Help Please! 500 NE 3 Inch bulging when I put the bullet in

Rare Breed

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I do not know what I am doing wrong! I have reloaded my 500 NE 3 inch bullets for almost 2 years now. This is the first time I have reloaded Woodleigh .510 RN SN in 570 Grain. My previous Swift A Frames gave me no problem. Please look at the picture...The bullet is in the required 3.75 COAL yet a bulge is being created at the top of the full case as you can see...please provide me with advice as I am ruining bullets which are not cheap.

Thanks!!!
1672594935240.png
 
I did see that my Swift A Frames are .509 diameter versus the Woodleigh .510 diameter but I thought that should not matter.
 
What measuring tool are you using to check the diameter? Calipers are no bueno.
 
Calipers are ok for ballpark measurements. To get a precise dimension, a good, high quality micrometer is required. The el cheapo Harbor Freight and other chinese calipers aren't precision instruments. They can be off a thousandth or more.
 
Looks like you may have burr at the mouth of brass. Are you trimming the nrck like beveled edge. Then are you using silica to seat it smooth. If there is friction in seating it will do that. Are your dies clean. Clean it with alcohol every so often to get rid of old dirty lube.
 
@Rare Breed is it an optical illusion that the round in the right side the picture is seated slightly crooked?

Wish I could offer some advice but you have way more experience reloading.

Is the brass new? Any chance it hasn't been annealed?
 
Is this a 'crush' load?

I think I would try slightly belling the case mouth after deburring.

When I seat bullets, I start the bullet, drop the ram down and rotate the bullet 180 degrees and finish seating. This helps correct any bullet cant.

If you have developed a feel for the bullet seating you can usually tell when something has gone awry.
 
It looks crooked to my eye also, not sure the shape of the seating steam. It does not look like it is seating square in the brass.

Do the bottom of the Woodleigh differ from the Swift? Meaning are they more square? Some pistol dies flare the mouth of the case to seat the bullets. I have not reloaded for straight wall cases other than pistol. That is the first thing that comes to my mind.
 
I did see that my Swift A Frames are .509 diameter versus the Woodleigh .510 diameter but I thought that should not matter.
It can matter especially if you are sizing your brass well under bullet diameter.

Are they really tight going in? For these bullets you may need to spin your sizing button down a bit or stick to the bullets that worked before.
 
Looks like canted bullet combined with tight brass; I would do as Krish suggested and flare the brass ever so slightly and silica.

Also, try checking your seating due to see if anything has built up inside that would put uneven pressure on the bullet while seating.
 
Thanks everyone. I also have a new die set coming to me this week
 
416 rigby, 505 gibbs they all buckle if not seated right. I flare the mouth slightly and dip bottom of the bullet in silica, get an even very mild coating and then seat it. That seems to help.
Krish
Krish what type of silica please? I have never used it before. Can you supply me the type and brand name please? I am guessing you just dip the bottom of the bullet into the silica…shake off then seat?

thanks!!!
 
Carbon from previously fired rounds acts as a lubricant for bullet seating. If additional is required or new brass is used, Imperial dry neck lube helps the seating process. This pack includes the graphite powder and small ceramic balls. Put some graphite in with the balls, mix and then dip the neck in the balls, wipe off the outside and load.

 

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per above: I use the iMPERIAL Dry Neck Lube when neck sizing rounds. Residual neck lube does help with seating bullets, but I always crimp .375 and 404J rounds - and any rounds where I feel it would help in ignition to get low ES velocity numbers. I'm probably a bit anal about metallic reloading, but I enjoy loading and have plenty of time.
 
Great advice above. Try chamfering the inside of your case mouth. There are tool made just for this. You can then dip the case mouth or base of the bullet in the graphite. That should eliminate your problem.
Bruce
 

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