22 in my 308 case

[WestKentucky]

Yep, 22 long rifle got in my 308. Managed to stay in there through tumbling, and then decided to take a bite out of my expander ball. I'm not real sure how this happened, I would think the pin would break before this happened, but the pin is fine, so I guess I'm wrong on thinking the expander is tougher than the pin. Glad I have another 30 cal expander in my 30-30 dies.

This was just a bad case all around though. Everything jammed up real tight. Case rim ripped off of about 80% of the case when I tried to lower the ram. Maybe everything was just jammed in too tight to let the case pull loose, not real sure. Unscrewed the decapper pin and the pieces just fell into the case, the expander ball was shattered but holding on just enough to hold the stem in place. So then after 20 minutes of wd-40 and cranking on the bolt I finally had it pop loose violently. Kinda like when you get a flywheel to finally budge on a mower engine...wife even came to see what the noise was. So I cut the case open to investigate, and this is what I see.

At least it's RCBS so they will send me another one. I'm not happy with these 308 dies...this is the 3rd expander ball to bite the dust and cause trouble.

 

[splattergun]

You're determined to stretch the limits if their no-fault warranty, ain't ya?

 

[WestKentucky]

I guess...but purely unintentionally. I'm beginning to wonder if it's not a concentricity issue with the die body or something putting an odd stress on the expander ball. I have several other die sets that are similar setups and have not had an issue with those at all. The first could be attributed to setup. The second just fell apart like it was a poor casting, this one, the 22 case gets the blame. Never an issue with .270, 30-30, 30-06, 7-30 waters, 256 winmag...maybe the 30 cal just has a bigger hole for the 22 to get through. Its 3 for 3 on the same die and that is just plain wierd.

 

[WestKentucky]

Or maybe junk cases...too bad there's nothing left to read on these when I rip the rim completely off.

 

[splattergun]

3 times on the same die would seem to indicate a pattern. I would think RCBS would be willing to examine the die and exchange it.

I don't suppose you have a way to measure the concentricity of the die?

 

[entropy]

The .22 should have fallen out of the case when you were inspecting headstamps before tumbling.

 

[mdi]

The .22 should have fallen out of the case when you were inspecting headstamps before tumbling.

Yep!

 

[WestKentucky]

Entropy, your right it should have fallen out...When I checked headstamps and sorted by caliber, when I dumped the corncob media, when I racked the brass in plastic pistol ammo trays mouth down to make sure there were no military crimps to pay attention to...yep should have come out. It had ample opportunity and I never heard a rattle.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, didn't. A lot of this brass was range pickup that had a deformed mouth, dimpled like what you see on 45 bass through a 1911. Maybe that helped hold it in,but if it went it with no issue it should have come out with no issue.