40 s&w

[TedKennedy]

I'm loading once-fired, sized brass using CFE and Midway's bulk 180gr FMJ.
I have a heck of a time not wrinkiling the copper jacket when I seat the bullets.
I'm using RCBS dies, the crimp/seating die may be the problem...I've been reading as much as I can to address this.
Anybody else have problems with this? I've been reloading for 20+ years, lots of different calibers, I've never had such a problem.

 

[swampratt]

Read this sounds like this may fix the issue.
https://www.okshooters.com/showthread.php?201016-Problems-loading-40sw-pics-and-question

 

[TedKennedy]

Yeah, I read that....my last batch was better, than when I first started - I'm gonna try setting up crimp die BEFORE seating bullets and then adjust bullet seater afterwards.

 

[Calamity Jake]

I'm loading once-fired, sized brass using CFE and Midway's bulk 180gr FMJ.
I have a heck of a time not wrinkiling the copper jacket when I seat the bullets.
I'm using RCBS dies, the crimp/seating die may be the problem...I've been reading as much as I can to address this.
Anybody else have problems with this? I've been reloading for 20+ years, lots of different calibers, I've never had such a problem.

If you have good neck tension on that Midway bullet or any other then just a little crimp is all that it needed
to hold it in place.
Seat a bullet to the desired depth with no crimp then unscrew the seater stem a couple of turns and adjust the seater die down
for that light crimp now run the seater stem down to touch the bullet and lock everything down, your done,
course you know all this already, just a reminder.

 

[swampratt]

I have not loaded anything but lead bullets in my 357 and my 45acp.
But i did find that my accuracy is better with NO crimp.
I lube with Lee liquid alox and that stuff acts like super glue.
I tried to remove a couple bullets i seated too deep with an inertia puller and they would not budge.

This lead me to doing a test.
I installed 1 bullet in the chamber of my 357 mag this has a 6" barrel. and left that 1 bullet in the same hole and shot the other 5 rounds . then loaded another 5 rounds and shot those.. then removed my single bullet and measured the OAL
It was the same as when i stuck it in there.
The loads were gas checked 170gr in the 1300fps range.
But alas this is lead not FMJ.
I wonder if the FMJ in a 40 would act different

 

[Blitzfike]

Plated bullets and resized brass with tighter than normal neck diameters are the biggest problem with loading plated bullets. 45ACP is the only caliber I really have to work at with plated bullets, but that is due to the sizing die and how much it reduces the case neck diameter. On 45ACP I have gone to using 4 dies in my Dillon 550, first stage is size/deprime second stage is powder/expander third stage is an expander die from a standard RCBS Die set to open up the case a little more than the powder funnel did, then the 4th stage is the seat/crimp die. I could just machine a new powder funnel and be done with it, but that is on the future to do list. Its important to adjust the seat crimp die correctly for plated bullets. Start by taking a case that is ready to seat/crimp, Screw out the seating stem enough to not contact the bullet, run the ram all the way up, screw the seat/crimp die in until you feel it contact the brass. Then carefully turn it in as you raise and lower the ram, checking for when the flare has been removed and the case mouth doesn't offer a raised lip. This last step cures about 95% of feeding issues with semi auto pistols. Then with the ram all the way up, screw in the seating stem until it contacts the bullet. You will have to screw it in a small amount more on the next round to be loaded due to the spring in the system. Hard cast bullets and jacketed bullets will force their way into the case without all this prep, but plated bullets are very soft lead with a thin plating of copper and they deform very easily. This has been my solution to the issue.

 

[TedKennedy]

Plated bullets and resized brass with tighter than normal neck diameters are the biggest problem with loading plated bullets. 45ACP is the only caliber I really have to work at with plated bullets, but that is due to the sizing die and how much it reduces the case neck diameter. On 45ACP I have gone to using 4 dies in my Dillon 550, first stage is size/deprime second stage is powder/expander third stage is an expander die from a standard RCBS Die set to open up the case a little more than the powder funnel did, then the 4th stage is the seat/crimp die. I could just machine a new powder funnel and be done with it, but that is on the future to do list. Its important to adjust the seat crimp die correctly for plated bullets. Start by taking a case that is ready to seat/crimp, Screw out the seating stem enough to not contact the bullet, run the ram all the way up, screw the seat/crimp die in until you feel it contact the brass. Then carefully turn it in as you raise and lower the ram, checking for when the flare has been removed and the case mouth doesn't offer a raised lip. This last step cures about 95% of feeding issues with semi auto pistols. Then with the ram all the way up, screw in the seating stem until it contacts the bullet. You will have to screw it in a small amount more on the next round to be loaded due to the spring in the system. Hard cast bullets and jacketed bullets will force their way into the case without all this prep, but plated bullets are very soft lead with a thin plating of copper and they deform very easily. This has been my solution to the issue.

This echoes some other advice I've been given and makes perfect sense. I primed a bunch of cases last night, I'm going to load them up tonight after setting up my press as you described. Thanks to you all for the advice!

 

[TedKennedy]

Screwed Crimping/seat die in until it just engaged empty case-got it to just get case back to remove flare, then put charged case in. Screwed bullet seater in until proper length achieved. Did a little tinkering on the first few rounds, but got it working great.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Blitzfike]

Glad you got it going..

 

[IronMLS72]

Screwed Crimping/seat die in until it just engaged empty case-got it to just get case back to remove flare, then put charged case in. Screwed bullet seater in until proper length achieved. Did a little tinkering on the first few rounds, but got it working great.

Thanks for all the help!

I'm curious to know that if while you were tinkering with the first few rounds of 40 S&W after you reset the die did it happen to result in you adding more crimp than just the case mouth touching the crimper die without a bullet present? I'm trying to loading this round currently, and I am new to all of this, but unless I add more crimp (1/2-3/4 of a turn more with a seat/ crimp Hornady die) the bullet can be pushed into the case (when pushed hard against something) which is obviously changing the OAL length. I'm trying to crimp so that the bullet stays put while pushing on it when the round is complete. Does this sound like a reasonable amount of crimp to you guys or is there an easier way to know for sure the crimp is sufficient but not too tight?

Thank you guys.