223? Update

[TRIGGER]

Loaded 100 rounds of 55gr bt fmj of different loads last night then for fun switched to loading 62gr tracer rounds that are military surplus and have been pulled. Couldn't keep the necks from smashing???? The tracer rounds are quite a bit longer. How do I load these without crushing the neck? I did not adjust the die between the 2 and am using the same batch of brass as the 55gr that loaded fine.

Ok I'm a little embarrassed but thought I would update anyways in case it may help others out. I got off work today and decided to tinker with the tracers again. I carefully re-chamfered a case in case I didn't chamfer enough and tried that = still crushed. I took DaveB's advice on the next one and once again re-chamfered but loaded with no powder this time watching closely and stopped the press just shy of crimping the case and everything was fine but the final pull crushed the case. I'm asking myself how can that happen when the 55gr bullets loaded fine. Welllllllll I pulled the 100 I loaded back out and under closer inspection they were crushed as well. Not nearly as noticible as the tracer bullets but defenatly squeezed down a bit. I do not know how this slipped by without me noticing when setting the die. I screwed up and will get good use out of my new bullet puller.
Question#1 can these cases be salvaged?
Question #2 why is it more noticible in the tracer bullets?

 

[EastTNHunter]

Re: 223?

Chamfer the case mouth

 

[TRIGGER]

Re: 223?

Chamfer the case mouth

They have all been chamfered.

 

[DaveB]

Re: 223?

1) Put a Mic on the tracer round, has to be.224 or smaller.
2) See if you can seat one in an empty case.

How much does that tracer round weigh?

 

[TRIGGER]

Re: 223?

1) Put a Mic on the tracer round, has to be.224 or smaller.
2) See if you can seat one in an empty case.

How much does that tracer round weigh?

The tracers are marked 63gr but I put 6 or 8 on the scale and they are more like 61.5 gr
They look like they would weigh a lot more.

 

[varmint1111]

Re: 223?

Tracers are basically a hollow jacket filled with the tracer material. I loaded some a few years back, they gave me a fit trying to get any accuracy out of them. They WILL start a fire. You may have to back your die out some.

 

[TRIGGER]

Moving it to the top for the edit

 

[Jcalder]

Adjust your seating die to not crimp and get a lee crimp die if you're wanting to crimp them.


Big or small, kill em all

 

[Jcalder]

Oops. Shoulda read all of your post lol. You might can rerun them thru your sizing die to correct them.


Big or small, kill em all

 

[Hunter 257W]

From looking at the picture and reading where you mentioned crimping the cases, it looks to me like you are trying to crimp with the crimp groove way in front of the case mouth. That gives the case material nowhere to go when it is forced up into the crimp part of the die and the result is that the case shoulder is forced down.

I think that if you seat the bullet so that the crimp groove aligns with the case mouth you'll be fine. At least for the cases you haven't already crunched.

I don't see why you can't re-use those cases though once you pull the bullets and run them through the sizer again. I've done things like that in the past and don't recall having to throw cases away because of it.

 

[DaveB]

I have crunched a few...Interestingly enough, 77 grain Amax in a 22-250 case using same setting as 60 gr Partition.

Once I bend one I toss them, mostly because I am such a wimp about that bang, my fingers, and other assorted parts.
I keep them together until I have enough to work on.

 

[TRIGGER]

I should have clarified. The cartridge in the first pic is a tracer. (This one came out better than the others) the 55gr seated in the cannular correctly. I measured the 55gr from the tip to the bottom of the cannular =0.5200 and the tracer measured the same way = 0.5325.
These are the 55gr