5 Brass Sizing Mistakes to Avoid!

[@BoltActionReloading]

See 12 ways to size brass tested: kzbin.info/aero/PLXl7rMHW73NOphigW13PyC7dnxhW7_P8A

[@WalterWhite-gw3vm]

Yep one of my big sizing mistake was breaking my decaping pin on a staked primer from some PMC 223 brass

[@VincitOmniaVeritas7]

I started reloading three years ago. Early on I decided to keep every round I screwed up beyond repair in display on my bench as a reminder. My favorite one is a .380 bullet destroyed by the neck expander die (yes, I forgot to switch to the bullet seating die 😬).

[@kzimmerman311]

I like the shirt, and great content as always. It is nice to have videos like this for beginners to reference

[@burgundypoint]

The small flash hole issue shows up in pistol brass too. If you decap with a standard pin it enlarges the hole creating a burr into the primer pocket that may create a seal against the new primer you put in, and when you fire it a blown, flattened or pierced primer happens with no powder ignition. Sounds like a squib load. This is the case with Sellier & Bellot "S&B NONTOX 9x19" and Ruag "T 9x19 SX" headstamped cases.

[@Roddy556]

I guess a larger pin is stronger but it seems foolish that some manufacturers make a decapper that doesn't decap all cases. I took my Hornady one and hand filed it down until it worked. They need to change their specs.

[@DanielBoone337]

Yep I think I've made most if not all these mistakes... LOL The most recent was I accidentally primed brass that haven't been sized. I made it all the way to bullet seating before I found out when the bullet just dropped through the case mouth. So I dumped all the charges and was trying to size the brass without pulling my decapping pin so I didn't knock out good hard to find primers but my expander ball was almost at the top of my sizing die and it just crushed the brass. It didn't click for me until after 3 or 4 pieces of brass were ruined. I've been reloading for 10+ years and thought I had it all figured out... I still haven't had a stuck case yet but I'm sure it's coming. LOL Great video as always keepem coming brother!!!

[@jamesvatter5729]

Never had an issue before. However, I bought a stuck case remover a year ago...just in case! After years of reloading, I stuck two 5.7x28s in the last two weeks. Certainly glad I had that tool!

[@trevorkolmatycki4042]

The Redding competition shell holder sets sure are a convenient way to set your shoulder bump in 0.002” increments whilst permanently having the sizing die set to cam over.

[@mikesuch9021]

First time watching your channel. Great video. I learned how to reload through reading the two different reloading manuals I received with the press. These videos will be a great help to me and the lady I'm helping get into the sport more. I've been shooting since 66 and reloading since 1980. After I started competing in the SASS cowboy shoots. 30 years later. A widowed lady that lives across the dirt road my age. Asked me help her pick out a AR-15 last year. When given her the basics of the operation for AR. She kept jumping the gun with questions that I would have answered if she would just be quiet for another 30 lol. So anyway if you don't mind I'm going to show her your videos and have you teach her. Later on I will go over and lend her Rock chucker press that I bought you two 1980. I bought a reading big boss just recently. When I'm reloading straight wall or just pistol. I just watch TV while I'm going through the motions it's all muscle memory. Of course I clean and inspect my brass. Most of the cowboy competition ammunition I reload is on the low side and I've been able to reload same cases up to 10 times. Before being blackballed. I give the brass to Wickenburg high school in Arizona. To sponsor. The only all girl high-powered rifle high school team that I know of. You may remember Rachel if you watch the shooting competition in Sweden 2019 she took her home and gold medals to Arizona thank you very much Rachel outstanding job.

[@aeroderek]

I have broken a few decapping pins and had no spares so had to wait a week to finish. Now I switched to Lee decapping die and have several spares

[@garyh.7282]

Knock on wood I haven't stuck a case yet (now watch I will today) but I have done the other things you mentioned . The most frustrating was crushing case necks I still don't know exactly why but I was just sizing when my die set up started crushing every third or forth case . I annealed all the brass and it stopped happening so now I anneal all my brass before sizing.

[@Dwayne7834]

Thanks for the video and information. I have made some of the mistakes when I first started reloading.

[@JamesSmullins]

I haven't crushed a case while sizing but have while seating a particular bullet. My preferred self defense and hunting round is the speer gold dot 62g bonded soft point. It's a great bullet but it's pretty much a flat base so if you don't get sizing just right it will crush the neck while seating it. I now just add a neck expander to the process and barely hit the neck and that solves the problem. It was easier than trying to get the Lee 223 sizing die dialed in just right. It doesn't happen with all types of brass, mostly star light brass, I think it's a tad thicker walled than others like federal.

