220 swift brass wont form

AzDiamondHeat

New member
My swift brass won't size properly. Bullets slip right in and back out. Neck measures the same before and after.

Brass is Norma. No idea how old or how many times fired. After annealing still no change.

Dies are old and have no name on them.

Thoughts?
 
Take your "expander ball-decapping pin assembly"out of the die and try it on a case or two. This will close up the case mouth more and might allow you to use it that way. Sounds like your case mouths are thinning down. Good Luck. TKG
 
The dies are "Pacific".

No expander ball in it currently.

Quote:Sounds like your case mouths are thinning down.

I think we have a winner. Case mouth ID is .223. OD is .251

Time to throw them out?
 
There were a number of wildcats that used a .227 bullet plus the 22 High Power and some 6mm on the Swift case. You die being old might have been modified over the years for one of these wildcats.
 
Originally Posted By: AzDiamondHeatThe dies are "Pacific".

No expander ball in it currently.

Quote:Sounds like your case mouths are thinning down.

I think we have a winner. Case mouth ID is .223. OD is .251

Time to throw them out?

Something is fishy, but I would like to know what your projectiles measure. Even at .223 neck ID, you are talking about half a thousandth of "crush" all the way around, and although that is not optimum, it should be enough to hold a bullet. Measure a projectile or two and let us know that measurement. I have some old .223" bullets for the Hornet, and it wouldn't take much of an error with the dies OR the bullet to give me a situation like you describe...
 
Originally Posted By: tkgSounds like your case mouths are thinning down. Good Luck. TKG

I have never heard of such a thing as case mouths thinning down.
How many loads does it take to thin down a case mouth?
 
Originally Posted By: AzDiamondHeat

Case mouth ID is .223. OD is .251







This is the tricky part.

You must have some majorly thin wall brass cause the numbers don't jive. Not a shot at you, AZ, just different from my experience.

I have a old set of CH dies. So I gutted the expander and ran some cases through. Winchester, annealed brass. After sizing I get .251 OD, but a .219 ID. I use a mandrel die vs. The expander. After the mandrel run I have .222 ID, but you have .223 straight from the size die. So that would indicate thin necks. Have those brass been neck turned before? Where did you get that Norma brass?
 
Originally Posted By: fw707Originally Posted By: tkgSounds like your case mouths are thinning down. Good Luck. TKG

I have never heard of such a thing as case mouths thinning down.
How many loads does it take to thin down a case mouth?

That's a new one on me, also!

Sounds like the die has been modified. Pacific made great dies.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanOriginally Posted By: fw707Originally Posted By: tkgSounds like your case mouths are thinning down. Good Luck. TKG

I have never heard of such a thing as case mouths thinning down.
How many loads does it take to thin down a case mouth?

That's a new one on me, also!



I have to admit, me too. The Swift is bad about necks thickening. Especially when running them full house. I began throttling back on my loads years ago for this very reason.
 
The brass is of unknown origin. My brother has had it for almost 30 years. Handed down to him from dad who had it for unknown years prior. The brass and the gun.

Unknown number of firings and reloads. Dad is a SIMPLE country boy. Reloading his whole life but not for accuracy. Never annealed and never neck turned(that I know of). Too fancy for him.

Same dies and brass have been used for years. Never modified.

Necks were pretty long when I first trimmed them.

Multiple bullets tried. Not a bullet issue.

Ran some winchester brass through die. OD .251 and ID of .218/219.

Seems like signs are leaning to thin walls. Its a shame. Seemed like nice brass.
 
Originally Posted By: RustydustOriginally Posted By: ackleymanOriginally Posted By: fw707Originally Posted By: tkgSounds like your case mouths are thinning down. Good Luck. TKG

I have never heard of such a thing as case mouths thinning down.
How many loads does it take to thin down a case mouth?

That's a new one on me, also!



I have to admit, me too. The Swift is bad about necks thickening. Especially when running them full house. I began throttling back on my loads years ago for this very reason.


My dad pretty much always loaded max.

The mystery continues.

Soooooo.... Can I load some hot rounds and thicken up the necks????? Wouldn't that be nice. Wish it was that easy.
 
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Do you know anyone else that has a set of 220 Swift dies, that can run a couple of cases for you.

If not perhaps someone here would resize a couple for you, I would be willing to do that, but I won't be back home for a couple of weeks right now.

Would help rule out the dies.
 
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