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I am damaging the cast bullets when seating/crimping


Sixgun Symphony #62632

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I am reloading the Lyman 427666 cast bullets into Winchester brass and I keep reshaping the ogive of the bullet when in the seating/crimping die.

 

Should I go to a harder alloy?

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I don't think the problem is the alloy, you should be able to load a pure lead bullet without a problem. Soft bullets actually are less likely to cause leading in the cone and barrel than hard alloys.

 

What press and dies are you using?

 

A faint line on the nose of a bullet is going to be inconsequential for our game. When you say "damage", just what is happening?

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I am reloading .44 WCF using RCBS Cowboy dies with Lyman 427666 bullets and Winchester brass.

 

I try to center the bullet in the case neck with my finger before seat/crimping on my Lyman single stage press. But there is damage to the line where the ogive meets the bearing surface of the bullet.

 

Lets just call that line a "shoulder", that shoulder gets lopsided when I seat and crimp. One side will be low and the other side will be high.

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I think if you BELL the neck a little more you should be just fine.

When belling you want the bullet to sit in the case mouth, not down

in the case. To much bell and it weakens the neck of the case....

Most of your good reloading manuals have a section explaining this

procedure. What is the Diameter of the lead bullet you using?

What are the specs. calling for?

Happy trails

QDG

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I would think you'd damage the thin 44-40 brass before the bullet. Like QDG said. Open it up a bit.

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I load .44-40 using RCBS Cowboy dies, and they typically come out with a ring gouged in the ogive. If you pull out the seating plug, you will note that it has a flat seating surface with a rim around it. I guess the rim is intended to guide the bullet, but it is too long & cuts the lead. You could probably reduce gouging by filing down the rim, but as others have said, it's just a cosmetic thing at CAS distances.

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Most bullet seating dies come with 2 or three different shaped inserts for different bullets, I have even modified these to eliminate the problem you are experiencing, if you have a truncated cone seating tip and a round nose bullet for example,(or vice versa) you will have problems like you describe.

 

Doc

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:FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm::FlagAm:

 

Does the nose punch have the same shape as the bullet nose?

 

MG

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You can make a custom seater plug pretty easy. It's not like there is a high amount of pressure on the plug when loading lead bullets.

 

Mix a little JB Weld (a steel-matrix epoxy at the auto or hardware store). Degrease the seater plug surface. Grease up a loaded dummy round that you have smoothed off to remove any shoulders or damage when you seated it, with some auto grease or white grease - just a release agent so the bullet does not stick to the epoxy. Put a small amount of epoxy into the recess of the seater plug. Let the epoxy set up for about 15 minutes, to start to set and thicken. Press bullet nose into the epoxy. Leave it to set. Pop bullet out. Your own custom plug with the correct bullet nose ogive. You may have to trim with a knife or Dremel sander to remove any epoxy that bulged out, if the plug will not fit into the top of the seater die.

 

I've made a couple like that. Or, call the die manufacturer with the bullet design (mold #) you are using, and they will probably have something that will match fairly closely.

 

Good luck, GJ

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Guest Tennessee Stud, SASS# 43634 Life

I am reloading the Lyman 427666 cast bullets into Winchester brass and I keep reshaping the ogive of the bullet when in the seating/crimping die.

 

 

My advice... is don't do that.

 

ts

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With Pyrodex (a poor choice of a substitute BP, in almost everyone's book - APP would be MUCH better, and real BP would be tons better than APP for your load), you really don't need much compression. Just fill with powder to whatever volume is needed to bring the powder up to the base of the bullet. It sounds like you are trying to load as if you were loading high accuracy long range rifle cartridges. This is just Cowboy Action Shooting. A very minimal amount of compression will give you a fine load, and it will probably prevent the scoring of the nose while seating. You can seat and crimp a .44-40 in a single die, it just takes getting the die set precisely, as the instructions with the die set will tell you.

 

Really, seriously consider switching off Pyrodex to Goex or Kik or Schutzen powder. You will be much happier and your cleanup hassles will be much reduced using real BP.

 

With BP or subs, you do not want a hard alloy bullet. BP and subs run a pressure level that is low compared to smokeless powder. A hard bullet won't bump up to fill the grooves, so you would get leading. A BP type load does really well with no more than about 2.5% tin (and MAYBE you can get away with up to 1% antimony) in the alloy. That is a soft slug! Figure out how to just load with no extra powder to compress, and get a seater plug that best matches that RNFP design you are shooting, and you will be pretty well off. If you are seating with a "flat point" semi-wadcutter plug, you might try to find if there is a "round nose" plug for your die - sometimes those work amazingly well with the RNFP bullets.

 

Good luck, GJ

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I reloaded 32-20 for a while. It is a bottle neck case like your 44 WCF. I had the most success by using the combination seating crimping die just to seat the bullet to length and a Lee factory crimp die for crimping. The Lee die is a collet type die and does not touch the bullet at all.

Good Luck

 

Wif :D

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I use RCBS expander plugs in my dies. Call RCBS and they may have a expander plug the proper size if not they will make what ever size you want for a fair price. Not cheap but good work for a fair price. I like my expander plugs the same size as the boolit I am using or 1 thousands smaller. Your brass will snap back after expanding and give you abou 1 to 1.5 thousands bullets tenison, which I have found is just right. I do not like most Lee products BUT their factory crimp die is very good. It sizes the case neck/full length case after a round is loaded and you can adjust it as tight or as loose as you want. I load the best ammo I can even in cowboy action shooting. Your firearms do what you thing is best.

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