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Problems with calibrating (FL sizing) the base of the 223REM Lapua brass 6× and 15× fired

MarkyMark007

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Jan 31, 2018
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Hallo

I have problems with calibrating the base of the 223REM Lapua brass, 6× and 15× fired.

The base of the brass is so tough or big, that it is very hard to size it with my Whidden bushing Full Length sizing die. Some of the brass even stuck in my die !!
No matter how much lube (RCBS or Redding BIO) I put on the brass. Brass was allways annealed. And I allways measure shoulder bump and the brass was never too much sized. But I cant measure base of the brass very accurately.

So I want to throw brass away, but I tested one more thing: I very lightly polished my base of the brass, and now the sizing proces was smooth like normal.

I observed this with the 2 different LOT-s of Lapua brass. In one LOT it was this phenomen at 15× firing, and with other LOT was this at 6× firing.

Is this caused because of hot load, or too big chamber, or bad die...? My loads are usualy with 95gr Sierra at 2750fps with Vihtavuori N140...

Sincerely, Mark

brass 223rem 15×fire Copy.jpg
 
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Do you have a match chamber or wylde chamber? can you use your calipers to measure the base before and after sizing? before and after polishing?
 
Hallo

I have problems with calibrating the base of the 223REM Lapua brass, 6× and 15× fired.

The base of the brass is so tough or big, that it is very hard to size it with my Whidden bushing Full Length sizing die. Some of the brass even stuck in my die !!
No matter how much lube (RCBS or Redding BIO) I put on the brass. Brass was allways annealed. And I allways measure shoulder bump and the brass was never too much sized. But I cant measure base of the brass very accurately.

So I want to throw brass away, but I tested one more thing: I very lightly polished my base of the brass, and now the sizing proces was smooth like normal.

I observed this with the 2 different LOT-s of Lapua brass. In one LOT it was this phenomen at 15× firing, and with other LOT was this at 6× firing.

Is this caused because of hot load, or too big chamber, or bad die...? My loads are usualy with 95gr Sierra at 2750fps with Vihtavuori N140...

Sincerely, Mark

View attachment 8290452
1701947992216.png
 
Hallo

I have problems with calibrating the base of the 223REM Lapua brass, 6× and 15× fired.

The base of the brass is so tough or big, that it is very hard to size it with my Whidden bushing Full Length sizing die. Some of the brass even stuck in my die !!
No matter how much lube (RCBS or Redding BIO) I put on the brass. Brass was allways annealed. And I allways measure shoulder bump and the brass was never too much sized. But I cant measure base of the brass very accurately.

So I want to throw brass away, but I tested one more thing: I very lightly polished my base of the brass, and now the sizing proces was smooth like normal.

I observed this with the 2 different LOT-s of Lapua brass. In one LOT it was this phenomen at 15× firing, and with other LOT was this at 6× firing.

Is this caused because of hot load, or too big chamber, or bad die...? My loads are usualy with 95gr Sierra at 2750fps with Vihtavuori N140...

Sincerely, Mark

View attachment 8290452
1701948096542.png
 
@Haney , I guess that sums it up 😂

It does seem odd though that after polish it works but doesn’t with lube. Have you tried cleaning/polishing the die?
 
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I see that I must clarify things for retarded american consumers:

you dont know what are you doing.

much better than american.

you live in america. what else you expect?

are you fat and dumb?

yes. a lot of stupid retards, which doesnt know shit.

you are not very smart, arent you? did you finished primary school? follow the money?

stop asking loosers for equipement, because they dont know shit about it.

sorry frank, but this is how ALL barrel producers are doing. so it's hard to believe that you don't do it that way.
This one was wonderful^^
it's not my fault that you are retarded and dont know shit how thing are working in this business.

this is because retarded americans stockpile reloading stuff, which they wont shoot in 50 years...

you are stupid as fuck and dont know shit! everything you wrote is WRONG !

Who’s the retard now Mark? Go fuck yourself you arrogant piece of shit.
1701956149943.gif
 
Last edited:
Hallo

I have problems with calibrating the base of the 223REM Lapua brass, 6× and 15× fired.

The base of the brass is so tough or big, that it is very hard to size it with my Whidden bushing Full Length sizing die. Some of the brass even stuck in my die !!
No matter how much lube (RCBS or Redding BIO) I put on the brass. Brass was allways annealed. And I allways measure shoulder bump and the brass was never too much sized. But I cant measure base of the brass very accurately.

So I want to throw brass away, but I tested one more thing: I very lightly polished my base of the brass, and now the sizing proces was smooth like normal.

