Wrinkled cases?

A place to discuss calibers, ammunition, and reloading

Wrinkled cases?

Postby TSKNIGHT on Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:02 pm

Loaded some 38 Special yesterday and had 3 cases that wrinkled during bullet seating.
I've been reloading over 30 years and have not seen this before.

Cases are Federal nickel plated. This is the third time they have been reloaded, each time with Hornady 125 XTP's with a maximum powder charge. There are no visible indications of case failure. I have not had to trim due to case stretch.

Sorry, the pictures I took don't show what happened.
All three cartridges are the correct OAL, but the bullets are not seated completely. Instead the case crumpled.

I'm tempted to pull the bullets and toss the brass.
Anyone else had this happen?
TSKNIGHT
 
Posts: 211 [View]
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 8:56 pm

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby BigDog58 on Sun Dec 31, 2017 9:23 pm

I experienced this issue once before. Mine, ended up being the cases being a bit shorter than the other cases, and not getting enough flare, causing the bullet to push down on the wall of the cases.
NRA RSO
"Never anger a man that can end you, from another zip code

If necessary to fight, I will Fight like I'm the 3rd Monkey on the ramp to Noah's Arc, and brother, it's starting to rain.
User avatar
BigDog58
 
Posts: 2680 [View]
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 2:03 am
Location: Edina, MN

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby mmcnx2 on Sun Dec 31, 2017 10:24 pm

It is caused by the bullet being seated and crimped at the same time. You can either turn crimp up to the point of only seating. Then come back and adjust the seat and rerun the cases through again. The issue seems to be worse when you have slightly direct case lengths. I've had the problem with when using typical 3 die sets but when I reload on the progressive that seats and crimps on separate steps I've never had it happen.
User avatar
mmcnx2
 
Posts: 2208 [View]
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:59 pm
Location: Hanover, MN

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby TSKNIGHT on Sun Dec 31, 2017 11:55 pm

Thanks for the replies.

I checked case lengths before I started and all were under max but there was some difference. Didn't think there was enough to be a problem so I didn't bother to trim them.
Guess that teaches me to cut corners!
TSKNIGHT
 
Posts: 211 [View]
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 8:56 pm

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby BigDog58 on Mon Jan 01, 2018 5:47 am

mmcnx2 also has a possibility. But if you had other rounds load fine, it sounds like your die is set correctly. Although, his suggestion could also hold true if the failed cases happen to be long enough to be engaging the crimp (if you seat & crimp at the same time). If this is the case, you might want to either trim brass, or do the seat at one stage, and the crimp in a separate stage.

I load pistol ammo on a progressive and load in 5 stages. Decap/resize, prime, flare/powder dump, seat bullet, crimp.

I've never trimmed non-bottleneck pistol cases. I do trim 30 Carbine brass, because I'm loading it for a specific rifle (not pistol). I don't know what those that load this round for their revolvers do, in their process.
NRA RSO
"Never anger a man that can end you, from another zip code

If necessary to fight, I will Fight like I'm the 3rd Monkey on the ramp to Noah's Arc, and brother, it's starting to rain.
User avatar
BigDog58
 
Posts: 2680 [View]
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 2:03 am
Location: Edina, MN

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby usnret on Mon Jan 01, 2018 9:42 am

You shouldn't have to trim pistol brass. Seating and trying to crimp at the same time will usually be the cause of this problem.
"The two most important rules in a gunfight are: Always cheat and
Always win."
GLOCK Certified Armorer
User avatar
usnret
 
Posts: 921 [View]
Joined: Fri May 22, 2009 6:41 am
Location: Middle of Nowhere

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby TSKNIGHT on Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:38 am

I'm usually do each step separately and use a taper crimp. Didn't do that this time. Used a new Lee die set and did seat and crimp in one step.
Like I said earlier, good lesson in not cutting corners.
TSKNIGHT
 
Posts: 211 [View]
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 8:56 pm

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby usnret on Mon Jan 01, 2018 12:52 pm

You should be roll crimping 38 special cases.
"The two most important rules in a gunfight are: Always cheat and
Always win."
GLOCK Certified Armorer
User avatar
usnret
 
Posts: 921 [View]
Joined: Fri May 22, 2009 6:41 am
Location: Middle of Nowhere

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby crbutler on Mon Jan 01, 2018 3:03 pm

When I have had this, it has been due to inadequate belling of the case also.

As to taper vs roll crimp, that is individual preference in a revolver.

If you want to crimp and seat at the same time, the cases do need to be pretty uniform. If not, you can buckle cases as you found out.
crbutler
 
Posts: 1649 [View]
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:29 pm

Re: Wrinkled cases?

Postby grimbeaver on Tue Jan 02, 2018 7:51 am

I found roll crimping 357 to be very sensitive to length. For roll crimped magnum rounds I keep that brass separate so I know it should all be the same length. Light plinking rounds get taper crimped and use mixed brass.
grimbeaver
 
Posts: 863 [View]
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:50 am


Return to Ammunition & Reloading

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests

cron