Reloading Brass Question

[Tactical30]

I just got started into reloading the same time as my buddy did at work. One of his friends gave him a bunch of old .270 brass for him to get started. He started reloading them and the next day I asked him how it went. He said he only got 36 out of 50 reloaded cuz he crushed the neck on 14 of them. He thinks it was because the brass was "old". I asked him if all was set up right (die,press,shellholder, etc) and he said , Yeah. When he told the same thing to his buddy that has been reloading for years said it probly was cuz the brass was old. I would think the brass would have to be pretty damn old for the neck to just collapse like that.
Whats the real problem?

 

[FIREMEDIC27]

Re: Reloading Brass Question

I would look at his setup. If the cause was old brass, it would have to be REALLY old. Even then, I doubt it was the cause.

The brass could be too long.
The die could set too low.
Too much lube usually leaves a dent in the shoulder.
Inspect the die. There could be a buildup of lube, dirt.

My guess would be the brass needed to be trimmed to length before attempting to resize. Food for thought

 

[1SMALLJOHNSON]

Re: Reloading Brass Question

Hard to say without a picture. If he really crushed the necks, I'd have him check out the expander ball. Does the expander ball have a flat on the bottom? If so, easiest fix is to either remove that flat or order a carbide, tapered expander ball for desired caliber. Allignment of the expander ball stem could be a problem.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Reloading Brass Question

Did they get crushed during resizing? Or bullet seating? Does he reload on a single stage press or a progressive? If the index pins on a Dillon 550 aren't in place, the case can be run up into the edge of a die (misaligned), thus f-ing up the mouth, but rarely ruined.

One far flung possibility could be a failed (previous)annealing attempt that left these cases too soft to take the expander.

I'm out of ideas...