Lee handloader & .223 shoulder angle

[paulb257]

I recently bought a Lee Handloader in .223.  I bought it because of the price, but here's my dilemma.  I have been pulling the 62 gr. FMJ from Golden Eagle(Federal) ammo and replacing them with 60 gr. Nosler partitions.  When I compare the shoulder angle of the reloaded ammo with the originals the shoulder angle now looks different(less sharp).  Is this because the case is actually un-fired and one of the steps is re-sizing the neck?  I'm not sure?  Do you think this affects the safety of firing these?  Help!

[stimpylu32]

Paulb257

If by handloader your talking about the hammer type , all it does is size the neck , what may be going on is that you may have one with a tight neck and it is pushing the angled area down while sizing .

How are you pulling the bullets ?

If anything other than a kenitc or collet style puller is used you will deform the neck to the point were is is putting pressure on the shoulder area and pushing it down to a flatter angle .

Have you tried to chamber a loaded round yet ?

If so does it chamber with no problem ?

If it does chamber ok , it will be safe to fire provied that the the load is of proper charge and the bullet is seated to proper length .

Once it is shot , the case will fireform to the chamber and your sholder angle should be set .

stimpy

[paulb257]

I am pulling it with a hammer type kinetic puller from hornady.  The rounds seem to chamber fine, though I have not fired any yet.  I am making no changes to the load except the bullets themselves. 

Thanks for the info!