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Denting cases after FL resizing...

demolitionman

demolitionman

Send’r Bud
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 26, 2013
1,366
645
Midwest
I have delt with dented case problems early in my reloading and figured out I was using too much lubrication prior to full length sizing them. Here is a picture of what typically happens if I use too much case lube or if lube gets built up in my die:

Now, compare the location of the dents on these case shoulders to the dents in the picture below. The below picture is always a dent below the case shoulder on the side of body. This dent sneaks up on my and oftentimes it will happen when I am using very very little case lube. I would say about 1 in 20 cases end up with this mysterious body dent, and I only have these body dents on cases that I've used more than twice. This is not a dent attributed to "too much case lube" is it? I'm paranoid of overusing lube as I've trashed alot of case shoulders and now I'm dealing with these body dents. Maybe I'm asking too much out of my brass...anyway, any tips or hints. I'm rather new at this. Maybe I need to quit full length sizing and start neck sizing until I have chamber issues....

 
Thanks guys, no pin hole, the die is a Redding die. After every 20 rounds I run a shotgun mop through the die and a patch through the neck of the die. I have been able to totally avoid the shoulder dents but these damn body dents get me about once every 20 rounds or so. I wouldn't care so much, but I try to keep my reload lots with the same # of firings.

Can these single body dents be cleared by fire forming?
 
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Demo-man,
Too much lube, what kind of lube, and how do you apply? I use a load tray, and put the case in it mouth down, then spray, the neck and shoulder really don't need lube, the base does.
You say it sneaks up on you, but you should really see a black ring right at the shoulder right before it dents a case. It'll be excess lube and a little grime building up, clean the die before it happens.

Yes firing them will blow the out.
 
The first photo is definately excessive lube! It shows up around the shoulder. Like the previous comments, make sure your die is clean on the inside. You may even want to recheck the settings of your die. These things can be hard to determine, sometimes. Good luck.
 
milo 2.0 said:
Demo-man,
Too much lube, what kind of lube, and how do you apply? I use a load tray, and put the case in it mouth down, then spray, the neck and shoulder really don't need lube, the base does.
You say it sneaks up on you, but you should really see a black ring right at the shoulder right before it dents a case. It'll be excess lube and a little grime building up, clean the die before it happens.

Yes firing them will blow the out.
Click to expand...

Milo, glad to know I can just fireform them out. I'll save a bit of brass thataway. I'm using an RCBS lube pad I think its called. I'm using 3 little drops of RCBS case lube onto the pad, spread it around with a razorblade on the pad to even it out. When I roll the cases on the pad, I leave the neck off the pad but oftentimes will lube a bit of the shoulder. I seriously mean it when I say I'm using very little lube. Maybe spray lube would be more efficient and have less viscosity, errr take up less space inside the die.
 
I understand the system you're using is a little cheaper to use, I think. But get yourself some One shot, aerosol or pump spray, or Frankfurt arsenal, or Dillon spray lube, it's cleaner and easier. It really doesn't take gobs of lube to dent cases, realize that each case carries more of it upward, it's the only way it can go.
Imperial for case necks works good also, shit can that pad!!
 
I use a pad. I just lightly rub my index and thumb on the pad and pick up a case with those two fingers, rub the case body while inserting in the shell holder. It don't take much lube, I rub my fingers on the pad maybe every third or forth case. It's hard to explain, but your fingers are just barely a little greasy, that's all it takes.

I wouldn't be using a swab on the die, you don't need it if you lay off the lube, in the first place. BB
 
Well, tonight I resized 20 cases, using such little lube that the press required noticeably more force to fl size the cases. Much to my dismay, I had 2 cases with that mysterious single body dent identical to the picture above. These dents are NOT from too much lube. Could they be caused by the shoulder getting "bumped" too much? I'm beginning to think I need to back my die out just a thousandth or so. Thanks for being patient with my noobness.
 
Jeez,
Wish you were close. If your die was screwed in too far, the case shoulder junction can roll, not indiscriminate dimples.
When cleaning the die, that spot is the hardest to get clean, I'm still leaning toward lube. Just hang on till you can get some oneshot.
And clean the die once more!!

What cases are those, they look pretty straight walled, that hurts also.
 
Hornady 6.5 creedmoor brass. The ones that dented tonight on the body were only fired twice.

I spent some time in Driggs idaho, and the Wind Rivers years ago. If I were still out there, I'd make the drive to Gillette!
 
One thing to check, maybe you're getting a seal on bottom of brass, and trapped air is causing these dents, unlikely but. Take the decapping stem completely out of the die and size a few, see what happens, then put it back in and finish them off. This is a longshot, and I can't remember if you have a bushing die.
 
milo 2.0 said:
One thing to check, maybe you're getting a seal on bottom of brass, and trapped air is causing these dents, unlikely but. Take the decapping stem completely out of the die and size a few, see what happens, then put it back in and finish them off. This is a longshot, and I can't remember if you have a bushing die.
Click to expand...
Die is a non-bushed redding fl die. Suprisingly this dent happened to cases that I had previously decapped. I would think the primer being gone would allow enough air to escape if that were the issue, although the sizing button may be causing some sort of suction. It's not that big of an issue, but no kidding, I always have 1 or 2 cases per 20 that do this and it's starting to get frustrating. I'm thinking of buying new FL dies of a different brand.
 
Frustrating, I agree, wish I could help you. It's pretty rare that a die is fucked up, but possible, Redding stuff is usually top notch.
 
