Help me figure out whats causing stuck cases please.

[Hawk Gunner]

I need to tap into the knowledge base here and figure out what to check out to see why I've had 2 cases stuck in the past week. I've been reloading for a few years and just getting back into it heavy the past 4-5 months.

I've been loading .260 mostly and have done probably 2k of those the past few months and have had zero issues. I switched over to load up some .308 brass I had laying around start having issues. I using hornady new dimension dies and some FC (FGMM) brass. I know Federal is not the best brass but I have a good load for my LTR with it already wanted to load a few months worth while I had some down time. All of the brass has been fired by me out of an LTR or GAP built Badger and has 3-5 firings on it. I lubed it all with imperial sizing wax, and put some on a q-tip and run it around in the necks 1-2 swirls before sizing. I did 200-300 before the first case stuck but I noticed every once in a while a case would be a little hard to push into the die and really hard to pull out the last half of the case length. I figured it was just a little light on lube. So I started check them good before I sized them and they were pretty slick all over the case and the necks were lubed fine too yet still some cases were really hard to size. The first stuck case went in relatively easy and when I went to lower the ram it stopped a quarter way out and wouldn't go down any further. I pushed the ram back up and as soon as I went to push my press handle up the rim ripped off the case. Naturally I tried to remove it but it was STUCK!. I noticed there was a little bit of blackish sizing wax build up at the base of the die opening and upon looking at some sized cases there was a little black ring build up right were the shoulder and body meet, but this was a very light ring. So I thought to myself maybe there was some wax build up in there and it caused some bindings but NO necks or any part of the brass was dented like I've seen from buddies having excessive lube as I was learning to reload years back.

I only had about a 100 left to do and had a new pair of dies that I bought when I thought my old pair was lost..(Wife cleaned my loading room while I was deployed and couldn't find ANYTHING!) So I open the dies, clean them really good, reassemble, set up in press and I'm back in business. I'm running into the same issues as before within the first 5 cases. So go in and out really easy, a few go in easy and hard coming out and some are pretty damn hard to get the ram all the way up. 27 cases in on the new dies and I push the ram up with a little heavier resistance than usual but nothing like some of these have been, and after it fully seats I Cant budge it out at all. As soon as I put two hands on the press handle the rim bends and now both my .308 dies have stuck cases.

Everything is lubed and I don't see any obvious deformation in the brass. What's your thoughts on the cause of the binding and how do I verify what it is?

 

[mdmp5]

Well first off, stuck cases are never because of the necks. The necks do not have enough surface bearing area to cause a stuck case. The problem is always because of the body of the case getting stuck. It is possible the inside of the die may not be super smooth. Check to see if it has any pitting or rust in there. For now, take out the die and clean it, then inspect it. As far as your technique goes, try easing the case in about half way into resistance, back it out, raise it ¾ in, back out, then all the way up. If done correctly, you can size a case this way with little to no lube on it. I am not advocating not using lube, I am just saying that this method makes sizing very easy.

 

[bigedp51]

Take a correct fitting shotgun cleaning mop chuck it in a drill and apply some Kroil and J&B bore paste to the mop. Now clean/polish the heck out of the die, you can also use Fitz, automotive rubbing or polishing compound etc as the abrasive compound.

You may have oxidation or imbedded dirt/grit inside the die and the lube does not have enough shear strength to combat the rough surface of the die.

You can also disassemble the die and toss it a vibratory case cleaner with walnut media and polish the die for several hours. I have been reloading for over 46 years and have used all the methods listed above to clean and polish my dies. All it takes is a few dirty cases to transfer any dirt/grit to the inside of the die to put you out of business.

Also if you added any polishing compound to your walnut media, the excess can end up inside the die and bind things up the embedded abrasive.

The last time I cleaned/polished one of my dies I was out of everything except Mothers Mag wheel polish. It did a great job cleaning and polishing the die and now I can do burnouts on the reloading bench.

 

[Big Z]

Polish the dies and add lube. I use a similar method to the above, though I use steel wool around a bore brush in a drill with oil. The JB/kroil mix is a good cleaner.

 

[arnie19]

You might have your neck expander too high up into the die .Lower it a few turns and see if that helps .

 

[40xs]

Ive only stuck a couple of cases in about 40 years of reloading and in both situations it was due to insufficient lube on the case body. you can, however, have too much as well and sometimes this will "dimple" your case. Also know that taking cases fired in one chamber and resizing for a different chamber is not always an easy task as everything involved would be a varying demention. The aforementioned suggestions are worthy of trying. Go easy and slow and when you feel the first sign of tightness back out re-evaluate. Good luck.