Shaving bullet jackets is a problem reloaders encounter from time to time. It can be caused by excessive neck tension, burrs on the case mouth, or over-aggressive chamfering that leaves a ragged edge on the case mouth. Larry Medler discovered some rounds where the bullet jackets were getting shaved. Diagnosing the problem, he found that this was caused by his outside neck chamfer. He was using a powered screwdriver to rotate the case, and over-cutting plus tool chatter was causing the case neck to roll inwards. This created a thin, sharp edge that actually cut into the bullet jacket as the bullet was being seated.
Larry has a Load Force 250 measuring instrument that records the dynamic bullet seating force and displays the results on a computer screen. Larry noted that spikes in seating force were associated with the cases where the bullets were shaved. Inspecting the cases, Larry realized what was happening. Chamfering the outside after doing the inside allowed his tools to cut too much. Combined with tool chatter, this actually created a sharp, ragged edge that rolled inward towards the bullet: “I discovered I had rolled the case mouth rim inward while deburring the outer edge. When deburring the case mouth on the outside edge, every now and then I could hear some tool chatter. The effects of this chatter really show in the picture.”
The above chart shows the dynamic bullet seating force for the bullet with the shaved jacket. Note the large initial force used to cut and scratch the bullet outer surfaces. The final seating force of 47 pounds is just before the Wilson Seating Die bottoms out and the force on the load cell jumps. The chart below shows normal bullet seating force.
As a fix, Larry decided to reverse the neck deburring operations. Now he deburrs the outside first. This reduces tool chatter and prevents the edge from rolling over, because the neck thickness has not been thinned by inside chamfering. While Larry uses a powered screwdriver to speed his case processing, the lesson applies to those who chamfer manually as well–do the outside first and never overcut.
Remember, you simply want to remove burrs and create a slight chamfer. You don’t want to thin the brass significantly at the case mouth. This is why it is important to be very careful when using a deep-angle cutter such as the K&M inside neck chamferer. Click HERE to read Larry’s full report on neck chamfering, with more details on use of the Load Force 250 measuring instrument. Using device such as this, or a K&M arbor press equipped with a seating force gauge, will help you diagnose problems with your neck tension and reloading procedures.
With the price of premium brass topping $90/100 for many popular cartridges, it makes sense to consider annealing your brass to extend its useful life. Forum member Darrell Jones offers a full range of brass prep, brass forming, and brass restoration (annealing, ultra-sonic cleaning) at very affordable prices. Starting at just $15 per 100 cases, Darrell’s company, DJ’s Brass, will anneal your used brass using state-of-the-art Bench-Source annealing machines. He can also ultrasonically clean cases for $15 per 100 ($20 per 100 for magnum cases larger than 0.473″ rim).
Custom Neck-Turning Services
Another great service DJ’s Brass provides is precision neck-turning. He can neck-turn any size case to your specified neck-wall thickness. The price is $0.30 per case (normal size) or $0.40 (magnum size) with a $20.00 minimum order. And if you’ve got a bucket of brass to neck-turn, that’s fine with Darrell — he recently neck-turned 1500 pieces of brass for one customer!
DJ’s Brass can process everything from .17 Fireball all the way up to the big magnum cases. And the job gets done quickly. Darrell has a 10-day turn-around guarantee. For most jobs, Darrell tells us, he gets the processed brass to the Post Office within three business days. DJ’s Brass charges only actual shipping fees, using USPS flat-rate boxes.
• Ultrasonic Cleaning + Annealing ($25.00/100 normal or $30/100 magnum)
• Ultrasonic Cleaning and Polishing ($15.00/100 normal or $20/100 magnum)
• Anneal Case Necks (after checking for splits) ($15.00/100 normal or $20/100 magnum)
• COAL Trim and Chamfer Case Mouths ($0.20 per case, $20.00 minimum order)
• Uniform and Square Primer Pockets ($0.15 per case, $20.00 minimum order)
• Expand Case Necks and Anneal brass (Call for Price)
• Create False Shoulder for Fire-Forming (Call for Price)
Muzzle Brake Tax Break Special: FREE cleaning of up to two (2) Stainless Muzzle Brakes with a minimum $50.00 order. Special good through April 17, 2012 (Tax Return Deadline for 2012).
DJ’s Brass Offers Specialized Custom Services
Darrell tells us: “At DJ’s Brass, we can handle all your brass refurbishing needs. From ultrasonic cleaning to custom annealing for specific wildcat cartridges. We can expand your necks from .22 caliber to .30 caliber and anneal shoulders for consistent bump-back. We can turn your case-necks and trim the brass to your specs. For some cartridge types, I can pre-form cases to assist in fire-forming a wildcat cartridge. We also remove the carbon build-up in muzzle brakes. Don’t lose your accuracy by having carbon build up and close off the clearance required for the most accurate bullet release through a muzzle brake.” Note: Extra charges apply for neck-turning and neck expansion operations, or specialized cartridge-forming operations. Please call 205-461-4680 for special services pricing.