Get on Sinclairs website..........they demo "spraying" the cases with lube. It is pretty sparse; but it works and I learned a bunch from them. Give the spray lubes a try and clean your sizer die with some brake cleaner......squeaky clean. You have produced some of the best lube dents ever seen ;)
 
Hornady 1 shot lube.
Stand the cases up in a reloading tray and spray at a 30 degree down angle with the tray rotated 45 degrees (otherwise the lead row of cases gets all the lube), give a nice light even application of lube to the outside of the case and the inside of the neck at the same time, and fast.

I don't know why anybody would mess around with applying lube 1 case at a time.

I just decapped and FL resized 1000 .223 cases in an hour and a half. Resizing .223 takes very light lubing, .308 and larger take a little more, but it's soooo easy and I've yet to dent a case from excess lube.

Joe
 
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I'm not using too much lube. I've backed off the lube so much my die feels rough and rather hard to cycle the press! Read a customer review on midway. I was going to order a new die and came across this customer review who is describing my problems exactly.

Not impressed - the resizing die was extremely coarse when I first got it. I ended up sending the die back to Redding (very good customer service); they said that the inside had not been polished. They polished it and sent it back - it was better, but it was still fairly coarse (kind of a grinding feeling when running brass up the die). Definitely the coarsest feeling die I've ever had, even after it was returned to me from Redding. Furthermore, I have to run the brass up very slowly to avoid denting the shoulder of the brass, and even then sometimes I get dents anyway, and I don't over-lube (very sparingly actually), and no other die I own dents my brass so badly and so easily (except my Redding 270 win die, my only other Redding die, which also easily dents the shoulder for some reason). In frustration I ended up purchasing a competitor's 6.5 Creedmoor die and it works 100% better, very smooth in-out of the resizing die, and no shoulder dents or over-worked case. Sorry Redding - I cannot recommend this product."
 
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Well demo-man, send it in, see what they do. One thing they wont do is refund your coin. If it was me I'd buy another brand, keep the returned one for a spare. Hate to see new guys have to go through this shit first time.
 
milo 2.0 said:
Well demo-man, send it in, see what they do. One thing they wont do is refund your coin. If it was me I'd buy another brand, keep the returned one for a spare. Hate to see new guys have to go through this shit first time.
Click to expand...
I'm looking for an in stock Hornady match grade Bushing Fl sizing die somewhere.....I'm ready to order. I'm going to pickup some oneshot and try again tonight, if the body dent persists I'm sending 5 fired casings and my die back to redding.
 
milo 2.0 said:
Well demo-man, send it in, see what they do. One thing they wont do is refund your coin. If it was me I'd buy another brand, keep the returned one for a spare. Hate to see new guys have to go through this shit first time.
Click to expand...
I'm looking for an in stock Hornady match grade Bushing Fl sizing die somewhere.....I'm ready to order. I'm going to pickup some oneshot and try again tonight, as well as order a bump gauge just to rule that out as well....
 
Well, I just got in from work. I pulled a few cases out of the tumbler, set the die per redding's instruction, used very very little case lube, and in hopes to measure the shoulder bump, I took a fired 40sw case and placed it over the fired rifle casing. Took a measurement. Then I sized the brass, and re-measured. The measurement is coming from the middle of the shoulder. From the micrometer, its looking like my shoulder bump is hardly registering at all. Maybe 1/1000".

I feel my sw 40 case over the case mouth of my 6.5 creed brass should work somewhat to measure my bump right? The case mouth of the 40sw sits just in the middle of the rifle brass's shoulder....

Anyhow, I'm determined to find out whats going on. Gotta run, thanks again guys, and you especially Milo.
 
Try adjusting the decapping pin up to where it barely knocks out the primer, or decap separately and adjust the pin in the sizing die even higher. Gotta be trapped air somehow if it isn't excessive lube and there is no vent hole.
 
When I had my .260 AR I would see dents like this on fired cases until I installed an adjustable gas block. It was caused by the bolt trying to extract the round while the pressure in the chamber was still too high and the case neck was still stuck to the chamber and the case was getting stretched.

Try resizing a few without the decapping rod in and see if it goes away. Maybe the sizing button on the decapping rod is pulling on the brass on the way out.
 
demolitionman said:
I'm looking for an in stock Hornady match grade Bushing Fl sizing die somewhere.....I'm ready to order. I'm going to pickup some oneshot and try again tonight, as well as order a bump gauge just to rule that out as well....
Click to expand...

Check out Whidden Gunworks. they make fantastic Bushing FL dies. They also come with a shoulder bump gage that works a darn sight better than a .40 case.

Whidden Gunworks
 
I use a little brake cleaner to spray out my die. The die looked clean but I had a similar problem. Finally took it apart and used a electric drill, chamber brush, patch wrapped it and j b paste and cleaned it within an inch of its life - ok at least .0001.
 
UPDATE: I switched to OneShot aerosol spray and sized 50 cases yesterday. PROBLEM SOLVED. That RCBS case lube and pad are get'n shit canned. I wouldn't even give it to a liberal to prep their own suicide case with.

Thanks guys. Ya'll Saved me a lot if cases and headache!!
 
All those "posts", an not a mention about Imperial Sizing wax? I got "so many stuck cases", with one shot, that I tried the wax. No more stuck cases. It's slower, but "unsticking" a case ,cost's me an hour. Just me, I guess, but I'm "sold," on the wax.
 
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