38 Special loading question(s)...

[sjg1966]

Hey guys....

I need some enlightening here please.

I was loading up some 38 tonight, and after sizing and flaring, when I was starting to seat bullets, I ran across 2 cases that the bullets would just slide right in with just my finger there was no neck tension at all. All the other cases were sized the same way and time and had good tension. What gives?

Next is I found 2 other cases that would just not slide into the shell holder at all, the rim was to thick or too large in diameter, is there something that would cause that to happen when those cases were fired?

Thanks for reading and any help I get....Steve

[HKMadness]

Re: lack of neck tension, those cases may have been longer than the rest, and/or you may have your expander die too far in. You only want to flare enough to barely be able to place the bullet on top. Least flare necessary will give the longest case life.

For the shell holder, were the rims warped or not (close to perfectly) round at all?

[XDRoX]

Could be to much expansion. Like HK said, you want to expand the bare minimum. It could also be be that your sizing die isn't down as far as it should be. Also could be undersized bullets, but not as likely. Also could have just been some bad brass that didn't size like its suppose to.

Were the bullets still loose after you crimped them?

[cgates]

its funny....I had the same experience just yesterday. Well, just the part about the bullets sliding in with little to no effort.

I was loading some range brass so all the headstamps were mixed. Bullets were plated.

I noticed that in every case it was RP brass. The sizing die is fine and the flare was minimal. The other cases were perfect.

Is all your brass the same headstamp? I have not had too many RP 38spl cases come through so I got to wondering if the RP brass in 38 is on the thinner side like their 45s are.

in any case, for those rounds, I just gave them a little more crimp and went on down the road. Ill recycle those next time around.

[Turbinator]

For only 2 cases exhibiting this behavior, I'd throw them out.

Turby

[bruceflinch]

For only 2 cases exhibiting this behavior, I'd throw them out in the Recycling Bucket.

Turby

Fixed it...

[Bill Steele]

R-P brass is usually some of the thinnest, along with TZZ and a few others. Thin brass and a sizing die on the loose side will cause insufficent neck tension.

If you were loading lead (or oversized plated) and got loose neck tension, then you can either get a different sizing die and suffer the dreaded coke bottle shape when loading thicker brass, or you can just throw those cases away.

If the loose neck tension was on standard sized bullets like jacketed, then save the brass for when you want to load lead or oversized plated, it will work wonderfully in that application with that sizing die.

On the cases not fitting in the shellholder, if you are using a Lee shellholder and the rim doesn't fit, I would give it a quick spin on a file and see if it fits, if not, again chuck the brass as anything that won't fit on a Lee shellholder is pretty bunged up (Lee shellholders are loose). If the shellholder is a Hornaday, they are pretty close in tolerance, try running the case rim around a file some more and maybe get it to fit, or buy a Lee shellholder. I chucked all my Hornaday shellholder and use Lee, much more forgiving.

Good luck, have fun.

[AJD]

its funny....I had the same experience just yesterday. Well, just the part about the bullets sliding in with little to no effort.

I was loading some range brass so all the headstamps were mixed. Bullets were plated.

I noticed that in every case it was RP brass. The sizing die is fine and the flare was minimal. The other cases were perfect.

Is all your brass the same headstamp? I have not had too many RP 38spl cases come through so I got to wondering if the RP brass in 38 is on the thinner side like their 45s are.

in any case, for those rounds, I just gave them a little more crimp and went on down the road. Ill recycle those next time around.

RP .38 special brass is notorious for what you are describing. I've sized RP .38cases and without even belling/expanding the case I can seat a bullet with my hand. I've used the RP brass for cast bullets .358 or larger as they don't size the bullet down.

[Cowboy T]

Are these RCBS dies, perchance? There's a specific reason I'm asking.

Got a buddy who was having a very similar issue with his .45 Colt brass (yep, R-P). Turns out he was using RCBS dies which were not resizing the brass down quite enough for his 0.451" jacketed bullets. Even the 0.452" bullets were sliding down a bit too far. I gave him a few 0.454" cast boolits from my mould to try out, and they worked great.

After that, I tried running his .45 Colt cases through my Lee .45 Colt resizer die. After that, everything seated perfectly.

Just an idea.

[ireload]

Are all the brass the same head stamp? If they are then you have two odd ball brass. Now if not and they are RP as other have stated then you may have to further adjust you sizing die down more but not to the point you bottom out completely.

With the other two brass not going into the shell holder, check the rim of the brass. If there's any burr that's sticking out then it would hinder it from going into the shell holder. Visually inspect the rim. They do get nicked from from to time to cause the burr. You can sand or file it down. Not too much just enough to remove the burr.

[wtkaiser]

I have had this problem with .38 sp brass in the dim distant past. I don't remember if it was any specific brand of brass (back then I used most anything and was quite the range scrouge). I just put it down to the odd piece of brass that was overworked and tossed it. Life is too short to make a big deal over the occasional troublesome piece of brass.

[sjg1966]

Hey there guys....thanks.

So yes the loose cases were RP and the ones with the rim issue were one RP and a Winchester. I'll try turning my sizing die in just a bit, but yes these few case getting tossed isn't going to hurt me either. I have Lee dies, I forgot to mention that.

Is it safe to deprime them and will those primers be usable still?

Thanks for the help!!

Steve

[XDRoX]

Hey there guys....thanks.

Is it safe to deprime them and will those primers be usable?
Steve

Yes.

[lpspinner]

Be careful and apply gentle slow pressure. Wear glasses. I've done it plenty of times on my mistakes. Oh, as a precaution, stay arms length away and don't look over the press.

[sjg1966]

Bah...same thing happened again today, not RP brass this time. I ran them throught the FCD and they seemed ok after that, but still don't like it. If I were to adjust my sizing die, how much more should I turn it in?

Thanks for reading....Steve