differences in brass?

[lomaxanderson]

I was loading some 38 rounds last night and noticed that some were not getting crimped enough...now I was running mixed brass...mostly winchester but some is stamped R-P...the winchester brass criimped fine (dillon 550)but the r-p brass would shift the bullet when it dropped in the bin...I noticed that the r-p brass micced at .008 where as the winchester is .012...does this sound right..what should I do to solve this, sort into lots,throw it away...I tried to crimp more but it doesn't seem to help...all my brass is below trim to length to start with...bought new winchester bullets ,shoot them and then miced and they are below the trim to lenght listed in lymans 48...any info or help would be appreciated..

 

[mniesen89]

Well the R-P brass your speaking of is a Remington case, what I dont understand is what you mean by "shifting the bullet"?

 

[lomaxanderson]

set back

the rounds in the r-p brass can be pushed into the case with very little pressure where as the win brass rounds won't move back...I noticed this when a r-p case that had been loaded and dropped from my dillon 550's #4 station into the acro bin, it hit the bin bullet first and i saw the bullet seat deaper...which led to more investigation...of 150 rounds only 50were r-p brass and they all were loose .The rest were fine all in remington or federal brass..so i incressed the crimp die and recrimpped them...still seams as if the case won't hold the bullet in place....I also noticed that resizing 45acp blazer brass was much easier than remington...possibly thinner but so noticable by hand that i could tell the type of brass by feel...is this normal?...plus side is i got more time to practice with my kenetic puller

 

[tom234]

If you can push the bullet deeper in the case then you need more crimp. I adjust the crimp until ALL cases hold firmly.

 

[GP100man]

sounds as if the case length varied , also brass thickness & how much a die draws the case down will affect bullet tension.
if the length is ok i`d look into another sizer.

GP100man

 

[shepheard]

I ran into the exact same thing when I was loading for my gp100. My crimp die would put a good firm hold on the bullets with Win brass but not RP. Now I sort my brass and set the die for a firmer crimp on the remmy brass. Kind of a pain in the when you find out after loading a bunch.

 

[D. Manley]

Pretty common problem with R/P brass...thinner and a lot of resizing dies just don't take 'em down enough to grip the bullet enough & crimp alone can't really overcome it. I don't know if the EGW U-Dies (1/1000 undersized) would make a difference but they're fairly inexpensive, may be worth a shot if you have a lot of R/P brass.

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...my brass is below trim to length..." That'd do it. The cases are not in the right place in the die for proper crimping. Mind you, unless you're loading hot loads, you don't need to crimp .38's.

 

[rg1]

Only solution is to get another die that will size the thinner RP brass down enough to hold the bullet tighter. The EGW undersized sizing die will solve your problem with the thin brass. Crimping harder will not solve the problem. If you have enough of the thin brass the $23 for the EGW die would be worth it. My combination 38/357 die does the same thing as yours. If your expander die isn't doing any expanding at all then the brass probably won't have proper tension on the bullet. I wouldn't shoot any of the brass with loose bullets as velocities will be erratic and you could get a blooper with a bullet stuck in your barrel.

 

[lomaxanderson]

more info and questions

...Ok so unfired winchester brass is micc'n at1.150...and unfired +P is at1.150 also(live factory ammo)...my lymans 48 list 1.155 and a trim to size of 1.149...now I don't even own a trimmer and have never trimmed a case as of yet...all pistol of course...Now I checked my 3 times fired win brass and it was 1.150 ...didn't stretch much? Now all the brass that was r-p is miccing at 1.145...Is it shrinking?...man i'm confussed now ...all rounds were made on a dillon 550 so resetting the crimp for the 50 or so cases is not feasable in my opinion...What am I missing???
p.s. I noticed that I worded something wrong in my first post...I ment to say all my brass is less than the need to trim size of 1.155...the win is at 1.150 and after I pulled all the r-p apart and micced the brass they all seem to be less than trim to size.1.146 to 1.148 for the r-p...This may be why the crimp didn't hold but why does it seem to be shrinking?