Bullet slides into resized brass

[bill k]

Here's what happened. I resized 25 rounds of once fired, 44 mag. When I went to seat the bullets on five of the rounds the bullet went in loosely. In one it just slid till it hit the powder with out even putting it in the press.
I crimped all the rounds and decided to put pressure on all the rounds. I found five of the rounds would move with very little pressure, less than a pound I'd say.
I'm inclinded to just dump all the rounds and start again.
Any thoughts?
Bill

 

[Jim Watson]

Either your sizing die is not taking the brass down small enough, or the expander is opening it up too much. You MUST have tight bullet pull for a .44magnum.

What is your expander plug diameter? Elmer Keith used some at .423" which gave him a noticeable "coke bottle" effect.

 

[LHB1]

+1 on MUST have tight fitting brass.

Need more info:
1. What brand of dies and brass are you using?
2. Can you measure diameter of case with accurate micrometer
a. Before sizing
b. After sizing
c. After expanding
d. After seating bullet and crimping case
3. Measure diameter of bullet and also "thickness" of case if possible.

Are you running the case all the way into the sizing die (full length sizing) or just sizing the neck portion of case?

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[BigSlick]

or, you have a few bullets that are undersized.

Have you mic'ed the bullets ? Mic'ed the brass coming out of the size die ?

As you know, one or the other is the problem

Give us a little more info

BigSlick

 

[bill k]

I don't know the size of the expander plug, all my equipment is RCBS. I've never had this problem before.
I just measured all my Col's of the cartrideges. Half are 1.578 the other half are 1.597 and I didn't make any adjustments or have anything lossen up.
I think I'll start over again.

 

[Bullet94]

I'll bet it's Remington brass.

 

[bill k]

Remington brass, the entire batch has been filed.

 

[LHB1]

BillK,
COL = cartridge overall length. That is irrelevant to the discussion. I asked for DIAMETER (WIDTH) measurements of case and bullet to see where the unusual difference is occurring.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[Bullet94]

bill k

I’ve had trouble with Rem brass in 357 and 44. It would not hold the bullet. I resized the 357 in a 9mm die and then it worked. The 44 brass, I annealed and then it worked. I buy Starline brass now and have not had a problem with it.

 

[dodgestdshift]

Bill K.

1) Disassemble one of the very loose cartridges. This can be done by removing the decapping stem from your sizing die. Remove the bullet, and dump the powder. Resize the case without the decapping stem.

2) See if the bullet slides into the case all the way down. It should not go in at all. If it slides in all the way check your die set up by reading the setup instructions again and doing it again. Also check the diameter of the bullet, I cannot tell you what it should be since I don't know if the bullet is jacketed or lead. You can compare it with bullets that worked properly. At this point if it slips in all the way the problem is either small bullet, problem resizing die, problem setup of the resizing die, or problem with the brass. You could try disassembling a cartridge that seated properly and try switching bullet and case, and see where or if the problem moves. This would indicate a problem with either the case or the bullet.

3) If it won't go into the case after sizing, bell the case and see if the problem comes back. The bell should be very slight just enough for the bullet to balance on the empty belled case, but not go in.

4) If you think the problem is with the brass, have they been shot before or are they new? I have never used Remington brass in the 44 but have used it in other calibers with no problems. If all else fails try another brand.

 

[Bullet94]

bill k

Did you find out what was wrong?

 

[Steve in PA]

Don't blame the brass. I've been using Remington brass for everyting I load for many years, and have had zero problems.

Either your bullets are under sized or you have the dies set up wrong. I've been reloading the .44mag for close to 15 years. It ain't the brass.

 

[bill k]

I'm going to reload 44 mag again today. I'm also going to do some of the suggested checks on a few of the bad rounds. The problem was totally weird, I've reloaded 50 or so rounds out of this batch of new brass without any problems then this happened. I'll let everyone know what I find.
Thanks for all the replies,
Bill

 

[Tim R]

Even new brass has to be sized.

 

[dodgestdshift]

bill:

I noticed one thing in your original post that won't change the current problem, but is important. You said you crimped the loose bullets, and they wouldn't hold the bullet. The purpose of the crimp is to hold the bullet from backing out of the the cartridge under recoil, not preventing it from sliding deeper into the case. The sizing step is what stops the bullet from driving deeper into the case. The other primary purpose is to remove the belling of the case. That's why the bullets wouldn't hold after you crimped.