I observed this with the 2 different LOT-s of Lapua brass. In one LOT it was this phenomen at 15× firing, and with other LOT was this at 6× firing.

Is this caused because of hot load, or too big chamber, or bad die...? My loads are usualy with 95gr Sierra at 2750fps with Vihtavuori N140...

Sincerely, Mark

View attachment 8290452
Blowing out the web of a case can be caused by high pressure. You could also have a die/ chamber mismatch. Or the reamer wobbled in the tailstock when the barrel was chambered. I've experienced all three of those issues. If it's bad enough that you can't even size the brass I would guess it is a wallered out chamber from a poor chamber job. If this just happened on the last firing and everything was good for multiple firings, then you likely overpressured your brass and the expansion is spring back. If it's so bad you can't even size the brass without removing material that must have been way high pressures. I doubt you would want to remove material as a fix because you would just be weakening the brass in a location where it's closest to being unsupported in the chamber and having the case head seperating that far back by the mouth of the chamber would be a really bad day.

Your brass is likely trash.
 
Hi,

That is some grungy looking brass. A 95gn sierra at 2750 is very high pressure. Perhaps you should read a reloading manual.


Sincerely,
TheOfficeTRex


IMG_2433.jpeg
 
Thank you Jesus for a thoughtful, non confrontational response. There's way to many egomaniacal responses and non helpful trash verbiage going on on this Forum. Didn't your momma teach you that " if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all"?
 
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That is some grungy looking brass. A 95gn sierra at 2750 is very high pressure. Perhaps you should read a reloading manual.

i dont clean my brass.

95gr at 2750fps in my 32' barrel with very very long freebore does not seems to be very hot. primer pockets last for at least 10× firing at this speed. his is standard, not too hot F-TR load.
 
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Does anyone actually use the word "shill" in real life? That seems to be something you'd hear from people who's behavior is formed from heavy social media influence. Like wearing uterus hats, or saying "gaslighting", or "that slaps". Makes me nauseated every time I hear someone act out social media words.
 
AND you respondents continue to make my point. Bloviating clowns.
 
If it was a bad chamber why did it take 6 firings to fuck up the brass? Wouldn't it be fubared on the first firing or would spring back prolong the process?
 
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i dont clean my brass.

95gr at 2750fps in my 32' barrel with very very long freebore does not seems to be very hot. primer pockets last for at least 10× firing at this speed. his is standard, not too hot F-TR load.

LOLOLOL......the reason we clean brass is to avoid part of the situation you have. That's why polishing (cleaning) the base helped. And the reason it's happening with brass that's been fired 6x.....is because the die needs cleaning.
 
Mainly responding to help anyone who may be reading and face a similar issue. Clean brass doesn't shoot better than dirty. But, we clean (even using a rag and getting the major stuff off is better than nothing) so that we don't gunk up our dies (or chamber).

The OP is one of the worst offenders for putting out completely wrong information. So, be warned when reading his posts and attempting to learn.
 
Op must be just fucking with us….



This, and polishing your die if still serviceable should do it.
 
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If it was a bad chamber why did it take 6 firings to fuck up the brass? Wouldn't it be fubared on the first firing or would spring back prolong the process?
Yes. It's probably not a bad chamber. Based on how many firings it took for the web to get blown out and the speed he's pushing 95 Sierra match kings it's more than likely just high pressure
 
LOLOLOL......the reason we clean brass is to avoid part of the situation you have. That's why polishing (cleaning) the base helped. And the reason it's happening with brass that's been fired 6x.....is because the die needs cleaning.
Use of the word "polishing" is the key. We don't really know if he was cleaning the brass or removing material.
 
And no one mentions that running the brass through a small base die would probably resolve the issue. Imperial Sizing Die Wax is the other half of the solution.
He said he can't get it in the die in the first place. A smaller base die would not help. You need a small base die when you have hard extraction and is a tight fit in the chamber. He didn't say anything about chamber fit. He just said he couldn't get it inside the die.
 
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Thank you Jesus for a thoughtful, non confrontational response. There's way to many egomaniacal responses and non helpful trash verbiage going on on this Forum. Didn't your momma teach you that " if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all"?
Look who is full of shit .

1701999816874.png
 
And no one mentions that running the brass through a small base die would probably resolve the issue. Imperial Sizing Die Wax is the other half of the solution.
Amazing ain't it! I was going to mention this little nugget, but I see you beat me to it!
 
This problem happened in his chamber. Wouldn'tna mattered what kind of die he was using. Think about it.
The SB die returns the brass to a smaller state at the base than the regular die. He keeps doing this and they will fit and fire. Brass stretch will cause a short case life, but the shit will fit and fire.

