Help forming .22-.100 cases

Hi, guys. Seems I'm asking way more questions than I ever answer but here's another. I have been, up til today, forming my .22-.100 cases with Butch Lambert bushing form dies. These dies are just awesome but some work is definitely involved. I had a machinist make me the little ram needed to form the with a .22-.250 FL die as described in Precision Shooting's Benchrest Primer. The problem is the first and only three I have formed came out with a crease/dent in the shoulder. I hope the dent blows out fireforming but if not I will stop this method. I'm thinking that maybe I'm using too much lube (imperial die wax)? Please help me out of this depressing situation!:confused:


Thanks, Tim J.
 
Tim, try turning the die out of the press one full turn; run the case up, then back off and turn the die in 1/4 turn and repeat until you have the die down to the predetermined position. Pushing the shoulder back in increments seems to be less stressful on the brass(shoulder doesn't collapse).

Francis
 
Tim
Do you know what your headspace measurement is yet? The reason i ask is this. You do not want to push back the shoulders any further than absolutely necessary. This could be a case were your pushing back the shoulders to far. A little bit of an outward roll on the shoulder neck junction is fine and absolutely normal while using a 22-250 die. The shoulder will blow out when fired. I had my 22-250 die cut off at exactly .100 so that i wouldn't push back the shoulders to far. You need a bit of a crush fit when you go to shoot the brass for the first time. This will produce straighter brass. It is very easy to push the shoulders back to far if you do not know or monitor your headspace. You need to form one case and fire it a couple times so you know what your headspace will be. After i know what my HS is i set my 22-250 die up so that i have a full .001 of crush when i go to fire that case for the first time. The first time i went to make some 22ppc .100 short brass i was pushing the case back .010 to far and it resulted in an ugly looking donut at the neck shoulder junction. The cases did blow out but it took an extra firing to have cases that were straight enough for my liking. Set your die up for a .001 crush and you will be good to go. But yes a little roll on the neck shoulder junction is probably normal. good luck!! Lee
 
If you have a crease / dent in the shoulder; not behind it, then you do have too much lube on the case. When forming cases, it only takes a very tiny bit to be too much. Try not lubing one and carefully / slowly run it into the die. The bit of roll Skeet mentioned will fire form out fine. The creases will not fire form out of the shoulder.

Joe
 
Thanks for the help. I am very familiar with bulge/hump at shoulder from pushing metal around. The one I'm concerned with folds inward and runs length wise through shoulder. Joe, would you be of the mind to throw these cases away if they were yours? I guess if they NEVER come out what are they good for?
 
Sorry Ballpowder i must have misunderstood your question. I have no idea about what you are seeing. I havent ever had that issue. Good luck, wish i could be more help! Lee
 
Don't sweat it skeetlee I appreciate you jumping right in to help. You seem to have same interests and enthusiasms as I so I tried to take and post pictures of the cases with my iPhone and could not figure it out but I can text them to you if curious.


Tim J.
 
In another life and time far away, I used to make .22-250 cases from .300 Savage cases. The shoulders always wrinkled but I shot em anyway and they worked fine for what I was doing. I would most likely just throw away the cases you have and start over. Experiment a bit to see how much lube you need. It does not take much to get the job done. You may also want to experiment with how quickly you run them into the die. A bit slower stroke may let the brass move back more evenly.
joe
 
Skeet,
Just another thought. Why not just shoot a straight 220 Russian in 22 cal.? As in Gene Beggs 222 Beggs. No case problems.

Donald
 
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