22-250 Chamfering and Deburring

kam582

kam582

New member
Well, I've been loading my own for a little while now, but still a rookie and have run into a question. I have some 3 time fired Lapua brass that I have always neck sized since the first firing. I've cleaned it, resized it and primed it. When I went to seat the bullet I had all kinds of trouble. It's like the mouth of the case didn't get flared. The bullets would shave copper when I seated them, and they were seating hard. I looked at the neck die and could see nothing out of the ordinary, same for the seating die. The cases didn't need trimed, so I had not chamfered and deburred. For some reason which I don't remember why now, I did that to a couple of cases, and they worked fine. I was under the impression that you chamfered and deburred after trimming. Thats what my books say anyhow. Am I missing something, or can I proceed?
 
I only do full length resizing. I always chamfer and deburre all my brass after trimming and also new brass also. I think the chamfer helps start the bullet when seating. I would thing you would be ok once you chamfere and deburre.
 
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I chamfer and debur for new brass, trimmed brass and after full length sizing. Basically each and every reload.

I have the Lyman case prep machine. I recommend getting one. It will really save your hands.

For brass that does not need trimming i just "touch up" the case mouth.

For flat base bullets and a new trim, i really "go to town" on the cases mouths.

New brass is somewhere in between.

Shaving brass during the seating process will ruin your accuracy.

Chamfer and deburing like i do, even if the brass did not get trimmed might be a waste of time. My dad taught me to do that when i was young.... I just do it. Never had any problems.
 
I use my RCBS case prep machine religiously on every piece of brass I load and that includes deburring and chamfering the inside and outside of the neck opening. It has always been part of my reloading workflow and used the manual deburring tool before I got the case prep center. Now, with the case prep center, it is also easy to clean the primer pockets at the same time.
I would also note that I do this regardless of what rifle caliber I am reloading.
 
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When kneck sizing I started chamfering the cases on the inside of the knecks before running them threw RCBS kneck sizing dies and putting a light coat of lube on the inside of the knecks to eliminate the drag when running them through the die. No lube on the Lee knecking dies but light chamfer just to see how the die worked the kneck.

I got started doing this when I was getting bags of new brass and the knecks were out of round and to check the ones that looked OK. I decided to run a chamfer tool just to feel for drag. So I now chamfer new brass and kneck size the new brass, then rechamfer inside & out. On fired brass that I kneck size I will give it a light chamfer as needed also now. It cuts down the drag and the dies size easier then the bullets seem to seat nicer when doing it.

More work, but you can feel the differance when doing it. I will full length resize if I am using the same brass in mulitiple rifes. If I am just loading for one rifle I will keep kneck sizing till I need to full length size and then do the whole batch, trimming to length and full prep and cleaning.

TMI? Bottom line anything that helps the bullet or die enter the kneck straighter it should shoot straighter.
 
This could be a few things. Necks that need turned will skim jackets, or seating die set up incorrectly. If the die is trying to crimp before you’ve reached your seating depth it’ll make a mess. Are you using any lube?
 
What is your cleaning method? Stainless pins will peen over the case mouth and must be chamfered, and if you clean too long will need an aggressive chamfer.
 
I trim and chamfer/debur during initial brass prep and after that I only run the case mouth through a steel wool spinner I made that fits on my RCBS case prep center. I have a few Ackley Improved cartridges so I don't have to deal with much case stretch. Or for some I just resize the necks. Only when I have to trim do I chamfer and debur case mouths again. The steel wool spinner polishes up the mouth for easy bullet seating after cleaning and resizing without removing a bunch of material that the chamfer and deburring process can if you're not careful. Of course this only helps if you are using some kind of case prep center that has multiple stations to spin case prep tools. I matched the threads of the case prep center with a short bolt through a 1/2" copper plumbing cap. Filled it with some fine steel wool and done.

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I chamfer/debur every time I load a round whether it needs to be trimmed or not. I don't go super wild with it, but I do use the VLD chamfer tool so it's a much steeper angle. One thing that you may consider doing after your next firing on this brass is annealing. after 3 or 4 firings your brass may be getting a bit on the hard/brittle side. Annealing will help to prolong the life of your brass. My uncle has some brass that he's on his 15th and 16th firing with because he anneals every 3 or 4 firings...

ETA- I use my lyman case prep center to chamfer/deburr, and uniform the Primer Pocket on everything I reload except .223. For .223 I use a lee quick trim die for .223 and the trimmer/power adapter so I can run the trimmer with my drill... I also process 2-3k pieces at a time and it's mostly plinking ammo.
 
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Andy, I thought I was the only one getting more 4-5 loads on brass. I also anneal on a regular basis.

Chamfering every time, maybe if one is crimping.
I am of the thoughts that seating and crimping are two seperate stages.
 
I put a HEAVY chamfer on the inside of the case mouth.

I use Lee sizing wax that comes in the tooth paste looking container with a Q tip. Just put a tad bit on the q tip and it will lube 10 or more cases. Expander ball will slide through the case mouth slick with no drag, which eliminates the expander ball yanking the neck out of alignment.

Another option is the Forster case lubricator, but use with black powdered graphite. The brush cleans the neck, and the black powdered graphite is outstanding.

Forster Neck sizing dies are superb in supporting the case neck while the expander ball is being pulled through the neck. Also, the Forster std neck sizing dies can be used to "bump" back shoulders and this eliminates full length sizing over half the time.

A BIG mistake that some reloaders make is to just de burr the inside of the case lip. You need to create a funnel that acts as a bullet guide to start the bullet into the case.

I always neck size and put a heavy chamfer on the case mouth of brand new brass.

If you are shaving brass, chances are you are creating an unbalanced bullet, plus it is probably seated crooked due to the stress forces created in seating the bullet.

I would urge you to buy a forster neck sizer when you can afford it, they are a very advanced die design!

Good luck!
 
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