Brass too tight for bullet ? 500 s&w

[JD 500]

Hi all,

Just tried loading some 500 ammo using brand new brass. Using components I have used successfuly in the past, I had serious difficulty seating these bullets. Enough difficulty that :

1) OAL was all over the place from round to round. Some less than target OAL which worries me as I am loading within .2 gr of max.
2) Some of the soft lead points were deformed in seating
3) I tried pulling the bullets with an inertia (Hammer) type puller, and the jackets will not come free. ( No, I hadn't even crimped these rounds yet)

So, if you were left with 21 rds of 500 s&w ammo in the following condition what would you do ?

15 rds - OAL is OK , but lots of neck tension.

6 rds - OAL is .015 shorter than load data, and lots of neck tension.

All 21 are .2 gr from max ( H4227 ).

Thanks,

 

[JD 500]

Hi all,

Just tried loading some 500 ammo using brand new brass. Using components I have used successfuly in the past, I had serious difficulty seating these bullets. Enough difficulty that :

1) OAL was all over the place from round to round. Some less than target OAL which worries me as I am loading within .2 gr of max.
2) Some of the soft lead points were deformed in seating
3) I tried pulling the bullets with an inertia (Hammer) type puller, and the jackets will not come free. ( No, I hadn't even crimped these rounds yet)

So, if you were left with 21 rds of 500 s&w ammo in the following condition what would you do ?

15 rds - OAL is OK , but lots of neck tension.

6 rds - OAL is .015 shorter than load data, and lots of neck tension.

All 21 are .2 gr from max ( H4227 ).

Thanks,

 

[Skip Sackett]

Need some pictures to make an intelligent comment.
Not having them won't keep me from make an ignorant one though!

You only need to be concerned if the bases of the bullets are deeper in the case from one round to another. With soft lead ends you may have simple deformed the outer part. Actually, the shorter OAL ones may be seated shallower. Think about it. The lead deformed more on the ones that were harder to seat. Maybe, just maybe, that kept the base of the bullet from going as far into the case as the ones with the longer OAL. Just a thought. One thing for sure, if the bullet is "pre-smashed" it isn't going to end up deeper in the case.


FWIW

 

[ohiococonut]

There are several possibilities but without seeing a picture it's hard to say. The one time I had the same problem you described I noticed the new brass was a little rougher inside and several grains of powder were clinging to the case mouth and I was crushing them in the seating process.

If you're full length sizing them and your seater is the correct one make sure the bullet is as straight as possible before lowering the ram. You shouldn't have to hold the bullet in place if you've got enough bell on the mouth.

 

[Smitty500Mag]

Originally posted by JD 500:
Just tried loading some 500 ammo using brand new brass. Using components I have used successfuly in the past, I had serious difficulty seating these bullets.

I guess I'm confused? If you resized the brass as you should whether it's new or fired and belled the mouth of the cartridge before you tried to seat the bullet just how in the heck is the brass to small for the bullet?

Smitty

 

[Drail]

Check your expander button diameter and bullet diameter. A tight fit is a good thing but you're leaning towards too tight.

 

[JD 500]

Thanks for the replies all of you. Sorry, have been real busy this weekend.

Also, I'm not trying to by cryptic about this, I just didn't want to slam the companies involved without knowing where the issue lies which is why I have purposely left out the details.

What I will say at this point until I hear back from the bullet mfr, is that I started with 100 pcs new brass. I loaded 50 with one brand/weight bullet, and had no issues at all.
I then (2 days later) attempted to load a differrent brand/weight bullet, and had issues.
Both the bullet that loaded fine and the bullet giving me trouble, measured .500" exactly.
I had a great deal of resistance at the press arm, trying to seat the second bullet type. Some were much harder to seat into these cases than others ( It was all one box/lot of the bullet). Also, the super hard resistance was all the way through the press(arm) stroke.
Here is a pic of 4 loaded rounds showing the different level of tip deformation: