Scratches on brass?

[TOM_ONE]

I reloaded my first 20 rounds tonight, and I choose to do .45 ACP. I have a lee classic press, and am using a 4 die lee set.

Every round has scratching near the neck. This happens when I set the bullet. Should this be happening?

The brass has been tumbled, through a media separator, and then lubed with hornady one-shot. Then I place it into the press, and when I get to the die which seats the bullet, this happens.

Thanks!

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[LeadFarmer74]

Looks normal to me.

[TOM_ONE]

Looks normal to me.

Thanks! Like I said I'm new, and a buddy didn't know either.

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[ihasacookie]

yeah definitely normal. lee dies have built in crimping on the seating die if i remember correctly

[Fordtrucks]

Looks to me like u have way too much crimp set on that stage. The Lee sets have a factory crimp die used in the 4th Station on the press. I would back off on ur seating die about 1-2 whole turns and then re-establish the COL, then crimp with only the FCD.

[kalapa]

Looks good to me

[keshishian101]

Looks fine. Tons of videos on YouTube that will show you how to set up your dies if your not sure. When my lee dies were new I remember getting scratches after the flaring the case. It went away after a few hundred cases.

[stilly]

No need for four dies on .45 acp. Just use the three and leave the FCD at home... Only use that if you have issues with chambering...

[noylj]

Pull a couple of seated/crimped bullets and inspect them. There should be no marks on the bullet and the bullet diameter should be unchanged.
Take the FCD and set it aside and get the Lee Taper Crimp Die.
As far as your rounds go:
1) lightly chamfer the cases inside and out once to eliminate any burrs and sharp edges
2) Crimp may be excessive. Looking at pulled bullets will help to determine this.
3) Increase the case mouth flare a bit.
4) I got really disappointing results with seating/crimping in one step when I started back around 1974, so I have always separated the two steps (even back then with a single-stage press).
If you use jacketed (not plated) bullets and chamfer the case mouth lightly, you may be able to seat the bullets with NO case mouth flare, in which case you need NO crimp.

[Capybara]

Also, assuming your die set is Carbide, you realize that you don't need to do the Hornady One Shot lube? That is an extra step that you can do but definitely don't need to, that's the whole point of Carbide dies for straight wall cases.

[TOM_ONE]

Thanks for the help everyone! I will update when I can reload on Saturday again. Damn work!

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[6mmintl]

Clean your die with copper based bore solvent, may have flake of brass adhered to die