Reloading Questions

[Buffman]

I have a ton of new IMI brass and 300gr JHP's I'm wanting to load up in .50AE I have the Dies, powder, primers, case lube etc.

I had an experienced guy at work load 15 of these up for me. 1.575-1.580" OAL, 32.5gr of H110, Winchester WLP Primer. Dies are RCBS. Have yet to shoot them, was just curious why the die is leaving a mark (crimp mark?) on the bullet towards where the jacket starts? See Picture:



Did he forgot to bell out the case mouth, and the seating/crimping die was pressing too hard on the bullet? He loads tons of ammo, so he's no newbie, but not sure if he didn't think it needed to be expanded because it was new brass?

[srt-4_jon]

You forgot to link the picture.

[Buffman]

it was giving me fits. Uploaded now

[Hobknob]

It looks like the round has an actual crimp, so unless he has a really shallow margin on his crimp die and was catching the top of the die I'd doubt that was the culprit.
I don't see any shaved copper from the jacket, so I don't think it was necessarily pressed into an unexpanded case either.
My guess would be that the taper in the bullet seating die that he uses is just a bit too steep for that profile bullet (or possibly a .40 seating die?) and the bottom edge is just biting in a little. My father in law used to have that kind of problem all the time on lightweight jacketed 9mm's and he wound up just grinding down that contact edge so it wouldn't bite in.

It's not really a problem as long as your OAL is consistant, just cosmetic and annoying if you're a perfectionist.

[Buffman]

He used the .50AE set of 3 dies I gave him. Here's another couple of shots:







I'd imagine if it didn't crimp right, I could easily set the bullet back in the case, or would I need to chamber a round to know that?

[srt-4_jon]

it looks like a mark from the seating die. when i seat certain cheaper plated10mm hollow points, it leaves a ring on the bullet just like that. the crimp will be where the bullet meets the brass, not on just the bullet.

[Buffman]

I think I overreacted a little. I got the bags of the new bullets out, along with factory IMI rounds, and they all have that slight indentation ring towards the top with the vertical marks. I found the mark he mentioned and it ends up on one side slightly below that line..

I chambered a few of the rounds and they chamber well. Although is it normal after chambering to have some fine brass shavings around the case mouth? Maybe he did seat them on tight brass?

[Buffman]

Well that didn't go so well... Videos to follow

[Buffman]

So I only got 7 of the 15 to chamber today. Not sure why. They were all correct length, OAL, and COAL. As mentioned brand new brass, and IMI 300gr JHPs specific to .50AE. What's worse was actually firing them. They were severly underpowered. I have a video coming, but at one point, one of them fired, and as the slide started to recoil, the left over powder flashed up out of the slide! :O. The 7 shots left all sorts of unburned powder in the chamber, and in the gun. I shot a milk jug with one round and it penetrated then bounced back three feet in front of me:






What went wrong? Were the primers not powerful enough to ignite the Hodgdon H110? I read quite a few people use Winchester WLP primers just fine with H110, and even in .50AE, and they were from a reputable shop, and didn't look like old stock. Looking at the recovered bullet, is it possible he didn't expand the case (brass ring), and then didn't get a good crimp on the bullet, allowing it to not make a complete burn? I'm generally a trusting person, and this guy loads for a ton of people at work, but after this episode, I may be asking for my components back. I pulled one bullet, and there was a good 1/4" left of case capacity. I don't have a powder scale, but does this look like 32.5gr of H110?

[srt-4_jon]

the case may or may not need to be filled for it to be the right amount of powder. different powders have different densities. only way to know for sure is a scale. even if the case wasnt crimped, the bullet will seal the bore making it burn.
the chambering problem could be due to the length. hollowpoints have to be shorter than round nose due to bullet profile. i would try to chamber a round and let it close slowly. if it doesnt close all the way, the length is too long.

[Buffman]

I checked OAL of factory IMI rounds with this bullet and they're 1.580", and pretty much all loads listed for this caliber at listed at 1.580"

[Buffman]

[srt-4_jon]

They sounded real weak. I'd check the charges on a scale.