reloading pistol rounds

[mjbgalt]

way back when i started reloading, i did not know that you were supposed to bell the mouths of cases. so even now after i know this is a possibility, i don't usually bell them. my question is this: should i?

does it have an effect on how tightly they are gripped in the case or can it wear the brass too much? can i overdo it? if it makes no difference either way, i will continue to do it how i do it today- chamfer them and load 'em up.

-Matt

[LHitchcox]

Most pistol bullets have a sharp base and the edge of the case will shear off material from the bullet or possibly cave in the neck of the case when there is no flare or too little flare. The least amount of flaring that will work is the way to go, but I have shaved a lot of lead over the years by trying to keep the flare to a minimum.

Leon

[Luckyducker]

I only flair case mouths of pistol brass when I am going to press lead bullets in them as there is no need for this procedure with  jacketed bullets.   

[Siskiyou]

I bell pistol cases with a very gentle touche. In the learning days I over did a few.   Admittedly my Lyman Press allows me a tad more control then the old LEE LOADER.  I am not knocking the LEE LOADER.  I was able to load ammo on the road and at home with it.

[stimpylu32]

Matt

The only cases that i bell these days are my 45 LC , 38 spl. and 45/70 , all i shoot are over-sized cast bullets in these . as for jacketed , why bell and work the cases if you don't have too . 

stimpy

[Mikey]

I bell everything, even if it is just 'ever so slightly'.  Pistol cartridges definately get belled when I'm shooting cast bullets and rifle cases get belled 'just a touch' to assure proper seating. 

Whenever I buy a new set of dies I always look them over, inside and out, pretty thoroughly.  I always check the expander plug to see how long the expander is before it gets to the 'belling' step so I can see if it is a gentle or sharp belling step. 

I don't think it really reduces the life of my brass noticeably.  For example - when reloading the 444 Marlin with either jacketed or cast slugs I always bell slightly - just enough to allow the bullet to sit in the case without tipping over or out and when I use a factory taper crimp die the reloaded cartridge looks like it came from a factory - and the brass hasn't split yet and thats with about 15 top end loadings.  JMTCW.  Mikey.

[mjbgalt]

so it's pretty much a matter of preference I guess. I will just continue doing it as I have been. The only issue I had was crushing a few cases but since I learned to chamfer every one of them long ago, that problem is long gone.

-Matt

[Glanceblamm]

I bell everything, even if it is just 'ever so slightly'. 

Agreed with emphasis on the ever so slightly. Just enough to start the bullet...If you are shaving a bit of lead or copper from the base, the bullet is no longer concentric and cannot spin on it's axis without some wobble.

[LaOtto222]

I only slightly bell the mouths if I am shooting lead or cast bullets. It is simply to keep from shaving the side of the bullet as it is seated. If it is a jacketed bullet no matter the caliber or case, I deburr the inside of the case mouth and seat it in. Between the inside bevel on the case mouth and the slightly rounded bottom of the jacketed bullet, I get no shaving at all. By belling the mouth you work the case more than it needs to be and the result will split case mouths before their time. You can stave this off by heat treating (annealing) the case mouths every so often, but that is extra work/time.

[Questor]

mjbgalt:

The only reason for belling the cases is to make bullet seating easier. If it's easy without belling, so much the better because the case mouths will tend to last longer. As long as you're not damaging the bullet when you seat it, then there's no need to bell the case.

[Siskiyou]

I see the problem a little different.

From the Lyman #45 manual.  ""The idea behind this is to allow the bullet to enter the case freely without shaving lead."

The roll of the individual is to see that his die is properly adjusted to allow this to happen without over working the case.  One simple of way of testing is to use a case you plan to discard.  You can use the case to make your adjustments and then discard it. 
I have noted on a number of factory .357 rounds that the outline of the bullet base can be seen on the exterior case wall.  This indicates to me the bullet was tightly fitted into the case and then crimped.  This needs to happen with heavy recoiling rounds so the bullet will not set back in to the case wall or worse slip forward and lock-up the cylinder. 

[Bullseye]

I usually bell mine a little, but I am not sure why since I use jacketed bullets.  After all, a die set for bottleneck case does not even have the ability of the die to bell the case and I have never had a problem loading jacketed bullets in them.

[Lone Star]

Bottlenecked case mouths should be camfered to help rifle bullets enter.  Due to the longer bearing surface length of rifle bullets and the way modern seating dies are made, it is more difficult to seat a rifle bullet crooked enough to hang up on the case neck.  With some dies, seating a short pistol bullet crooked is rather easy without belling the case mouth.




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