Author Topic: Case buckling (Read 349 times)

trussmanypb · « **on:** November 20, 2004, 10:01:18 AM »

I hope someone out there can help me. I'm reloading 7mm-08. I noticed on my last batch that 7 or 8 cases in a row buckled/kinked at the shoulder.
I'm not sure when it happened - when I deprimed/resized (full length) or when the bullet was seated ( no crimp used). I've reloaded 30-30 and 30-06 for years but nothing like this has happened. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, trussmanypb.

Patriot_1776 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 20, 2004, 10:55:46 AM »

It sounds to me you are seating your bullets too fast. What bullets do you load, flat base, or boat tail? Flat based bullets are more prone to do this than BTs, but both can cause this to happen. When seating, most of the stress is placed in the shoulder/neck area, and seating too fast can really hurt things up. Also, how many times have these cases been reloaded? I would think repetitive use can cause case weakness, if only a few out of many had this happen. Hope that solves the problem, and let us know what you find out.

Patriot

Graybeard · « **Reply #2 on:** November 20, 2004, 12:16:52 PM »

Almost ALWAYS when this happens you either have your cases too long and need to trim them OR you have your seater die set incorrectly. Either way the problem is that the seater die contacts the mouth of some cases before bullet is fully seated and pushes it downward causing the case to buckle.

You should do the following. Find a case that is max before trimming is needed or even a few thousands over. Use it to adjust your seater die to barely touch it. Lock it down there. Now no case that is below max length will ever do this again.

Next check all your cases for length and do this every time you load them. Check AFTER sizing as they will often grow during sizing. Trim any that are within a couple thousands of max length.

trussmanypb · « **Reply #3 on:** November 20, 2004, 06:02:08 PM »

I'm using boattail spire point bullets. All cases are always checked for length.The cases were all once fired. Greybeard, I do believe your on to something. According to my records, these bullets were the first ones I had reloaded and were in the 1st 2 rows of the storage case. The problem seems to be solved as the next 2 reloading sessions went OK. It's a good day when you learn something new. Thanks for the help.

Chuck White · « **Reply #4 on:** November 21, 2004, 07:04:10 AM »

trussmanypb:
Don't over-look the very basic things either!
Like making sure that the case mouth is chamfered!

Even when using a boat-tailed bullet, that sharp edge is strong enough to grip the bullet and allow the case to buckle!