Reloading after bullet pulling

[Seamus McGillicuddy]

OK, so following a quality control failure during reloading I had a couple of squibs. I dismantled the loads from that box & found several cartridges did not have powder! My question is, what do I need to do now to reassemble the loads properly. Obviously I need to fill ALL the cases with powder this time (DUH!) but should I need to resize the case (with the primer decapper removed!) & bell the mouth or can I just seat & then crimp? I’ll probably find out if I need to bell once I start but I am unsure about resizing.

 

I am using black powder if that makes any difference.

 

Seamus (who needs to improve his quality control!)

[Flint 976]

Since the cartridges were crimped to finish the loading, you will need to re-bell the cases. You should resize as well, but you need only resize where the bullet was seated. If you don't want to back out the resizing die, just go ahead and resize full length, but, as you mentioned, remove the decapping stem.

[Barterin Bill]

Primers are cheap. The safest way would probably be to just use them for practice in your revolvers and start over. I do this sometimes because it's just easier if you are using a progressive press. I also have a single stage press and sometimes I just use it to pick up from where it is. You shouldn't have to resize again because there has been no pressure inside the casing to swell it. My die that the powder loads through bells the case to accept the bullet. You can also start with adding the powder on a progressive die, but mine inserts the primer in the same spot as the powder is added, so you would have to make sure there are no primers loaded in the press to be sure it didn't try to add another one.

[Doc Fill 'Em 67797]

If the cartridge has not been fired then there is no need to resize. You will need to flare the case mouth to seat the bullet.

 

How many cartridges are you talking about? It will be much easier to use them for practice than pull a bunch of bullets by hand. Unless you need that brass to load more I'd just leave them.

[Smithy]

I was loading black in 45 LC and ended up with 480 do overs (don't ask). After pulling all those lead bullets I found that in the removal of crimp I was able to go straight to the belling portion of the loading operation and to continue from there. I ended up with 480 perfectly loaded rounds of correct specifications. Another time with less than 480 I had to do it again and ended up with similar results. Both times I mic'd the cases out compared to factory loaded rounds and to freshly resized cases to make sure I was in the ballpark and I was. Smithy.

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

I have made that mistake as well. I have only belled the case mouth when reloading again. Re sizing might be called for if there is a heavy crimp but usually there isn't one and it's not necessary. I do that on a single stage press, not on a progressive

[Jefro, SASS#69420]

Re-bell the case, add powder and bullet. You should be able to see the powder if you're using BP. Add a Powder Cop to your press if you can't see the powder, I use one for everything.

http://www.hornady.com/store/Powder-Cop-1-Each

 

Jefro

[Badlands Beady]

I have a six-hole turret press, and the Hornady camlock puller and a universal decapper die are "permanently" mounted on it. With the universal decapper, there's no need for a decapping pin in my resizer, so it's no problem to pull a bullet, pour out the powder and resize the case, without decapping.

[Pigeonroost Slim , #36403]

First prerequisite is to reslove the issue that led to reduced/skipped charges.

Second is to learn from the mistake so that you visually inspect the case for powder.

Real black powder needs some compression, very mild to moderate depending upon brand. That is the only difference I it makes to me

 

About reloading those cases, after pulling the boolits, resize, internal size/bell, drop the charge, verify that the charge dropped, and seat a new boolit.

 

I got the impression from other posters that they would possibly re-use the boolits, but if your case retention is anything like mine, "pulling the pills"* pretty much did them in. Toss 'em in the lead scrap pile and they can be recast.

 

* For what its worth, My Hornady bullet puller WILL NOT pull my cast leae boolits. Its collet just pull right through the lead. The only puller I've found to work consistently is the inertia type.

 

prs(who has pulled more than his share of boolits)

[Ace_of_Hearts]

Put an RCBS powder check die on your Christmas list to Santa!