[@aeroderek]

17 hornet likes to crush cases and shave bullets unless you have a generous chamfer

[@cw2a]

Good stuff man!!

[@moushunter]

I just sized 5000 pcs of various brand 223 and 5.56 range brass and found 8 cases that were berdan primed. You have to learn to stop when your press handle stops and remove the case and put it aside for inspection. Previously I had some imported cases with berdan primers that my lee decap die punched through fairly easy. When I was cleaning primer pockets I notice 2 small holes and a ragged bigger hole in the middle.

[@wildmanjeff42]

Lot of good information --Thanks for the video !

[@user60521123]

I reload 7.62 x39 and I’ve found that American ammo manufacturers as well as Bellot & Sellier use boxer primers. I mostly get my brass from spent commercial ammo and I’ve yet to see a case with a Berdan primer pocket

[@Longshothawk]

I stuck a case. I was lucky that I don't use expander balls. This allowed me to remove the top of the die that holds the bushing in and place a bolt through the top of the die to drive the brass out with a hammer as the die was still in the press. I was not excited about the process but it did come out fairly easily

[@Astroboii89]

I've just found out the hard way with my new coax press that you can push the bullet and neck down when you cam over too ... just a standard redding bullet seater die .... I used to have a lee press and never had a drama .. lesson to be learnt I guess haha 🤣

[@sallyann8971]

do you think too much torch heat ruined some of my recent brass? 4 fired 556 torched before sizing. completely loaded the 50 rounds before I spotted half of them with tiny cracks on the shoulders. I normally bump 4k so I can run in all my gas guns. primer pockets are still fabulous and I normally don't run up to pressure but somehow I just ruined some brass that I would normally get 6-7 loads before soft primer pockets made me retire them. I am knew to the torch but been handloading for 14 years.

[@kirkmartin2223]

You could have sized it too much. 4k shoulder bump could be perfect in "rifle A" but way too much in "rifle C" so the case isn't getting supported by the chamber enough. Just a guess

[@sallyann8971]

@@kirkmartin2223 I never fired these. Spotted the cracks and pulled them. I've been running 4k in these 3 rifles for over 8 years. Its a good number compared to some factory being 8k The only thing different is the fire. I just thought a had the torch figured out But iv only been doing it for the past year. And to tell the truth I can't tell enough different in SD"s to keep doing it. Made it this far without doing it so if I crack another shoulder I'm selling the anneal eez

[@brandonparrett2436]

@@sallyann8971 I just ruined some with the fire too. But my necks cracked

[@dougmccune9307]

Very helpful.

[@RatelLaw]

Thank you for sharing

[@TexasTrained]

I've got where I only Decapp with a Lee Universal Decapping Die.

[@PetersonCartridgeCo]

Fun Fact: All of our SRP casings use a small flash hole in the diameter of 0.060", all LRP are 0.080".

[@jessecollingwood1002]

I forgot to lube a pile of 308 brass by the third case I almost tore my press off the bench with the massive force I needed to pull the ram down.

[@ewathoughts8476]

You have been watching JRB again, I can tell.

[@BoltActionReloading]

He did have the stuck case with his new 6.5 PRC die. No one ever gets stuck cases though.

[@goodoleme747]

I’ve done the mistake of resizing and forgetting to lube :( luckily none of them got stuck

[@jaysmalls7946]

Redding 5.7x28mm neck sizer SUCKS. It is NOT STRAIGHT. I use a slotted cartridge gauge and confirmed this. Just use the lee FL sizer

[@H.R.6688]

I ran a 38spl in my 380 die once, I didn't notice the 0 when I set up. Lol

[@alexiezante3663]

I’ve gotten decapping pins stuck and pulled out of 357 Sig brass.

