Resizing Loaded Rounds?

Stupid question, but I'll ask anyway.

I have some .308 Win reloads that somehow didn't get adequately sized the first time round. Discovered this when they wouldn't chamber. I checked OAL, then broke down and pulled the bullet, poured ot the powder charge, lubed the case and ran it back through the sizing die (sans depriming punch). Empty case chambered. Reloaded it and checked again, still chambers fine. Now I have another 24 rounds to fix.

I figured I could pull the neck sizer from the sizing die and just resize the rest without pulling bullets (old intertial puller ruins the soft point noses), then I thought twice. Something about running a loaded round through a sizing die sounded scary. Can't see what could cause an AD, but didn't like the mental picture of the results of this improbable occurrence.

I'm going to pull the bullets and go through the hassle of correcting my own original error but thought to ask for comments.

Regards.

I don't know how something could go wrong but if it did it would be disastrous. I don't think all of your dimensions would come out right. I think you would probably stick the loaded round in the die since the neck with a seated bullet is probably larger than the neck area of the die. Bullets are cheap, pull them down and do it the hard way. George in Las Vegas

Having been in the same situation, I agree with pulling the bullets, removing the powder, and then carefully resizing. If, through too little lubricant, a cartridge got stuck in the sizing die.... what a mess that would be. It is most likely the base of the cases which are a bit too big, still you are being much safer in removing bullet and powder. By the way, I made that error with hundreds of cartridges and decided to shoot them in a bolt action rifle until all gone, then reload properly for the semi-auto that jammed with the chubby cases.

# Stupid question, but I'll ask anyway. # # I have some .308 Win reloads that somehow didn't get adequately sized # the first time round. Discovered this when they wouldn't chamber. I # checked OAL, then broke down and pulled the bullet, poured ot the # powder charge, lubed the case and ran it back through the sizing die # (sans depriming punch). Empty case chambered. Reloaded it and checked # again, still chambers fine. Now I have another 24 rounds to fix. # # I figured I could pull the neck sizer from the sizing die and just # resize the rest without pulling bullets (old intertial puller ruins # the soft point noses), then I thought twice. Something about running a # loaded round through a sizing die sounded scary. Can't see what could # cause an AD, but didn't like the mental picture of the results of this # improbable occurrence. # # I'm going to pull the bullets and go through the hassle of correcting # my own original error but thought to ask for comments. # # Regards.

# ... #I figured I could pull the neck sizer from the sizing die

Can this be done? I have separate 'neck-size only' dies, but IIRC the full-length resize dies do the whole length including the neck. If you only go partly down the length, then the neck won't be touched, but neither will the base end of the case. Depending on where your case is oversize - this might work. (My guess is that the base area is where some size reduction is needed, so this incomplete resizing won't work. Nor would it work if the problem was with the shoulder and/or neck.)

#and just resize the rest without pulling bullets (old intertial puller #ruins the soft point noses),

I agree with the suggestion to put a pad in the end of the intertial puller.

#then I thought twice. Something about running a #loaded round through a sizing die sounded scary. Can't see what could #cause an AD, but didn't like the mental picture of the results of this #improbable occurrence. ...

I recently posted about resizing some loaded .45ACP rounds. I used the Lee Factory Crimp die, which has a carbide ring that passes down and back up over the loaded round. It crimps the bullet, and then assures the reloaded that the round will be small enough to chamber. I figured that since this is made to go down/up over a loaded (though uncrimped on the down pass) round that it should be quite safe. Also I couldn't think of any risks that I didn't already run when crimping a round. (Yes, I do wear eye protection, and I'm careful to make sure that there isn't anything jammed in the base holder, ...) I did unscrew the crimper, so I was only using the carbide ring - which is just like the usual straight case resizer, just a tad larger. You can see this die at http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp? sku=0000690864

At any rate, I resized a few dozen rounds with no problem.

Thanks to all for the ideas and input.

I padded the bullet puller cup with some sorbothane (1/2' closed cell stuff used in an old back backing cushion) and yanked the bullets without noticable damage. The rubber fit was tight enough that no measurable powder loss occurred, tho' I weighed every charge anyway. Reloaded the rounds and ready to go. I will shoot a couple at paper to make sure the bullet noses aren't messed up enough to affect accuracy significantly.

Best lesson from the responses was 'try the first round in your piece before you run the batch'. 30 years of reloading and still learning!

Regards.

You mean that sooner or later we all make a mistake? I thought if we just had the proper 'training' we could eliminate human error altogether. At least that seems to be what the Glock defenders believe, and why they think guns shouldn't have safeties.

Methinks you are referring to the Lee PISTOL die that sizes the loaded rounds. Tim sends

> ...

loaded > ...

A little more detail...

A common problem for new reloaders is trying to crimp bottle neck cases. I've never been able to get it done with standard dies without swelling the case just behind the shoulder. I gave up trying a long time ago but before I did I salvaged quite a few rounds by runnning them fully loaded far enough into the sizing die with the deprimer stem removed to take enough of the swell out so that they would chamber in my rifle. IIRC, this did put a really good crimp on the bullets where the neck was resized for maybe 1/32 nd of an inch.

If the case is too big in another area this won't work.

Best, wes

> ...

#... I will shoot a couple at paper to make sure the bullet noses aren't #messed up enough to affect accuracy significantly.

Rifle bullets are quite sensitive to damage at the base. Small dents in the nose should have very little effect on accuracy.