I'm still unsure what happened, but I'll try my best to explain and you guys can post your thoughts:
I recieved a bag of 7mm rem mag nosler brass (2nds) from SPS.
They looked great! I decided to neck size them as I do with all new brass just to make sure they're nice and round.
I sprayed them with "one-shot" as I always do.
Everything went smooth until the sixth piece.
It felt normal, but I could not remove the case from the shellplate. It felt as if a primer was not fully removed and there was some sort of mechanical jam. (of course there was no primer, it was new brass).
The case would tilt and rotate, but would not slide out. (dillon 550 press).
Not wanting to "force" it out with pliars and risk breaking something I decided to run it up the die again in hopes that the decapper pin would dislodge whatever was jamming the case. The case stuck and I sheared the rim off. WTF?????
The decapper pin was protruding as normal and I could see nothing wrong with the bottom of the case.
I removed the die, and was able to remove the threaded shaft that holds the expander ball and pin.
of course the ball wouldnt come out, but the pin appeared to be stuck in the flash-hole.
So I threaded it back together without the locking collar and gave the shaft a smack with a hammer, the case came out quite easily, so I'm guessing lack of lube was not the problem. I un-screwed the shaft and the expander was rattling around inside the case. I cut the case in half to retrieve the expander, it appeared normal. The decap pin was still stuck in the flashole. I knocked it out with a small punch, it did not take excessive force to do so. All parts of the die were straight and unharmed. There was a little brass build-up in the die where the belt of the case sits, normal as I headspace off the shoulder.
The flash-hole of this case appears to be a tad smaller than the other cases.
My theory is:
there was no flash-hole to begin with, the initial sizing punched a flash-hole in the case (although I did not feel it)
the brass shaving from this process may be what bound up the case in the shell-plate???
the second sizing stuck the de-cap pin in the flash-hole, that was enough retention to shear the rim off the case????
As you can see, my theory is not rock solid, the only brass pieces I could find were the shavings off of the rim.
The only real evidence that I have is the flash-hole does appear to be smaller than the others.
thoughts???????
I recieved a bag of 7mm rem mag nosler brass (2nds) from SPS.
They looked great! I decided to neck size them as I do with all new brass just to make sure they're nice and round.
I sprayed them with "one-shot" as I always do.
Everything went smooth until the sixth piece.
It felt normal, but I could not remove the case from the shellplate. It felt as if a primer was not fully removed and there was some sort of mechanical jam. (of course there was no primer, it was new brass).
The case would tilt and rotate, but would not slide out. (dillon 550 press).
Not wanting to "force" it out with pliars and risk breaking something I decided to run it up the die again in hopes that the decapper pin would dislodge whatever was jamming the case. The case stuck and I sheared the rim off. WTF?????
The decapper pin was protruding as normal and I could see nothing wrong with the bottom of the case.
I removed the die, and was able to remove the threaded shaft that holds the expander ball and pin.
of course the ball wouldnt come out, but the pin appeared to be stuck in the flash-hole.
So I threaded it back together without the locking collar and gave the shaft a smack with a hammer, the case came out quite easily, so I'm guessing lack of lube was not the problem. I un-screwed the shaft and the expander was rattling around inside the case. I cut the case in half to retrieve the expander, it appeared normal. The decap pin was still stuck in the flashole. I knocked it out with a small punch, it did not take excessive force to do so. All parts of the die were straight and unharmed. There was a little brass build-up in the die where the belt of the case sits, normal as I headspace off the shoulder.
The flash-hole of this case appears to be a tad smaller than the other cases.
My theory is:
there was no flash-hole to begin with, the initial sizing punched a flash-hole in the case (although I did not feel it)
the brass shaving from this process may be what bound up the case in the shell-plate???
the second sizing stuck the de-cap pin in the flash-hole, that was enough retention to shear the rim off the case????
As you can see, my theory is not rock solid, the only brass pieces I could find were the shavings off of the rim.
The only real evidence that I have is the flash-hole does appear to be smaller than the others.
thoughts???????
