Reloading Question

[Na-vah-duh]

I had the task of pulling some reloaded .44 Magnum for my neighbor which he purchased some time ago. He was kind enough to purchase RCBS's Collet Puller which worked wonderfully. The reason why I pulled the bullets is because they were not crimped and the bullet seating depth varied drastically. (The bullets were essentially walking out when fired)

Anyways to the question:

The cases are belled but not drastically. I am able to push the bullet back (240gr) all the way until it looks like a wad cutter. What would be the cause of this? Improper sizing?

['ol shooter]

I had the task of pulling some reloaded .44 Magnum for my neighbor which he purchased some time ago. He was kind enough to purchase RCBS's Collet Puller which worked wonderfully. The reason why I pulled the bullets is because they were not crimped and the bullet seating depth varied drastically. (The bullets were essentially walking out when fired)

Anyways to the question:

The cases are belled but not drastically. I am able to push the bullet back (240gr) all the way until it looks like a wad cutter. What would be the cause of this? Improper sizing?

You hit the nail right on the head.

[Na-vah-duh]

Thanks

[Ferrum]

I don't want to sound too stupid here, have you checked to see what the bullet diameter is? I didn't see in your original post if these were lead, jacketed or otherwise.

Only reason I ask is I have had some under sized lead before...

[donnrcp]

Check the diameter of the bullets as well for giggles. 44 should be equal to .429 inches. Opps, see what happens when you are slow?

[Fishslayer]

Where did they come from? Does sound like unsized cases. If there was still belling at the mouth... jeez... might want to check & see if the loader actually replaced the primers. Decapping usually happens at the sizing die.

Oops... missed the part where you said they had actally been fired. Curious. Yeah, definitely check the bullet diameter.

[Na-vah-duh]

Where did they come from? Does sound like unsized cases. If there was still belling at the mouth... jeez... might want to check & see if the loader actually replaced the primers. Decapping usually happens at the sizing die.

Oops... missed the part where you said they had actally been fired. Curious. Yeah, definitely check the bullet diameter.

They came from Minuteman Munitions (Modesto, CA). They say 240gr full metal jacket, but they look like copper plated bullets to me as they are easily dented. My neighbor fired a cylinder but by the 4th shot the bullets walked out so far it would jam the cylinder. Just looking at the rest you could see the bullet OAL variance was huge just eyeballing them. So I pulled the rest about 92.

The bullet diameter measured .428, .4275

On a side note the charge weight was extremely light. It was 8.3 - 8.4 gr. It looks like bullseye and that would match the data in one of the manuals I have. I will be tossing it and using fresh powder and primers. "Saftey third"

[gunboat]

no reason not to use the primers -- just remove the decap punch from your dies.

[CGT80]

How was the recoil on that 44 mag load? Did it feel anywhere near full power, new loads? Bullseye should make for some soft loads, but I have only used it in 45 acp and 38 spl. AFAIK bullseye is very similar to red dot and 231. They both use similar amounts of powder and are light loads.

Good idea on dumping the powder. I have had to re-size without the decapping pin, as well. It works just fine.

[Na-vah-duh]

They chronographed at 888 fps pretty darn light.

[CGT80]

That is pretty light for those bullets to be moving around like that.

Looks like you know what to look for.......bullet size and size the brass. I wonder if they may have used a die to flare/bell the case which was oversize where the bullet sits. Some boolit casters do this, but they are also using fat boolits, which will work properly with the extra space. Or, maybe the slightly smaller bullet and non crimped case did it.

You shouldn't need much crimp, if any with that load.