brass vendors.

Probably 60% of my Speer brass has the step, 10% of my Blazer Brass and 30% of my Federal.

BTW, I've always loved Winchester brass in 9mm and .38 Spl. But my .380 Winchester brass (all bought within the last 2 years) has a high percentage of shallow primer pockets; no matter how hard I seat them on my Dillon 650, I'll get about 10% with a barely flush or barely high primer, and another 5% with a definitely high primer. Same primers (Winchester WSP) in any of my other brass, have no problem. Gamestalker did a really nice inspection of my brass and discovered my spring-loaded Dillon decapper was actually hitting the inside of the case head, and we thought that was beating the pockets shallower from inside. But switching to a regular decapper on new (well, once-fired) Winchester didn't help, so it must be the Winchester brass. Older or newer might be better, but I'm too cheap and lazy to do further testing.
 
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I orderd 1000 rnds. from tj-*****. Not cheap no biggie. After sorting by head stamp and de-prime and then ss/pin cleaning then sorting the bulk of them about 600 were inside stepped fed. . I can chootem good but that's it. No bashing just learning. I have plenty reg. fed w/no in step and plenty of other head s. cases. I could chamfer and prob. get better n.ten. but would not save the brass after that/just my opinion. I want to put them up (Inventory). It could be me in my adjusting/could be the brass and me not likeing the type of tension I'm getting. Let me say i learned from everyone and thank you guyz. H. Holidays John (I put the rest of the brass on the side.)
 
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