Problems loading 40sw, pics and question....

[TheLastDaze]

Loaded 10 trial loads yesterday and took them to the range, great loads with no problems.. today I loaded 120 40sw and on 8 of them I got this crease..


I watched each station on my Lee 1000 to see if I can find whats causing it. The only thing I can think of is the seating die but not sure why its only on a few..

any advice would be appreciated, also it berrys 180 gn RN

 

[rickm]

looks like it could be one of several things 1 your setting die is dirty 2 not enough flare on the case mouth 3 putting to much crimp this is just perspective and not a expert by a long shot maybe someone else will chime in soon.

 

[TheLastDaze]

the flare is low I will admit as I had to carefully place each round on there... checked die and it is clean

I have it switched over to 9mm right now as I'm waiting on a bent 'z' bar so my case feeder will feed the 40 correctly.. I bypassed case feeder and fed each round by hand...

I'm sure this has happened to someone before, if not I guess I'll reset each die when I change my press back over and see what happens..

I just hate pulling bullets, especially if I have to trash the case and primer...

 

[Calamity Jake]

What brand of brass is that?

Check the ID after sizing/expanding, I think the expander die is not expanding the case enough making it to small, when
you seat a bullet it crushes the case as there is to much resistance.

You don't have to trash the primer, pull the bullet dump powder then put the case back in the sizing station,
size the case again going slowly, catch the primer when it falls free.

 

[Rod Snell]

First glance, looks like crimp die is crushing the case, and maybe bullet was crooked. Try minimum crimp, and bell enough to get the bullet started straight. Crimp in a .40 is not what holds the bullet in, just get the case mouth flare out.

This problem is exacerbated by uneven case lengths, and a press that does not hold adjustments well; might doublecheck? Good luck..

 

[TheLastDaze]

thanks for the quick replies.....
there are 7 not 8 as I posted earlier... mixed range brass, 2 are federal, 4 pmc and 1 umc (r p) ... I will readjust the crimp die as I intentionally added more crimp when I installed dies, also I will adjust the flaring die...

I don't think I want to reuse the brass but will save the primers and maybe use the brass just to see if I can work it out in a finish load... trial and error then toss it..

it may or may not be okay but with the pressure of 40 I really don't want to chance shooting it, as tempting as it may be

 

[dennishoddy]

Straight walled pistol cases like the 9mm, .40, .45acp have a taper crimp. you don't need to have any additional crimp. Pressures will spike if you do.

You can easily reuse the brass you have without any problems.

 

[Blitzfike]

Those cases are bad, I experienced that and had one blow out with a mid range load.. Exciting to say the least. Looking at the possible causes, I determined that it was from a batch of Glock fired brass with the infamous glock bulge at 6:00 and those were really obvious. Work hardening of the brass during several loading cycles is what I believe caused that in my case. I went back through all the 9mm I had loaded and found about a dozen in three different runs that were that way. I pulled the components and crushed the cases and pitched them in my scrap bin. Now if I find brass with a great bulge, I just put it in my scrap bin to be safe.

 

[swampratt]

If you have the lee carbide crimp die back off the crimping all the way and just use the carbide portion to
iron out the case.
Usually if you need to crimp less than 1/8 of a turn after the crimper touches the case is plenty.
I do not crimp any 45acp and i do not crimp my 357 mag either.. accuracy was best just using the carbide crimp die without the crimper.

I do not think it is the crimper.
Too bad you did not see this during loading, then you would know what station it was from.
I have my Lee 1000 set at an eye level area where i can watch all my brass and see it all and pay close attention to
all stations.
Slow it down a hair. This is not a race.

Was this after the fact? Quote:"I watched each station on my Lee 1000 to see if I can find whats causing it"

 

[TheLastDaze]

I was going as slow as a snail as I bypassed the case loader and fed them by hand, I started watching the stations after I noticed the second one..(thought the first was a fluke)