Ok... Thought I was beyond the most basic help but I guess not.
Just a couple of weeks ago I started reloading (40cal). At the time all I could get my hands on was HORNADY 180 xtp hollow points. Loaded 200 rounds... Fired them... All good to go.. Nothing eventful.
Fast forward to today. 2 things are happening that I'm confused about... Don't know if any of it means anything or not ?
a) I finally got my riser for my powder measure die and installed it so I could use my auto prime gizmo via the turret vs by hand..
B) I received my order from precision delta for 180 gr fmj. ( so I could load cheaper fmj vs the expensive hornady xtp hp)
So 2 things I noticed:
A) looks like I am making a significant amount of flare from my expander and powder die.. I don't remember last time really seeing a truly visual flare but now I am. The does go away when crimped so I don't know how important it is?
B) this I'm less thrilled about.. Although I am loading to correct oal, I notice a bit of a ridge or fold in the center of the brass basically equal to where the base of the bullet is seated... I see this less if I exert less pressure on the handle, but even more if I exert more... However again oal remains basically the same. It's almost like the pd fmj is wider?
It's normal to have a slight depression after the bullet. Its not a bulge, it's a depression. That is good. Shorter Oal will make it worse because the bullet is pushing out on a thicker part of the case.
Reset your crimp die. Look at there the brass is "Rolling" into the bullet at the mouth. an auto loader round shouldn't do that it need the case to have an "edge" there for headspacing. If it rolls like that the die is over crimping.
As for flare, did you reset your podwer/expander die after you add the riser?
You need just enough flare to align the bullet in the case when seating it. Flare is important, too much and youll over work the brass and cause a split at the mouth, too little and you can shave the bullet or buckle the case.
As for the ridge or fold as you call it, I think countrygun is on the mark, you just want to straighten out the case, leaving the edge of the case mouth showing so it can head space in the chamber.
Run a sized case into the seating die. I bet its hitting the flare portion of that die. Reset the dial lime this.
Sized and flared case.
Lower the handle.
Lower the die till it just touches the case and back it off half a turn.
Reset OAL use the adjustment on top of the die.
Resizing - with the ram raised, turn in to the turret untill it touches the shell holder, lower the ram and turn the die in 1/4 turn. This extra amount is under debate with some, but it's done to ensure full sizing when a case goes into the die. There should be no daylight between the top of the shell holder and bottom of the die when sizing.
Powder through die - with the ram raised, turn the die in till it touches the shell holder, then back it out a half turn and set the lock ring. This allows for correct flaring and proper operation of the powder measure. Putting the riser on the die requires no adjustment of the die.
Seater / Crimer - Turn the lock ring and finger adjuster outward about as far as they will go. With a properly sized and flared case in the shell holder, raise the ram into the die and turn the die inward until it stops. This is where the crimp shoulder meets to the top of the case. Set the lock ring. Lower the ram, turn the adjuster knob down about three or four turns and place a bullet on the case and raise into the die. It will most likely still be way too shallow - lower the ram and repeat the process until the bullet is seated where you want. If you are going to use this die as a seater only, you are done. If this is your final die to crimp and seat, turn the adjuster outward about two turns and turn the die itself in about a half turn which would give a proper crimp. Using the case with the properly set bullet, raise it into the die and turn the adjuster down until it stops. Now the die is set to properly crimp and seat the bullet at the same time.
I'm sure others have different methods, but these settings have never failed me. It isn't exactly what the directions say, but I find this method both faster and more accurate.
I'm a little late to this thread, but yes, that's what you did. The seater die has a crimp shoulder in it. You had the die body down too far and were crimping, grossly over crimping at that, with the seater die. This is a more common mistake with bottle neck rifle rounds, but over crimping will buckle the case if it is severe enough.
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