Beginner's First Mistake

[Danny Boy]

I just started reloading and loaded a few .243 rounds. The first few I did I notice that the shoulder was all pressed down as I didn't set the die correctly. See the two on the right.

I wonder if I can shoot these or if I need to discard them. If I can shoot them will the pressure correct the shoulder to its original shape?

Please advise.

Danny

[ButlerFord45]

If they will chamber, there should be no problem fireforming them back to shape.  For what it may be worth, you're not the first to have made that mistake!!   :oops:

[Thomas Krupinski]

Now if they won't chamber, use your bullet puller to salvage the bullets and powder and then resize the case.  If you don't have a bullet puller yet, it would be a good time.  Still use mine occasionally and I have been at this for 40 years now.

Load again and see if they will chamber and then shoot them to fireform.  You may also be able to salvage the primer if you pull your depriming pin before sizing.

[Danny Boy]

Thanks for the advice.

I have a bullet puller and will save the bullet and powder. It is not worth the while to try to chamber the cartridge and find the case get wedged in.

They are cheap enough to be written off.  :oops:

Danny

[New Hampshire]

Dont feel bad.  The first time I tried reloading .357 Magnums with .38 special dies I wound up with my first .357 having a nice 1/8" long crimp put on it before I relized what was going on  :oops:  :eek:  :eek:  :oops: !!!!!

We all make mistakes at some time.  Thankfully we catch most of em.
Brian M.

[williamlayton]

Please let me butt in here an ask a question. This shoulder thing, I'm probable too anal, is a concern of mine in starting to reload. I'm gonna do a Sig .357. I don't have the equipment yet so i'm askin in the future tense.
Tips on setting the die properly?
Blessings

[longwinters]

When you get your dies, read the directions that come with them.  Also, any of your reloading manuals should have info on how to set up correctly.  I was worried when I started, last year,  too as I knew no one where I live that reloads.  But it is not all that tough.  You will do great, especially with the help you can get along the way from the experienced guys on this forum.

long

[Danny Boy]

Thanks for your advice to date. I made two mistakes during the first batch of reloading.

1) I set the seating die too deep so that the shoulder got crushed a bit per picture.
2) I didn't full length re-size the brass properly earlier on so that the bullet was seated too loosely. Whenever I try to chamber the cartridge the bullet got pressed into the casing. This was caused by the fact that I de-prime without really re-sizing the brass all the way.

After some discussion with the folks at the club, I back out the bullets and resized the brass and corrected the crushed shoulder to 98% of the original form. Now the bullets are seating tightly in the brass and can be chambered without any problem. To play it safe, I did all these steps without putting any powder in the cartridge.

Using the above procedure I corrected all six cartridges. Tried them out on Saturday and they shot pretty good. The pressure in the brass corrected the crushed shoulder back to 100% of the original shape.

Problem solved. A valuable lesson learned.     :oops:  :lol:  :lol:

Danny Boy

[bigjeepman]

Danny Boy ...

I did the exact same thing as you just did when I started reloading. It was at that point that I ordered my bullet puller.

By the way, I love those purple tipped Nosler's too in my .243 Ruger. I have grouped less than .200" on two occasions with them (70gr) and less than .400" with Sierra's 60gr HP's. My rifle just doesn't like any bullet less than those Sierra's 60gr.

Keep at it ... I have a feeling we'll still mess up every now and then.