Author Topic: Expanded necks off centre (Read 773 times)

gazz · « **on:** November 04, 2005, 06:47:16 PM »

Hi, this is my first go at wildcatting. I'm making up a .303 necked up to .375 to fire cast bullets.
I have noticed that the case necks end up off centre when I open them up.
The rifle itself isn't finished yet so I haven't fired any. I am hoping that they will fire-form back into line.
Is this problem common ?
I am expanding them by first annealing them, then lubing the inside of the neck and expander button, and expanding them in 3 steps, lubing after each step. This way I don't have to use a lot of force on the lever. If I try to do it in 1 step, I will crumple the case.
I would appreciate your comments.
Cheers,
gazz.

Reed1911 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 04, 2005, 10:44:27 PM »

Depending on what the problem is and how off center they are, it may be that you are not annealing the same all the way around the case (i.e. one side or portion is softer then the rest) or you may not have any problem at all. If the amount of off center is minimal then when you run it into the full-length die it will correct itself, if we are talking about a serious off center problem, then either you'll need to anneal a little more carefully and/or you need to expand the neck a larger step at a time. I know you are tyring to minimize brass loss, but going from .30 to .37 in three steps is a little excessive and you find that going from .30 to .35 to .37 will help out a lot in keeping the neck center.

Drilling Man · « **Reply #2 on:** November 19, 2005, 09:07:19 AM »

This is a fairly common problem, and the best way to avoid it is to fire form the brass!! This "is" you best chance to get it right.

The second best way is to buy a "tapered expander" die. It's a die with a tapered expander in it to gradually takes the neck up to where you want it to be all in one shot. These work pretty well but also can leave necks lopsided at times. Mine are made by RCBS.

Drilling Man

gazz · « **Reply #3 on:** November 20, 2005, 11:54:40 AM »

Drilling Man,
Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure what you mean by fire forming. Does it mean firing a blank .303 in the wild cat chamber?
Iv'e identified a few problems, my post on annealing put me straight on that issue ( thanks guys)
Also I have been using a Lee turret press that seems to have a bit of play in it.( got to get me a Rockchucker!)
I am using one of those tapered dies. At the start of the thread, I mentioned expanding in 3 steps. What I really meant was that I did it in 3 stages i.e. push the die in a bit, relube the case, push the die in a bit more, relube, and then on the third push, it goes through. I think I would bust something if I tried to do it in one go
Cheers,
gazz

Drilling Man · « **Reply #4 on:** November 20, 2005, 04:42:01 PM »

Nothing works as well as fireforming...... at least i've never found anything that does and i've done a lot of moveing cases in every direction over the years.

Fire forming in this case means useing a small amount of pistol powder with a filler over it --------------> NOT A BULLET <-------------------- to hold the powder in place and then fireing that in the "new" chamber. That will expand the case to the new chamber.

Drilling Man

gazz · « **Reply #5 on:** November 20, 2005, 05:53:39 PM »

Thanks for your help Drilling Man!
gazz.