.38 case bulge?

[maxpress]

so i took my 38/357 dies out of my progressive press and did a run of .44spl. then i reset my 38 dies and did a run.
went to the shooting range after work and all of a sudden i had 30 out of 150 bullets that wouldnt chamber because just above the rim had a slight bulge. this was all mixed brass with most being nikel. all 30 of the brass that would not chamber was nikel. but 75 or so other nikel would chamber. all the brass colored brass chambered fine.
never had this happen before.
Any ideas which die is off?

Oh yeah, im shooting this out of a service six that has pretty tight chambers.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Perhaps your sizing/depriming die was not going all the way down on the cases? Should have only the thickness of a sheet of paper between the shell holder and the bottom of the die in most cases. Either that or the bullet seating/crimping die is causing a little buckling of the case but that usually happens up by the neck.

...Jimbo

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Stupid question time:

Were all the offending cases previously fired thru this gun? If so, I'd look at Jimbo's suggestions for adjustment of the sizing die as a starter.

OTOH, I've scrounged some range brass in the past that had been fired in a gun w/ an obvious chamber problem, and my resizing die did a poor job of ironing out the bulge. They were snug in the gun I was gonna use 'em in.

I do use a Lee Factory Crimp Die on all my ammo these days, and it will normally post size the lumps and bumps well enough to chamber in anything. Nickel cases seem a little more brittle than "yellow" brass, but I don't know if that has anything to do w/ your problem: some folks have great luck w/ nickel, others, like myself, aren't quite sold on it.

Rick C

 

[maxpress]

this was actually a coffee can full of brass that my brother in law had so no this was the first time thru this gun. he had a ruger blackhawk.
I will try and twist my sizing die down then and thanks for the advice. Kinda thought it might have been the culprit.

 

[maxpress]

Ok so i had been up for 18hrs and went shooting at 8am after a 12hr shift.
Otherwise i woulda never asked this question.
Anyhow i went back to the press and raised the ram up all the way. Low and behold I had at least a 1/4" gap under my sizing die. musta backed out last time i changed dies.