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Copper Flakes

Drewdemon

Online Member
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 20, 2017
225
21
Im on my 2nd lot ever of reloading. I noticed on some cases i get copper flakes. This is happening when I'm seating the bullets (Forester press and micrometer die). I checked case and bullet concentricity post operation and i get;
Case neck .001 - .003
Bullet .002 - .004

From what i've read this is within limits but I wanted to know if this is expected, copper shaving off as i seat the bullets, or i'm doing something wrong.

Thanks
 
Are you not chamfering your brass?

Left is a square mouth that will shave bullets, right is chamfered to make a smooth transition in.
chamfer.jpg
 
I get flakes all the time from my seating die. I chamfer inside and out. I don’t worry about it much. I assume it could be fixed by polishing the stem of the die. Berger AR hybrids. Maybe other bullets wouldn’t have an issue.
 
I think both of the above are correct. A more aggressive inside chamfer will probably rectify it, but it's a lot easier to get flakes if you are loading cheap, plated bullets. A jacketed bullet that cost more than a quarter is going to be hard to get flakes even if you could put a tiny T-square on your case mouth.
 
A bit of Imperial Dry Neck Lube will also help make bullet seating easier and avoid having copper scraped off.
 
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I agree, I only kiss the outside of the neck to remove any possible burrs, definitely not looking to achieve a visible chamfer like that.

I wondered about that, I was always told you didn't want to end up with a sharp edge. The inside looks perfect, the outside is way too much. Like has been said, we just want to remove the bur.