you just were not belling your cases enough..

 

Make sure you are not over crimping either..  

Its the angle the bullet went into the case. Flare a little more and so far Lee dies have been the best way to go. .45 and .44 are in plated can be slightly oversized. Just make sure to feed them in straight and you wont see that again.

Tunaman, what dimensions do you want? Just the ID at the case neck?

 

Raz-o, I think it is probably my fault. I really didn't jam the bullets home though so I suspect I'm doing something else wrong. I know because I barely flare my brass with FMJ and then use an ever so slight amount of persuasion.

 

I plan on tossing the few bad rounds I loaded in the learning process.

 

Also, I really need to get my crimp together. I'm using 1970 RCBS dies and I don't know how to set up for a taper crimp, or if it is possible with these.

 

Kinda wish I spent the extra $20 and got FMJ.

 

Edit: my Johnson-administration era dies are set up for roll crimping and not taper. SOB.

 

I said it could be your die or a combo because a contributing factor could be the shape of the seating stem vs the bullet. 

 

As for crimp, any crimp that occurs while seating the bullet is a roll crimp. taper crimp would be a separate die. 

Bullets measure 451 and case ID is 448.

Bullets measure 451 and case ID is 448.

There ya have it...

That is not flared, just a sized case. Is that an issue? You obviously need neck tension. If it is an issue, what am I doing wrong?

 

Also bought a Lee FCD last night.

That is not flared, just a sized case. Is that an issue? You obviously need neck tension. If it is an issue, what am I doing wrong?

 

Also bought a Lee FCD last night.

Ahh ok, gotchya.(working nights I haven't had my coffee yet lol) To put in perspective I just measured my 9mm after resizing, looks like the case id comes out to .353(4) and the bullet od is .355. The "flare" is also barely noticeable looking at it,but running my finger up can feel it.

I will not be buying Xtreme bullets again.

 

I am flaring my cases to the point it is extremely difficult to fit the cases in the seating die without crushing them, yet I am still getting the occasional torn plating. Unfortunately I bought 500 bullets and for only $20 more I could have bought FMJs and been happy.

Seating and crimping in one step will shave the plating. I see you have a FCD, did you back off on the seating die so it's no longer trying to crimp?

 

I use Xtreme in both .40 and .45 and have no complaints. Feel free to donate them to me

I am no longer crimping. My FCD will be here Wednesday. I am flaring the cases so significantly that the bell is ever so slightly visible once loaded, yet still managed to strip them. In fact, I am having a very difficult time fitting them in my seating die. My final straw tonight was when I managed to slightly strip the plating around the entire circumference of the bullet. 

Something isn't right and its gonna bug me lol

Something isn't right and its gonna bug me lol

 

Bugging you!?! If it weren't for this fourm I would have melted these down and cast them by now!

 

 

These are NOT crimped. I cannot flare them anymore. I am making every effort to put the bullet in correctly when seating, and as you can see from the round on the right it will strip anyway. My first box I had a failure rate of about 1/25, now it seems like I am to 1/10. 

ok so clearly you have the case mouth opened wide enough(from the looks)...but what looks like is happening is that the case is being closed while the bullet is being seated still. Not sure how your're set up but with the Lee Turret set up, stage 3 is just a bullet seat die and stage 4 is the crimp...looks like yours is doing both?

I am not crimping. My dies can be set up to seat, or roll crimp, or both. I have it seating only.

I am not crimping. My dies can be set up to seat, or roll crimp, or both. I have it seating only.

You should give like 10 or 20 to someone who loads these successfully and see if they have any problems. This would rule out whether it is the bullets or your set up.

You say you aren't crimping but in that picture they sure look crimped. They even have the shiny ring around the outside of the mouth from the crimping ring in your seating die (unless you're reusing brass without firing). The die has to be fully backed OUT then the seating stem advanced back IN to set your OAL. Youtube has vids.

 

BTW, you should be TAPER crimping. If your dies actually say they're roll crimping you have the wrong ones. Auto loaders headspace on the case mouth.

I am going to try resetting my seating die tonight and see how that goes, then crimp with the Lee FCD which came in today. If I have a failure rate of more than 1/50 or  maybe 1/25 I'm going to give a few to a coworker of mine who loads Rainer and see how he does. What still baffles me is when I was roll crimping my bullets I had more success than when I wasn't. 

 

I emailed Xtreme and they offered a refund. Nice offer, but I would like to know 100% its my fault before dumping these bullets. 

 

Edit: I'm going to follow these follow these directions verbatim: http://www.chuckhawks.com/adjust_reloading_dies.htm

 

If everything works out, I'm ignorant. Thanks for the help guys.

 

Double edit: No bueno. Followed the instructions for setting without a crimp, and my die was set way too far from the shellholder. I drove the adjustment screw as far into the die as possible then screwed the die in until I made contact with a factory round. I have pics of the die. 

 

 And when I tried to section a bullet (on a dummy round) but quit early:

 

Triple Edit!: I called RCBS about another issue, and while on the phone I asked if modern dies offered me any benefit because of this issue. It turns out that my flaring die originally decapped, and my sizing die was converted to decap. Importantly though, he claims it is my seating stem causing the issue and offered to send me a new one. Odd, but okay.