Well, after 47 years . . .

[blackmamba]

. . . I have encountered a reloading problem for the first time!  I broke out some brand new Starline 41 mag brass, measured, trimmed, chamfered, belled, ready to load.  No problem with primers or powder charging, but when I went to seat the X-Treme plated 210s I was gonna use, the problem occurred.  There was so much friction between the copper plating and the super clean new brass that the plating smudged all the way up to the mouth of the bullet when seated.  To overcome this I had to chamfer the inside of the case mouths 2-3 times as much as usual after trimming, and belled the mouths so much they almost looked like the bell of a trumpet!  Then I used my Factory Crimp Die to mash the mouths back into shape so they would chamber.  I'm curious to see just how badly they shoot, compared to the other bunch that I loaded after I solved the problem.  Moral of the story for me is when using brand new brass, bell the case mouths more and load coated bullets, they're much slicker!

[bigbore5]

Did you full length size first? If they were a bit skinny, it'll be obvious.

Also did you check the bullet diameter. I've had that get me before too.

[contender]

I'd measure the bullets,, and if ok,, I'd check the measurement of the ID of the cases. Sounds a bit "too tight" to me. I've seen stuff that come from a factory & not be "as expected."

[harold89]

I’ve had some new Starline recently that I could not FL size and some I had to FL size. Best to check IDs and ODs and/or assemble a couple dummies first.

[fm027]

Ran into a similar problem loading a batch of starline 44spl brass that I bought second hand last summer. Figured it was a great deal, starline & good quality, but while seating bullets the same thing you mentioned happened to me. Powder coated, perfectly sized, hard cast or jackets, didn't matter what kind of bullet, same thing was happening .. such an amount of bullet metal pushed up as the bullets were being seated that the crimp grooves nearly filled. I wasn't happy.

I tried everything I could think of to alleviate it but nothing worked 100% ... heavily chamfering the inside helped most but didn't cure it. In the end I just settled on it being a shitty batch of brass, and probably the reason it was for sale in the first place. Only thing I'm a bit concerned about now is whether the case capacity was lessened by any concerning degree IF the walls themselves are what's thicker and causing this issue. The loads themselves may pressure different if that-is what's going on. Debating to use them in my mag-Vaquero or a winchester instead of the 44 special Colt I loaded for, just to err on the side of caution.

Interested to see if out of spec, heavier than normal case walls and shrunken case capacity might be what anyone else says. It's about all that makes sense to me.

[blackmamba]

The bullets are from a batch I have used many times before with no problems, they mic .410" I did (as always) resize the new brass, as I've found it frequently oversized as to have little bullet pull. Once loaded, the bulge of the bullets in the cases was not noticeably larger than in other 41 mag loads. Once these are fired and have a coating of carbon on the inside I'm sure they won't do it any more. Thanks for all the responses!

[bigmuddy]

I always load on a Dillon 550. I have found when using new Starline brass, the powder through expander is very sticky on the down stroke. The expander is very hard to pull out of the new brass. My solution is to use spray lube on my brass cases for the first loading of new brass. Seems to work great. Might be worth a try?

I’ll add, I have only had this issue in the last few years it seems. Been using only Starline brass for more years than I can remember. Maybe something has changed that is causing more “friction” inside the new brass?

Dan

[foxtrapper]

Years ago I had starline 38 super that was too short. Starline was aware of it and notified me. They sent replacement brass. So stuff does happen! Give them a call

[Fowler]

I have had issues with new brass galling in my sizer die, leaving little hard brass balls in the sizer that I then had to polish out of the sizer (Dillon has graciously replaced a couple of the sizers for me when the galled). Dillon suggested running new brass in a tumbler with dirty corn cobb/walnut shell media, the media acts as a lubricant for the brass that seems to prevent galling. Seems a bit of Hornady One shot might be easier but I haven't run any virgin brass through that press since the discussion so I cant report back on the effectiveness of his fix.

One of these days I will find out though.

[x101airborne]

I use motor mica to lube inside of cases on a nylon brush in a drill. Put some mica on the lid, about a teaspoon or so. Dip the side of the brush in the mica, insert, spin and repeat. Found that trick using European wads in American shotgun shells. Works well on bullets.

[blackmamba]

Thanks for the suggestions, fellas!

[bigbore5]

You can wet tumble new brass using automotive wash and wax soap instead of the usual dawn as well. It cleans off that oil Starline uses and will make the new brass slicker in the dies.

[harold89]

Mar 21, 2024 9:53:18 GMT -5 bigmuddy said:

I always load on a Dillon 550. I have found when using new Starline brass, the powder through expander is very sticky on the down stroke. The expander is very hard to pull out of the new brass. My solution is to use spray lube on my brass cases for the first loading of new brass. Seems to work great. Might be worth a try?

I’ll add, I have only had this issue in the last few years it seems. Been using only Starline brass for more years than I can remember. Maybe something has changed that is causing more “friction” inside the new brass?

Dan

My last order was 2K 45 LC. The cases would not hold a .452 MBC lead bullet without sizing and the cases were very sticky on my expander. Good to know. I think I’ll try tumbling first and see if that helps.

[bigmuddy]

I always size new brass before loading. Try adding a little Nu Finish liquid car polish to your tumbling media. Makes brass pretty slick.

Dan

[LeverGunner]

A couple of years ago I had some new 44 Special starline brass. It was very hard to work because it was so clean. I gave it a quick trip through the tumbler with my normal cob media (which has a squirt of berry's polish added) and it then sized, and subsequently, expanded just fine.

I do trim and chamfer/deburr after sizing, all my revolver brass.