Expander Ball Question

[Wondermutt]

I was sizing some Federal brass, and on the upward stroke, the expander ball was really tough to get out of the shell. I tore apart the full length sizer die, cleaned the expander ball, and the same thing, a pretty hard drag. I lubed the expander and it really helped, but this is not normal.

Any ideas what could be causing this, or where else I should look?

Thanks

WM

 

[rick smith]

Size a case without the expander ball in place and measure the ID od the case neck, then measure the OD of the expander ball. I always polish any expander to a mirror finish and use a dry lube in the necks.Rick.

 

[SJB358]

What Rick says, same here. The dry lube really seems to help as does annealing stiff brass.

 

[DrMike]

What Rick says, same here. The dry lube really seems to help as does annealing stiff brass.

I use both motor mica and graphite for case necks to avoid the drag.

 

[pre6422hornet]

I have switched all my common dies over to Forester Carbide expanding buttons. It does resize a bit easier, but like Scotty says, annealling is the way to go for me. It makes the brass butter smooth.

 

[Charlie-NY]

You can clean your necks by chucking up a bronze cleaning brush with a little 0000 steel wool wrapped around it and giving it a few passes with a cordless screw gun. Add a little neck lube and things should be much smoother.

I use bushing dies and haven't had to deal with expander balls since. I still clean necks quickly with the brush/0000 wool but don't need any lube.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I always try to use carbide sizing balls in all of my sizing dies that have them available. The carbide greatly reduces the friction of the sizer ball in the case neck. I also use a dry lube (Imperial dry neck lube) which I dip the case necks into before sizing.

 

[BeeTee]

Seems to me that using hotter/cleaner powders make it harder for the expander button to pull through the neck. For example, using Red Dot in my 357 rounds makes it a significantly harder to seat bullets the second time. Don't have that problem when using 2400. Using H335 in my 223 makes it harder to pull the carbide expander button through during the sizing operation. Don't have nearly as much of a problem with W748.

To get around that problem with the 357, I use my vibra-polisher and corn cob for several hours. For the 223, I use a brass brush in a cordless drill to wisk the inside case necks and then run them for several hours in the vibra-polisher and corn cob. BT

 

[longwinters]

Is the stem set straight?

Long

 

[Wondermutt]

Yes, I thought that was it, but it is straight. I have bought one that was a little tweeked out of the package before, so there is a possibility.

Thanks

Is the stem set straight?

Long

 

[Wondermutt]

Thanks all. I will try a few of the suggestions and see what happens. I will report back what I find.

WM

 

[Wondermutt]

What brands do you suggest?

Thanks

WM

I use both motor mica and graphite for case necks to avoid the drag.

 

[DrMike]

Motor mica is wherever you can find it. I bought six pounds on a closeout at Midway USA some years ago. I use Imperial Application Media primarily, charging the media as needed with a very small amount of Imperial graphite, though any graphite commonly purchased for sticky locks will work just fine.

 

[Oldtrader3]

In addition to carbide sizer balls, I have been using Imperial Dry Neck Lube. You just dip the neck into the matrix of Clay (?) balls with graphite and size the case. It seems to work well. Motor mice did not reduce friction much with standard neck sizing buttons, so I threw it out.

 

[onesonek]

Another vote for motor mica, and polishing the ball. A neck brush just to help with residual carbon, is a asset too.

 

[SJB358]

Another vote for motor mica, and polishing the ball. A neck brush just to help with residual carbon, is a asset too.

Have you noticed with annealing, the carbon build up is burned off? Seems like after annealing, the visual build up of carbon is pretty much gone after annealing? Just wondering if I am crazy. Besides softening the brass, it really goes over the expander balls very slick.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Yes, I thought that was it, but it is straight. I have bought one that was a little tweeked out of the package before, so there is a possibility.

Thanks

Is the stem set straight?

Long

Imperial Dry Neck Lube!

 

[Wondermutt]

Well, this is something. After taking the dies apart, I decided to measure the ball. As luck would have it, it is larger by a few thousands. I purchased another ball and rod, and it works smooth as butter. I never thought the old one which was new, would be larger than it should be.

So I took some advise and sanded/polished the old one down, and its as good as new.

Thanks for the input folks.

WM

 

[Kodiak]

I use a bore-brush in the cordless screwdriver to clean case-necks. If a particular batch of cases seams to be tough to resize, I neck-anneal them early-on.

 

[boomer68]

I definately prefer Forster dies for this reason. I am looking into getting the carbide upgrade for my standard Redding dies.