Gone Missing: .223 neck tension

View · by **plink** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:25 am

Got some once fired brass I'm working with. Most of this stuff is letting the pill drop right down through the neck. A couple I can't even crimp enough to grasp the cannelure, I've squashed a couple cases already trying. It's mixed brands.

-Brass worn too thin?
-Not sizing right?
-Need a crimp die?
-Roll newspaper around each bullet to make up the difference and jam it in the case anyway? (a vote for this one might tarnish your credibility)

View · by **870TC** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:33 am

first thing I would do is confirm the bullet diameter, a friend of mine bought 1000 .30 cal. for his M1 carbine....they were undersize bullets and did the same thing your describing.

View · by **plink** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:10 am

870TC wrote:first thing I would do is confirm the bullet diameter, a friend of mine bought 1000 .30 cal. for his M1 carbine....they were undersize bullets and did the same thing your describing.

.224", just as advertised.

View · by **Rip Van Winkle** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:26 am

What kind of brass?
Do you have a way to measure the wall thickness of the brass?
What resizing die are you using?
Have you successfully resized other brass before now?

View · by **bpacman** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:29 am

You may have made the same mistake I did. What type of sizing die do you have? Is it a Redding Type S or other die that requires a neck bushing? They don't come with the die when you buy them. You have to buy the neck bushing separately. Do the research and determine which bushing you need to buy.

Bp

View · by **DonT** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:33 am

With mixed head stamps and having the issue with all the round I would lean toward an issue with the sizing die as the bullet shouldn't just Drop into the brass. See if you can borrow another sizing dies and try that first. I have reloaded brass enough times so you couldn't read the head stamp anymore and the brass still had neck tension.

If you were on the north side of the cities you could run over and we could try it on my set up. If you want to do that let me know....

Don

View · by **plink** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:38 am

Mixed brass. Looks like some lake city, federal, and something else I'm not familiar with. Granted, the one that actually loaded up ok is LC.

Hornady regular .223 dies. John at gunstop gave a couple pointers on the case lubing, but didn't say anything about bushings. Just got the dies yesterday, but I haven't had this kind of issue loading .308.

View · by **Mauser98** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 12:00 pm

Have you measured the expander in the die?

View · by **OldmanFCSA** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 12:16 pm

Measure the diameter of the expander.

While die is apart, check ID of neck for diameter.

Did you accidentally get A 6mm/223 die?

Let us know what you find out about your die-set.

View · by **plink** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 1:36 pm

Ok. Figured it out!

I'm a little hesitant to say what the problem was. OldmanFCSA has my address and I'm worried he might show up at my door to whoop me over the head with a bullet puller.

View · by **bpacman** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:03 pm

Never hesitate to share mistakes. That is how younger brothers grow up with less spankings

. Let me guess. Sizing die wasn't low enough to get to the neck?

Bp

View · by **Bearcatrp** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:10 pm

plink wrote: OldmanFCSA has my address and I'm worried he might show up at my door to whoop me over the head with a bullet puller.

Nah, he uses a yard stick to crack the nuckles. :mrgreen:

View · by **plink** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:36 pm

bpacman wrote:Let me guess. Sizing die wasn't low enough to get to the neck?

Bp

Yeah. That one.

I thought it should go all the way down to the holder. But, I was encountering a lot more resistance than I thought normal, and the necks looked like they were getting crimped in some weird way. Turns out they just needed more drastic resizing than I've had with any of my .308 cases, so that's what I was seeing. Good to go now.
Thanks to everybody who chimed in!

View · by **Seismic Sam** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 5:02 pm

plink wrote:Ok. Figured it out!

I'm a little hesitant to say what the problem was. OldmanFCSA has my address and I'm worried he might show up at my door to whoop me over the head with a bullet puller.

Oldman is nice and understanding. As the 800 pound reloading troll who is fireproof like Hellboy and would hold you in his hand and roast you over an open fire and then eat you alive with n00b sauce, I wouldn't have been as nice. To put it bluntly, your handloading techniques are getting ahead of your knowledge about the subject. YOU are supposed to have read up enough on this stuff to at least come up with some suspicion as to what is wrong. And shooting mixed headstamp (meaning Whatever TF kind of cases somebody else picked up and sold to you) will pretty much guarantee you the maximum pressure and velocity spread you can possibly get. RTFM AGAIN (and that means the WHOLE reloading section and NOT the data section)and pay particular attention to things having to do with case wear, case stretching, and neck tension. Oh, and that piece of paper in the box with the dies has some good information too....

View · by **bpacman** on Sun Feb 08, 2015 5:28 pm

You know Sam, that lack of neck tension will result is a loose bullet, not an over pressured, double charged, gun grenade.

You really should lighten up. It is not like he is going to miss a bullet dropping through the neck on a casing.

The biggest problem is that we as a society have learned that it is easier to ask a question then it is to diagnose a problem and conceive a solution. Reading the book on this situation would not have told him that his die was set too high. We learn from mistakes and move on.

Bp