Need help with sizing 45-70

[whitesquirrel44]

I never loaded with steel dies before. I had all carbide dies and recently acquired several sets of steel dies from a friend. He asked me to put together some 45-70 for him. I read the instructions for these dies and when I tried to resize a few, they developed several dimples all around the top of the cases. The dimples are too low for the expanding die to remove them. I tried backing the sizer out to be flush with the shell holder at the top of the stroke and I tried backing it out about a quarter turn with no change. I'm afraid that if I back the sizer out too much, it won't resize and I do not have a barrel to try them in. I'm using all RCBS equipment. I lubed the cases with RCBS lube.

Can anyone tell me why this is happening and what to do to correct it?

Thanks

 

[rcmodel]

Too much case lube.
They are called oil dents, although I can't recall ever getting them on straight-wall cases like the 45-70, I guess it could happen with a really lot of lube trapped under the cases.

Clean the dies with solvent, and start over.

Adjust the sizing die down until it contacts the shell holder, and then give it another 1/8 turn to take out all the slack in the press.

Just use a very slight amount of case lube, like roll them on the pad, then wipe off all the excess you can with your fingers as you pick them up.

rcmodel

 

[Eric F]

did you use case lube?

 

[whitesquirrel44]

Thanks I'll try again.

 

[ftierson]

Originally posted by rcmodel
Too much case lube.
They are called oil dents, although I can't recall ever getting them on straight-wall cases like the 45-70, I guess it could happen with a really lot of lube trapped under the cases.

Clean the dies with solvent, and start over.

Adjust the sizing die down until it contacts the shell holder, and then give it another 1/8 turn to take out all the slack in the press.

Just use a very slight amount of case lube, like roll them on the pad, then wipe off all the excess you can with your fingers as you pick them up.

Sounds like good advice to me.

Let us know how it turns out.

Good luck...

Forrest

 

[snuffy]

I've had that happen with 45/70. It's just too much case lube. The dents won't hurt your brass! They'll fire form out when you shoot them. The front third of the case needs NO LUBE! the back 2/3 is where the slight taper is, that's what will cause a stuck case if it's not lubed. A light coat of lube there might migrate forward in the die to build up enough to cause lube dents. If it does, clean the dies and proceed.

Somebody will come along soon and recommend imperial sizing wax. I tried it, it didn't help the tough job of sizing that big case. There's a lot of brass/die contact on that long, large circumference case. I found the best lube to be RCBS spray case slick.

 

[whitesquirrel44]

That was it. I just sized 12 cases to load and try tomorrow. I was afraid I was wiping too much off with my fingers when I picked them up to put them in the tray. I don't have a stuck case remover so I wanted them to be well lubricated, seams it was too much.

Thanks for your help.

 

[whitesquirrel44]

Yes, RCBS Case Slick is what I'm using.

 

[Jim Watson]

Your friend is a trusting soul to let you learn how to reload at his risk.
Don't let him down.

 

[goon]

Same suggestions - probably too much lube. I've had this happen on bottlenecked rounds like .308, usually right at the shoulder. As long as they chamber smoothly the dents come out when you fire.
Let us know how it works out.

Sorry, just re-read and see that you got it figured out.

Jim Watson - the OP says he has carbide dies so I assume that hs isn't actually just learning to reload, just learning to use steel dies.

 

[SASS#23149]

Your friend is a trusting soul to let you learn how to reload at his risk.
Don't let him down.

+1 on that .You CAN double charge that big case quite easily.
verify,then verify again,won't you?

 

[whitesquirrel44]

Thanks goon, I'm not new to reloading, just to this caliber and steel dies. I weighed every third round. And yes, my friend is very trusting.

I did not get a chance to try them this weekend. Will try again next weekend.

I have another question: Does everyone have problems with crushing the casing? Out of 15, going real slow after the first two occurances, I still crushed 2 more cases. My friend who hasn't reloaded in 30 years, said he remembers having the same problem.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Bell the case mouth more so the bullet will be guided into the case. Then when you crimp, do a good roll crimp.

If you haven't trimmed these cases, you might want to do that. It helps in all aspects of loading these relatively thin cases.

And if you think the .45-70 is hard to load, you should try .45-120. Those cases run about $3.00 each, retail for good quality, and are 3.25" long.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[whitesquirrel44]

I have the case mouth as wide as I can get it. Any larger and I hit the bottom of the crimp die. I'll have to order the trimmer parts. Someone else got my friends trimmer.

Thanks