Strange reloading occurrence

Hidalgo

Hidalgo

Well-known member
I just reloaded 100 .223 rounds.....

NEW WW brass,

60gr VMax bullets,

Full length resized,

Uniformed primer pockets,

Trimmed to length,

Chamfered & deburred.

I size with a RCBS FL die, and seat with a Redding micrometer die.

I seat this particular load at 2.245" OAL. Out of the 100, there were 3 that required undue pressure to seat the bullets. When I checked the OAL, they measured at 2.252". I thought it rather strange that all cases were prepped at the same time, and all bullets came out of the same box, yet there were 3 that were somehow "different"? What caused this I'm not sure. It isn't a big deal, because I just set them aside to be pulled apart later. But it is still one of those things that make you wonder. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Anyone have any insight why these 3 might have been hard to seat and then incurred a significantly longer OAL?



.
 
I never trim until AFTER firing. But that ain't here nor there, with your problem...... I'd second Evil and 2mg.
 
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Wondering if the ogive measurements are more consistent, although 97 out of 100 is already pretty good. Probably the bullet tips....
 
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I never trim until AFTER firing.



Well, I've bought new brass where the end looked like a piece of cauliflower, so I see why it needs to be done, in some circumstances. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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Wondering if the ogive measurements are more consistent, although 97 out of 100 is already pretty good. Probably the bullet tips....



Ditto.
 
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Here's a guess: You didn't have the inside of the neck chamfered enough to get rid of the burr from trimming.



Perhaps. But how would that have caused the increased OAL measurement? The press bottomed out when I seated the bullet.

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Did you measure to the tip of the bullet or to the ogive?



Measurements were to the tip. The seating die seats off the ogive, and I expect a little variance from bullet to bullet. But that seemed a little too much, especially since it occurred only with the 3 bullets that were hard to seat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif

We might could speculate for a week and still never know....but I never had this happen before and thought it was very strange.
 
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To be honest, measuring to the tip, that is [beeep] consistent IMO.....



I agree. The only reason I even bothered to check was because they were hard so seat. I went back and checked each of the other 97 and they were all from 2.244" - 2.248".

Strange that these 3 were hard to seat and then had a longer OAL also....don't you think?
 
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We might could speculate for a week and still never know....but I never had this happen before and thought it was very strange.



I agree. When you tear them down you will maybe solve it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
I had a similar thing happen when I didn't inside-chamfer enough after trimming. It was a boat-tail and it got pretty nasty feeling towards the end.
But I'm 100% guessing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
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To be honest, measuring to the tip, that is [beeep] consistent IMO.....



I agree. The only reason I even bothered to check was because they were hard so seat. I went back and checked each of the other 97 and they were all from 2.244" - 2.248".

Strange that these 3 were hard to seat and then had a longer OAL also....don't you think?



Actually, not really. Have had it happen. Again, to be honest, that is remarkably consistent, measuring to the tip, and not the ogive....
 
I'm no expert by any means, but I've ran into the same problem Hidalgo.
With the same bullets. I use Hornady 65gr.V-Max in my .243 loads, some will come out slightly different in OAL. My theory is this: You're still seating the bullet to the depth that you have it set for, that won't change, it's the polymer tip.
It sets up inside of the seating die and the plug pushes the bullet down by gripping from the side of the bullet and not the tip. So any "run-out" in bullet length difference goes to the tip. Make any sense?
The only other thing would be the "true" bullet dia. I'd be interested to know what you find when you pull them.
I was scratching my head at the re-loading bench for awhile on that one too! That's the best I could come up with. I just thought it was funny that you would mention it here. Seeing as how I had the same exact problem with my 65gr. V-Max's.
 
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It will be really interesting to hear the results when you tear them down...

Did you tumble the brass after sizing, and if so, is it possible that some media remained in the case?? That could cause a degree of a 'compressed' load as far as the seating process... (Just guessing here)

Or, your bullets are just not the right size and got missed at the plant...but most of their quality equipment is pretty precise..if it's anything like Sierra's..

Before you tear them down, you might want to mic the case at the bullet and compare it to one of the other 97...just out of curiosity..to see if it is stretched at all..
 
You didn't mention the charge,was that a compressed charge?
Sometimes that will push the bullets out alittle to.

I wouldn't think this would be the case with a .223,but ya never know.
 
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I agree. The only reason I even bothered to check was because they were hard so seat. I went back and checked each of the other 97 and they were all from 2.244" - 2.248".

Strange that these 3 were hard to seat and then had a longer OAL also....don't you think?



Actually, not really. Have had it happen. Again, to be honest, that is remarkably consistent, measuring to the tip, and not the ogive....



I seen this also, like 2muchgun said above.
I have never worried about it, I just slip in the next smaller Redding shell holder and seat it to the desired depth and move on.
I have found that most of the time it's because the neck is not the same - like tighter on the I.D. then the others.
 
With the bullet still seated, measure the out side neck diameter in comparison with the others. let us know what you come up with.
 
Like randy said measure the outside neck dia of loaded rounds and see if there is a difference.
You may have also gotten some 204 brass by mistake from the factory. Check head stamp and neck dia.
I bought some 22-250 brass a few years ago and got 5 220 swift case with mine.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
I also bought some 221 F.B. brass from Rem and the necks on some where necked down to 17 cal., this happened a year before they came out with the 17 F.B. so they may have been makeing some testing brass at the time and some how they got thrown in with the F.B brass. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
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