.223 Case Bulge

[Oreo]

Well so far my venture into reloading rifle rounds has been good until last night. I loaded 50 rounds of .223 and while I was getting ready to factory crimp the rounds noticed that I had several that had a case bulge just below the shoulder. Needless to say I wasn't very happy and went back and checked the 22-250 and .243 I had already loaded and they were all fine. Just the .223 had this new issue for me. I was very careful to "LIGHTLY" lube the case, neck and mouth of neck watching to keep lube off the shoulder to prevent any hydraulic effect.

This morning I deprimed another 75 cases and so far all of these look great. So I assume (Yeah I know what assuming gets you) that this happened during bullet insertion. I read that the collet could be sticking or maybe I just had the die set wrong.

Also these are once fired cases that I full length sized but did not trim. I did measure a random sampling and all cases fell between 1.75 and 1.76 spec.

I am using Lee reloading dies with factory crimp die. Part # 90502

Load Specs are as follows...

69gr Sierra HPBT, VV N-140 24.5 gr, Winchester once fired cases, Remington 7 1/2 SRBR primers, OAL 2.25.

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[peterf225]

What kind of dies are you using? The seating die may be set too far into the loader and deforming the brass. I usually lube my cases pretty good and have never had a problem. Also on a side note under your load you have LRM I think it is suppose to be SRM.

 

[Oreo]

Oops sorry need a little more coffee. Updated primers and added dies. They are Lee dies.

 

[artabr]

Not that it's enough to make much difference but 3 out of 4 manuals that I checked list the seating depth for a 69gr bullet at 2.260" (Sierra, Speer & Lyman manuals)
Vihta Vuori's manual does list the col. for the 69 gr. match king at 2.244".
You're a little short on your col. but you're not at max load for N-140 so that shouldn't be a cause for the bulge.

I'm guessing that you are using a full length sizing die. If you are I would think that maybe your bulge might be happening at the seating stage?? Just a guess.

Art

 

[Request Dust Off]

Pic of bulge might help.

 

[Oreo]

Image added...

 

[artabr]

I think your seating die body is set too deep. Did all of your .223 cases come out like this?
If you look at your case you'll see that it is crushed down rather than bulged out.

Art

 

[Oreo]

Only a few came out like this others were fine.

 

[artabr]

Only a few came out like this others were fine.

Thats the strange part.


Art

 

[dzelenka]

Your seating die is set too deep if it occurred during seating. Might I ask why you are crimping your rounds? If it were me, I would drop it in a drawer and forget that I owned it.

Dan

 

[Oreo]

Thanks guys going to run another batch tonight. So far cleaned, sized, deprimed and trimmed cases without issue.

Dan Factory Crimp not needed for use in AR?

 

[WB5QBK]

Your seating die is set too deep if it occurred during seating. Might I ask why you are crimping your rounds? If it were me, I would drop it in a drawer and forget that I owned it.

Dan

Ditto.

You are crushing the case. back out the seater.

Factory Crimp not needed for use in AR?

Not since 1976 in my experience......that's when I started loading them.

 

[dzelenka]

Dan Factory Crimp not needed for use in AR?

Never crimp a bullet that doesn't have a cannelure. I also wouldn't crimp match ammo. I have shot maybe 30 - 35,000 .223 handloads in ARs without crimping the bullets and have never pushed one into the case during feeding. If you are going to crimp, you need to make sure that your case lengths are the same and don't over crimp them. If you do, you will crush the case shoulders.

 

[Oreo]

Just finished 75 cleaned, deprimed, sized, trimmed, deburred, primed, charged and seated bullet with crimp die in drawer and it is all good now. Can't wait to put them down range.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Bladebu1]

I have a lee load master set up I do not have that issue at all my biggest hassel was setting the crip up right but my cases never did that
I do know lees have some rifle dies that you are not supposed to have to trim ?
maybe they just push it that much shorter? I am gussing on that
I have seen over lub case dents in the case around the neck but not what you pick shows