The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

dromia wrote:Expander balls ruin cases and obviously it isn't giving you consistent bullet retention or you wouldn't be getting this intermittent issue.

Chuck the expander ball and just replace it with a decapping rod. I never ever use expander balls in my dies, I do use "M" die parallel expander plugs to give me controlled neck tension.

I would also anneal the cases as the god awful expander ball exacerbates the hardening of the case mouth, this creates spring back and I suspect if you were to measure all the cases mouths of you cases they would vary.

I've just measured the 20 cases from yesterday and the resized necks are all pretty consistent at .307" with a few that vary by .0005.

I just ran a case through the die with no expander ball fitted and the inside diameter of the neck is .303"

Some years ago. I turned up at the range with a 300 Sherwood, loaded with 10 grn of Reloader 7. I had previously won a 100yd off-hand shoot at a Trafalgar meeting with this rifle and load. No bang this time---just a click, a stuck bullet and a breach full of powder. Primer was a Federal Small Rifle. It occurred to me that the ammo had been transported in the back of my pick up truck (with a steel cover!) and was very cold. I put a couple of rounds in my pocket to warm them up and they then worked perfectly.
I have avoiced cold ammo ever since.
Last Sunday, a friend was shootind his 47-70 with a light load (24grn) of Reloader 7 and the same thing happenned. It was a cold day, the ammo was very cold to the touch.
Once again, after warming a couple of rounds up, they functioned as normal.
Fred

That should make the bullets plenty tight.

dromia wrote:That should make the bullets plenty tight.

Wouldn't a neck inside diameter of .303" give too much tension on a .311" bullet?, as the neck is .008" smaller than the bullet.

How much is too much?

Condom bullets are quiet robust and will expand the neck some 'pon seating, considering the pressures generated when the powder ignites I doubt a few thou neck tension will resist it for long.

If you want to be more precise then the "M" die is the way to go for neck expansion not those damned neck expander balls.

Whilst going through my fired cases today I found the offending one that caused me the problem I had.......the case still contained some unburnt powder that was clumped together and it would appear that some case lube had contaminated the powder enough to prevent it igniting so a lesson learnt.

Hells teeth how much case lube are you using, it would take a fair amount to denigrate a charge.

dromia wrote:Hells teeth how much case lube are you using, it would take a fair amount to denigrate a charge.

Only a tiny amount on the body of the case but it's the only thing I can put it down to as the unburnt powder was clumped together and felt quite greasy to the touch.

It has been a one-off event so not sure what happened........

Must have been the faeries!

dromia wrote:Must have been the faeries!

I'm going to blame the dog!