Issue with Being Able to Push Bullet into Case

[Batteriesnare]

Spent most of the weekend doing brass prep for a 5.56 reloading sprint, and now that I'm to the loading stage I'm encountering issues with being able to push bullets into the case.


For process, I:


Decap on Lee App with Lee Universal Die
Wet Tumble with Pins, rinse and then dry in dehydrator
Swage on Lee App if needed
Resize on MEC Marksman with Mighty Armory FL Sizing Die and confirm with LE Wilson Case Gauge; Dillon Case Lube
Wet Tumble no pins with Woolite in cold water to remove lube, rinse well, dry in dehydrator
Trim on Giraud Trimmer to 1.750
Load on D550 (primer, powder, bullet, crimp)


Brass is sorted by head stamp. I'm using PSD (PMC 5.56 once fired) and also worked up a batch of Winchester 5.56 once fired. Loading Hornady 62gr FMJs to mid-cannelure seating with a Redding premium micrometer seating die.


The two changes to my process in this iteration have been the Mighty Armory resizing die and second tumble with Woolite (previously used Dawn; didn't work as well in removing the DCL). After seating bullet, I'm able to push the projectile into the case using a table top - I've not been able to do this previously with other reloads. Final station is a Lee FCD, which makes the pushback worse - I can do it with just fingers. Since picking reloading up again, I've purchased prepped brass and have not had issues; so I'm suspicious of the sizing die somehow, but not sure what else is wrong.


Measuring the inside of a sized case mouth on both brass types, I'm consistently getting .221-.222. The expander shaft of the Mighty Armory die is .222. Measuring the carbide expander on a Redding die, it too is .222.


At this point, I'm not sure what got screwed up, but would appreciate any thoughts or other things to check. I've got several thousand cases ready to load with the process above, and definitely want to fix the issue before continuing. Let me know if I can provide any additional info that would be helpful.

[Tim K]

Sizing die or the expander ball is bad. Do you have another you can try?

[Linkless]

Resize a piece with the expanding ball removed and seat a bullet, that will tell you if it is the die not resizing correctly or the expanding ball being to large. An alternative is to resize in your Redding die (your post makes it sound as though you have one) then run that brass into the new die just enough to go over the ball and pull it out.

[Batteriesnare]

Running a couple of experiments:

1. When I pulled the expander out of the MA die...there were a ton of brass shavings. A lot; I'm curious if that somehow caused some variance given that I've run ~4k brass through it this weekend. Cleaned that out.
2. With clean die, I ran 10 pieces through the MA die and 10 pieces through my Redding die. Wiped off lube with alcohol instead of wet tumble with Woolite. Seated bullets and attempted to push them in - none from either die gave. This makes me curious of the brass shavings in the MA die or the Woolite.
3. Resized 50 pieces on MA die, cleaning out every 10 or so. They're in the wet tumbler now with Woolite. Once dry I'll try seating bullets to see if they give or not to test whether Woolite is causing issues.

Overall, I think #2 indicates that the MA die is OK; I'm really curious if the shavings caused my issues, as the last 50 pieces required a lot more work (they were PMC pieces I'd sized earlier) to run back through over the expander.

[Batteriesnare]

Resize a piece with the expanding ball removed and seat a bullet, that will tell you if it is the die not resizing correctly or the expanding ball being to large. An alternative is to resize in your Redding die (your post makes it sound as though you have one) then run that brass into the new die just enough to go over the ball and pull it out.

Tried the first one but not sure I follow the thought process. The ID of the case mouth after resizing just the outside was .215. Seated a bullet and was able to push it in - curious though how this would indicated improper sizing if nothing was setting the ID?