Are you trying to seat and crimp in one step?
Neck crushing on 7.62x39
New Lee 7.62 x 39 Russian dies. First time loading this round.
I read and followed the directions that came with the dies. New brass. Lubed and run through the sizer. Length ok.
Tried to seat the bullet but it crushed the neck. I cut the inside of the neck. Same problem.
Bullet 7.62 (.310) PSP, 123 gr.
What am I doing wrong?
I read and followed the directions that came with the dies. New brass. Lubed and run through the sizer. Length ok.
Tried to seat the bullet but it crushed the neck. I cut the inside of the neck. Same problem.
Bullet 7.62 (.310) PSP, 123 gr.
What am I doing wrong?
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When I'm loading steel and crimping with the die, then switch to brass I get this if I don't adjust the die. Steel takes a lot of force, and the hornady dies I have apparently don't taper crimp, instead they seem to roll crimp, so they are very finicky. The FL sizer also sizes the rounds too much, so the front ends rattle in the magazines, and the tips of the bullets sit a bit low. If you run into older hornady x39 dies, pass on them.Are you trying to seat and crimp in one step?
tc;dr, Back your die off a few turns, put a piece of brass in the ram, and up, then lower the die onto the brass, then screw the die down until you get a light crimp [you can use a tapered rod [some punches are tapered perfectly] to remove the crimp to seat a bullet] Have the bullet seating screw backed off, drop a bullet on the [now de-crimped piece of brass] and gradually seat it deeper until you get it perfect so fart as OAL. Mark the round you used to adjust the die as it'll have crimp marks all along the bullet, so it'll shoot different, also different neck tension because you used it to adjust the crimping, fire it into the berm as a fouling round.
Check your expander ball diameter. You may find it is .308 diameter and trying to seat .310 diameter bullets is causing the collapse. Several of the die makes offer sets with .308 or .310 expander as options. Have you chamfered the case mouths?
Thanks for the thoughts guys. Taking a breather, reading the instructions yet once again while consciously not thinking that I know what it says got me where I needed to be.
I had the die set too low and trying to back out the bullet depth just was not cutting the mustard.
I had the die set too low and trying to back out the bullet depth just was not cutting the mustard.
Glad it was something simple. For the dies I have that don't have a separate crimping die I usually: back the die out enough that it won't crimp and seat the bullet to where you want it. Then back the bullet seating stem all the way out and turn the die body in until you get the crimp you want. Then raise the loaded round into the die and lock the die body down. Then turn the seating stem in until its snug against the bullet. You may have to tweek it a little, but that gets you close enough or at least in the ball part.
I put in a proper length case in the press and then raise the ram to it's highest point, then turn the die until I feel resistance, and lock it down. Then I put in a case that is loaded and turn in the seating screw until the proper overall length is reached. I then back off of the seating screw and loosen the die lock nut and turn the die in a little and pull the handle to check my crimp. doing this a couple of times will get you where you want. over doing the crimp will crush a loaded case. When I am happy with the crimp I raise the loaded round to the top of the stroke and turn in the seating die until it contacts the bullet, then tighten everything down. You are now set for the bullet weight that you are currently loading.
Yup I use the same method as "BRADDOG", it's quick and easy acts just like a "go no go gauge. It will save you tons of set up time. OPPS got to run guys me and my bud "Fishound" of Fishounds Outdoors is here and we are going to head down to the lake and catch the evening run of crappies!!!!! OOOOOOH!! BOOOOOOOY!! Caught some 15" ers last night !!! SEE YA LATER BOYS.
Well boys we both limited out fishing and went today and got SKUNKED!! DOEEEEEEEE!!! I've never reloaded steel cases don't they get real brittle after shooting?? Seems like they would be rough on dies as you can't really clean them, + seems like the laqured cases would stick in the dies. They must be a bear to size. Seems like allot negitives for the price of surplus, well sort of. But reloading stuff is getting real high too.
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