Cases bulging after seating bullet
- Thread starter ChetRomeo
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Blue68f100
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This is where the Hornady's drop down alignment sleeve is very good. I set the bullet and spin the brass while I raise the ram. The sleeve aligns it up every time.
k4swb
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All else being OK, if they will chamber they will be fine to shoot.
A lot of my loads show the bullet profile in the case because the re-sizer sizes down far enough that the bullet actually pushes the case back out when seating. Never had a problem in 30+ years.
k4swb
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As someone else just said, the uniform bullet profile all around the case is fine but a bulge in just one spot is not.
It COULD mean an out of round bullet or on plated/coated bullets a thick spot in the plate/coat.
I've seen this recently with a plated batch of bullets.
They will still seat straighter if they are started straight and the sleeve isn't expected to straighten them up a lot. At least that has been my experience with Hornady and Redding sleeve type seaters.
I had a similar problem with .45 acp. Some bullets were worse about this than others. I finally resolved it by going to the Redding competition seater with the micrometer top.
There was still a bulge, but it was consistent all the way around...YMMV.
Russellc
Blue68f100
Member
When you spin the brass with the bullet contacting the sleeve it aligns it very good. With out the spin it will hold it on top but may not evenly centered. Spinning it evens it up.
RealGun
Member
Good neck tension, yes, but bullet imprinting on the case is also a sign that the dies are designed for smaller diameter bullets. That's why I prefer the results I get with RCBS Cowboy dies, the only brand of "cowboy" dies in which both the sizer and expander are larger for lead bullets.
Gtscotty
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Yep, my .44 loads with .431 cast bullets always show the bullet profile inside the case. No problem chambering and accuracy is good. As long is the bullet is even and straight, I wouldn't worry.
Yes they will. I run one in every caliber I load.
buck460XVR
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Yep.....no need for more flare as long as the bullets are seating without crushing the cases. More flare may reduce neck tension and shorten the life of your brass. The ring of brass may be from too much crimp, but depending on the load and anticipated recoil, you may need that much crimp. As for the bullets being crooked in the case, in a revolver, they will be straightened out in the cylinder throats before being thrust into the forcing cone when fired. I doubt if as long as the rounds chamber easily, that you will notice any difference in accuracy or terminal performance. I like my revolver rounds to have that "coke bottle" look.
Dudedog
Contributing Member
Not to side track but to answer ChetRomeo
Some powder will eat hoppers.
Then you have the what powder is in there?
Always best to put it back in the jar IMO.
Some powder will eat hoppers.
Then you have the what powder is in there?
Always best to put it back in the jar IMO.
I never do.
243winxb
Member
As is so often the case, the real answer is "it depends."
As others have noted, gunpowder is not completely inert. Exposure to high humidity or high temps accelerates the degradation. If you store canisters of powder somewhere dry and cool, but your press/hopper is somewhere warm and/or wet, then all the time the powder spends in the hopper (whether you're there or not) accelerates it. If, on the other hand, you store it in the same room/climate, then that's not a source of difference. So the answer depends in part on the specific climate conditions of both storage and the hopper.
How about the container versus the hopper? Are those really different? It depends. Squeeze a plastic jug of powder that you have opened at least once before (and therefore removed/broken the actual seal). You will notice that, no matter how tightly you cap the jug, most or all of them will let some air out gradually. Those plastic canisters aren't air tight (for various safety reasons). If you have a relatively snug-fitting lid for your hopper, and the hopper isn't too fat/wide, you probably don't actually get much more air flow/exposure in the hopper.
How about the materials of the hopper versus the jugs? Well, those are usually different. A subset of powders will react with some hopper materials and etch or degrade them. So that's a potential source of difference. If you have a powder that interacts with a hopper, don't leave it in the hopper any longer than necessary! (None of the powders I use seem to interact with any of the hoppers that I use... and if they did, I'd probably not buy any more of that powder going forward, but everyone has different characteristics they prioritize in the powder purchasing.) So as to whether there is any downside to leaving the powder in the hopper from this factor, it depends on the powder and the material of the hopper.
How about the risk of not knowing what is in the hopper? Well, that depends on what your loading methods are. If you store the powder somewhere other than your bench and only ever have one powder on the bench at a time, and you keep the canister next to the hopper while the powder is in the hopper... well, that's what powder is in the hopper. If you are someone who stores powders immediately adjacent to the hopper, or who puts the empty/half-full canister back in storage while you're loading, then the potential for confusion/forgetfulness does increase as time goes on... although these don't seem like ideal practices anyway.
I wouldn't say that I disagree with those who say they don't, but I do have a different perspective. I am a competitive USPSA shooter. That means I load significant volumes of my gamer loads, and then intermittently load much smaller batches/volumes of all the other rounds I load. About 90% of the time, my press sits ready to load my gamer load, with powder in the hopper. It can stay that way for weeks at a time, with me loading rounds one day, then coming back later that week to load more, then maybe 2-3 days running, then no loading for 2 weeks. I've been doing this for several years. I only ever have one powder on the bench at a time, so I never get confused about what powder is in the hopper.... it's whatever canister is sitting on the bench (most often VV N320 these days); my powder storage is in the same dehumidified environment, but a few yards away. Cycling the hopper empty takes several minutes, usually involves a loss of a small amount of powder, etc.... I'm not doing that if I know for a fact I'll be back in a few days to load exactly the same stuff. I have been doing it this way for years and with many tens - perhaps hundreds - of thousands of rounds downrange. This approach has had no apparent adverse effect. Should you do that? I don't know. You have to work through the logical factors as to potential sources of trouble and see what the answer is for you.
redbullitt
Member
I have had quite a few do that in 38, 9mm, 357 etc. Usually seems that the bullet shape does not fit the seater well, as a matched seater seems to REALLY cut this problem down. I usually just run the flat seater and it does a pretty good job, though not perfect by any means. I load them up and fire them even with the little bit of a "bullet belly" and accuracy out to 25 yards in my hands is acceptable.
You can try to make a few "custom" seater plugs with some epoxy, and that will likely improve things a lot if you need them to be better than what the flat seater plug can offer.
You can try to make a few "custom" seater plugs with some epoxy, and that will likely improve things a lot if you need them to be better than what the flat seater plug can offer.
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