Really though, after seeing this:
I see that I must clarify things for retarded american consumers:

you dont know what are you doing.

much better than american.

you live in america. what else you expect?

are you fat and dumb?

yes. a lot of stupid retards, which doesnt know shit.

you are not very smart, arent you? did you finished primary school? follow the money?

stop asking loosers for equipement, because they dont know shit about it.

sorry frank, but this is how ALL barrel producers are doing. so it's hard to believe that you don't do it that way.
This one was wonderful^^
it's not my fault that you are retarded and dont know shit how thing are working in this business.

this is because retarded americans stockpile reloading stuff, which they wont shoot in 50 years...
I don't give two fucks about his chamber or problems!
 
So I have learned this week that

1. people actually size brass by just screwing the die down as far as it goes with no measurement tools.

2. People just throw dirty brass in the die and keep reloading it until there is a problem.


I could have saved so much money if all these steps I do are pointless. Wow….
 
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.... but the shit will fit and fire.
He didn't say it wouldn't fit his chamber. If he was having sticky extraction then I would agree about a small base die. The issue isn't fitting in the chamber. It's fitting in the die.
 
So I have learned this week that

1. people actually size brass by just screwing the die down as far as it goes with no measurement tools.

2. People just throw dirty brass in the die and keep reloading it until there is a problem.


I could have saved so much money if all these steps I do are pointless. Wow….

You'd be absolutely shocked how many people just screw the die down. We get calls about it all the time.


And, it's not really their fault. Check out this video. Hornady says to just screw it down until it stops and it will resize to saami minimum. Literally tells them to just adjust down and no further adjustments are needed.


 
You'd be absolutely shocked how many people just screw the die down. We get calls about it all the time.


And, it's not really their fault. Check out this video. Hornady says to just screw it down until it stops and it will resize to saami minimum. Literally tells them to just adjust down and no further adjustments are needed.



Then you get the manufacturer apologists that post they do no wrong and the know everything...
 
Then you get the manufacturer apologists that post they do no wrong and the know everything...

Yea, I mean....it's a tough one. It should "probably" work that way (if you wanted to go back to saami minimum....that's another convo though).

But many times, the dies and press just don't work that way without adjusting and measuring.
 
Yea, I mean....it's a tough one. It should "probably" work that way (if you wanted to go back to saami minimum....that's another convo though).

But many times, the dies and press just don't work that way without adjusting and measuring.
And for our next mental mind fuck to the challenged reloader..."The Redding Competition Shell Holders!" Muahahahahaha
 
If a piece of brass doesn't want to enter a standard sizing die then it has expanded more than expected and the die lube is not doing the proper job of providing enough lubrication. I brought up SB sizing die because it will bring the brass down to a proper size. As I said Imperial Sizing Die Wax was the second half of the solution because it will provide enough lubrication to size the brass.

What hasn't been mentioned is the press being used to size the brass. Not all presses have the same leverage. The press could also be part of the problem.
 
Here's one way to achieve proper headspace while full length sizing:
 
If a piece of brass doesn't want to enter a standard sizing die then it has expanded more than expected and the die lube is not doing the proper job of providing enough lubrication. I brought up SB sizing die because it will bring the brass down to a proper size. As I said Imperial Sizing Die Wax was the second half of the solution because it will provide enough lubrication to size the brass.

What hasn't been mentioned is the press being used to size the brass. Not all presses have the same leverage. The press could also be part of the problem.
I've had webs expanded so bad the die was shaving metal off the case. I've also had a barrel that had a loose reamer and the base of the chamber was fat. When I crammed the case into the die, I still had a python ring below the web. Sometimes a SBD and lube won't fix your problems.
 
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Brass hardens with repeated firings, that is a fact. If the press doesn't have the force or the lube doesn't do the job, the brass will not enter the die. Belted magnums have the same issue, sized case will not enter the chamber after multiple firings. In this case a multiple fired non-belted case does not want to enter the sizing die. Products like Imperial Sizing Die Wax, SB sizing dies and the Willis Belted Magnum Collet Sizing die allow reloader's to overcome these issues.
 
Brass hardens with repeated firings, that is a fact. If the press doesn't have the force or the lube doesn't do the job, the brass will not enter the die. Belted magnums have the same issue, sized case will not enter the chamber after multiple firings. In this case a multiple fired non-belted case does not want to enter the sizing die. Products like Imperial Sizing Die Wax, SB sizing dies and the Willis Belted Magnum Collet Sizing die allow reloader's to overcome these issues.
It won't fix everything