[@Accuracy1st]

IN MY EXPERIENCE SINCE 1989 for HUNTING - bolt action rifles: 1. once you fire a round, rechamber the empty brass. If it chambers again just fine, no need to FL resize, neck size with bushing die 0.001 to 0.002 smaller than that case was when loaded, no need for expander ball/button, or mandrel, trim the length if necessary - I do to keep them uniform. Expanders and mandrels can contribute to case runout. Even with my hotter loads very few fired cases are even remotely stiff when trying to rechamber 2. With the very few fired cases that are slightly stiff when rechambering, I've still never had an issue just neck sizing them and reusing them. I use those after reloading for the next hunt to make sure rifle still sighted in. When rechambering the spent case, your rifle bolt feel will tell you if you need to FL resize. Keep the neck sized only batches separate from the FL sized ones in case it changes POI at 300 yards. Frankly it's minimal in my experience but I keep the FL sized ones separate and use for practice, re-sighting for next season, since there are so few of them 3. I've never experienced the inner neck "donut." To date I've handloaded/reloaded for multiple 270s, 280 Rem, 30.06, 7mmRemMag, 300 WinMag, 300 SAUM, 300 RUM, 6.5-284 Norma, 243 Win, 308 Win. I can't think of any others 4. If you have a particular brand of brass you stick with, and do not have a bushing sizer die, Redding and Forster will hone your die for you to whatever neck diameter you request. For example, I sent my 308 FL size die back to Forster with 3 loaded dummy rounds from 3 different lots of Lapua brass (turns out they were all uniform anyway), and had my die neck honed to 0.336. I only use that die for Lapua brass. I just received my neck size bushing die from Redding last week for the Winchester and Hornady brass 5. ONLY TIME I use an expander is with new cases and I've never lubed any new brass before running into a FL size die as it's so much smaller in diameter - outside, and I use a bronze brush to clean inside of necks before sizing 6. In a nutshell, FL or neck only bushing dies are the way to go and stop overworking the cases with expanders/mandrels. 7. Anneal cases about every 3 firings depending on caliber, 30.06 and 308 about every 5. smaller bore about every 3

[@brycecox2114]

Looking for some answers, I collapsed the shoulder on a few rounds. Is it safe to fire to fire form it or should I throw them out?

[@vvr881]

Throw away

[@gabriels.3051]

The problem with the expander mandrel (belling, no damage to the shoulder) just happened to me today. Unfortunately I just realized it after expanding 300 brand new lapua cases. Can I do something about it or do I have to throw them in the trash? 🙈

[@lightningdt1]

I have to ask… I took new brass and trimmed it to the max. Did I just waste 100 cases? Or can load them once?

[@frankofthesea]

I had the same happen for the first time recently. Can you use imperial lube without contaminating powder? I went and bought non-contaminating lube specifically for inner lubing.

[@acwatchmaker]

Just curious which tool you show for chamfering and deburring cases?

[@BoltActionReloading]

Hello, It is the Lyman case prep tool. The video description has a affiliate link to the product on Amazon.

[@tc6818]

Looking for help here: I just did my first reloads using a basic Forester full length sizing die (005348) in 6.5 Creedmoor. I was reloading once-fired brass from my bolt action precision rifle. An experienced friend insisted I needed to bump the shoulder back 0.002". He claimed I needed to thread the die deeper into the press in order to change the shoulder dimension. To my knowledge, the Forester full length resizing die I was using does not have the ability to adjust the shoulder dimension. There was nothing in the instructions about altering the shoulder dimension. Was I doing something wrong? Or was he expecting me to do something my resizing die was not capable of accomplishing? Side note: This friend is an experienced ELD (1000+ yd) shooter who buys virgin Lapua brass and personally loads every round he shoots. I showed him the die before I attempted to use it. He examined it, took it apart and even looked through the instructions. However we were not in a position to set up the press and resize brass at the time. Side note #2: I went shooting yesterday and my reloads worked as expected. I was achieving sub-MOA 5-shot groups at 100 yards.

[@johnkaraphillis754]

Will over annealing cause neck to collapse while using mandrel?

[@horstb29]

Guilty of mistake #5 😁

[@ronaldjohnson1474]

"For-es-ter" does not = Forster. One should never force a reloading die (the first problem in reloading). Only resizing dies require force (ie: 30-06 to 25-06).

[@rickm4295]

Why would once fired factory brass measurements be so all over the place? At 1st I thought it was the hornady tools I have but i went and bought SAC head-space tools and still the measurements are all over the place. They vary .002 to .003 of each other...I thought they would all measure the same after being fired case base to shoulder.

[@jdrollason]

Is the .002 shoulder bump also correct for gas guns. I've been told .005 for gas guns

[@BoltActionReloading]

For those I bump .003

[@sundin5646]

I used to have that exact chuck norris shirt. I wore it so often that people started calling me chuck.

[@robbyrazzer]

what are some tips to remove the sizing die expander ball? I've had a few Forster FL sizing dies and I cant seem to remove the ball (screw it off) even when I removed the decapping pin. reason to remove is because I bought an expander mandrel set

[@johnnyodendaal2602]

Why does the seating die leave marks on the bullet

[@BoltActionReloading]

Hi Johnny, This can be caused by several different things, or a combination. One is that the profiles of the seating stem and projectile don't match up that well. (largest contributing factor) Compressed loads can make this worse, also having excessive neck tension can make you have to push harder on the projectile and this can cause marks. Depending on the die manufacture there may be other stems you can buy or make a custom one yourself. Depending on the severity it may not be a big deal. BAR

[@johnnyodendaal2602]

Thanks so much for the info.I appreciate your help

[@BoltActionReloading]

No problem, what manufacturer are you using?

[@johnnyodendaal2602]

@@BoltActionReloading lee die set

[@BoltActionReloading]

If you using a lee die check out this video from JRB. kzbin.info/www/bejne/apqWlpeErKt1oKM you can also order customs stems from lee but not sure how long it may take. BAR

[@billcarlson852]

You and quarter minute magnum have a thing for chuck Norris. ..

[@BoltActionReloading]

I mostly have a thing for Chuck Norris jokes, not sure about QMM

[@Nigel-w4t]

Nice ending lol for the time.

[@phillipmcmillan1595]

Can How to size 308 brass t0 fit 7mm08.

[@karl4x4]

Just recently, resized a bunch of brass of several calibers. I then threw them in the wet tumbler a bit longer than usual (1 hour, normally 15 min) before I trim them. When it was time to trim, I noticed I could not fit the .30 cals in the.30 TCBS universal trimmer but was able to if I chamfered the ID. with my 60x magnifying glass, I noticed that tumbler battered the edges so much that some of the metal was protruding. Now I understand why its not consistent bullet speed when I clean but don't chamfer (when they don't need trimming).

[@glendavis9663]

👍

[@ctech01]

👍👍👍👍👍👀😎

[@karentwotrees]

A little off track here but hoping to help. I saw where Johnny's Reloading made a funny comment about stopping your video as soon as he saw a blue Dillon on your bench. I felt the exactly the opposite on the Dillon, excited to see it, but was truly turned off seeing the Bonanza Co-Ax, thinking just the same, nevermind he's a Koolaid drinker, probably watched someone famous selling them a few years back. The Dillon gave me hope you could see beyond the veil. If you don't already have one, look at John Whidden's floating tool head for it, a must have. If your open to some new info and insights, I'd love to share my experience in presses, bushing dies and the concentricity rabbit hole that leaves everyone asking questions. In the end I could tempt you to loading everything on a Dillon just as accurately as what you think your accomplishing on the Bonanza. And as a just as capable for almost one third the money single stage standard press, nothing beats a Lee Classic Cast press running Hornady Lock-N-Load Die Bushings (NOT Lee's Breech Lock though for a reason!). The Lee Press is cheap, functional and very capable even to the point of loading 50 BMG which I do on one of the four Lees I'm using now. BUT, the Dillon is such a time saver and will roll out .002" TIR and under ammo all day long with a properly set up bushing die. AND, there is a better way to set one up vs the way Redding recommends and they will load just as concentric ammo as any other die or better. To much to write it all out here. Let me know if your interested in further info and I'd be glad to share. Really need to do a video on each subject, presses and bushing dies. Anyhow I love your videos and out of all the reloading channels out there with tons of knowledge circulating yours jive with just the right amount of "I don't know it all but I have lots to share" attitude. BTW, I watch Johnny's channel also and he's just as fun to watch and glad you two are connected. So much to teach each other!

[@rob1135]

“Unless you particularly enjoy clearing jams”. Good one! Forget neck sizing guys… FL SIZE every time!

[@garrytalley8009]

Simple minded solution to someone that knows zero about the positivity of neck sizing. Neck sizing does limit the cartridge for the one rifle that is shooting it but the benefits of doing it right outweigh just not doing it because you can't seem to do it right. Case life is extended with less moving of brass. The case itself is form fitted to the chamber and enhances accuracy. If loads are moderate some people can get as many as 20 firings before having to resize. And many people will never shoot enough to get there. Semi auto rifles and using the ammo in multiple rifles of the same caliber are not for neck sizing. By all means if you are not a good reloader it is best you don't neck size at all.

[@Juliamalave8989]

It’s all about the U

[@epventer275]

Chuck Norris? Never heard of her.

[@davemiller4852]

Slow down………..