Muzzle Brake – Tax Break Special for AccurateShooter.com Readers
Now through April 17, 2012 (Tax Due Date), Darrell is offering a Muzzle Brake – Tax Break Special for our readers. For all case prep/restoration orders of $50.00 or more, Darrell will ultrasonically clean one or two stainless muzzle brakes for no extra charge (offer does not apply to blued or coated muzzle brakes). For more info, visit DJsBrass.com or call Darrell Jones at 205-461-4680. IMPORTANT: Contact Darrell for shipping instructions BEFORE sending any brass for processing. ALL BRASS MUST BE DE-PRIMED before you send it.
Darrell has cleaned and annealed cases for shooters from across the country. Here are recent testimonials (this Editor reviewed all the original emails so I can confirm these are real):
“Your services were good with a quick turn-around time. Quality of the case annealing looked great[.]” — Tom, in Alaska
“The [300 Win Ackley] batch you did for me came back looking great.” — Chuck, in Arizona
“Since I started using Lapua brass, I’ve gotten gotten enough reloads out of them to notice that the necks were no longer sealing as well as I’d like. A friend suggested annealing them. I remembered seeing DJ’s ad on AccurateShooter.com and thought I’d give him a try. Not only did my [.308 brass] come back sorted exactly as I had sent them out, all had been so thoroughly cleaned that I realized I had been leaving lube on them after forming. DJ had taken the time to enclose a note cautioning me to brush the inside case necks and do a full-length resize for the first loading. And all 200 cases were back in my hands in DAYS, not weeks! Great service, great price, great follow up.” — Jim, in Alabama
With Copper Exchange prices edging towards $4.00/lb, cartridge brass in any condition is worth saving. (Prices reached $4.50/lb last year!) Even worn-out, split, or Berdan-primed brass with negligible value to reloaders can be worth real money given current scrap metal prices. People commonly leave .22 LR casings on the ground because they can’t be easily reloaded. Nowadays, it may be worth saving brass of any kind. In California, scrap metal dealers are paying $1.75 a pound for used cartridge brass — including buckets of used .22 LR casings.
Of course, if you have good pistol and rifle brass that’s worth reloading, don’t take it to a scrap dealer. You should be able to get more money selling the brass to reloaders via Forum Classifieds or Gunbroker.com. However, if you’ve got buckets of old, split, tarnished brass, .22 LR casings, or Berdan-primed cases and you don’t want to take the time to clean, inspect, and sort your cases… maybe you should just sell ‘em for scrap. For someone with hundreds of pounds of miscellaneous brass, current scrap prices can be attractive. In the past, at ranges, we’ve seen scores of milsurp Berdan-primed cases left on the ground since they are not easily reloadable. Now, we predict those cases will be collected and sold for scrap.
Nosler is offering deeply discounted pricing on Over-Run brass in these calibers: 6.5×55 Swede, .338 Lapua Magnum, 30-378 Weatherby, and 340 Weatherby. You can save up to 33% on the single-box price. Nosler puts 50 cases in a box of 6.5×55 brass. However, there are only 25 cases per box for the other, larger cartridges.
In addition to the bargain brass, Nosler is also offering big discounts on select Custom Competition bullets, and Nosler Custom Ammunition. For example, a 250-count box of Nosler’s 190gr .308-Cal Custom Comp bullets is marked down to $69.95 from $91.00, a 23% savings. Visit Nosler’s Over-Run Sales Page to see all the discounted products.
Nosler Sale tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
Robert Whitley of AR-X Enterprises, LLC builds match-grade uppers for AR-platform rifles. Many of Robert’s favorite chamberings are based on the 6.5 Grendel case necked-down to 6mm. Until 2011, Lapua was the only source for 6.5 Grendel brass. As you’d expect, Lapua’s Grendel brass is truly excellent, but it is also pricey, and sometimes hard to find. Now Hornady is producing USA-made 6.5 Grendel brass. Robert Whitley has worked with the Hornady 6.5 Grendel brass for over a year now and he is able to assess its performance compared to the original Lapua version. Writing in our Shooters’ Forum, Robert reveals: “It’s decent brass but hot loads will loosen the primer pockets fast. With moderate loads you will get good case life and service from the brass and it can deliver excellent accuracy as well. Not Lapua but not bad either.”
Robert reports: “I was able to get my hands on some of Hornady’s 6.5 Grendel brass. My big question was how it would measure up, particularly the loaded necks, and whether it would be compatible with our existing 6mmAR and Turbo 40 die sets. As it turns out, this brass looks like a perfect fit for our existing die sets (and obviously 6.5 Grendel die sets too). Accordingly, folks with existing die sets will be able to use the Hornady brass without any issues.” However, as the loaded neck on the Hornady brass is .001″ (one-thousandth) slimmer than Lapua brass, you may want to try a smaller bushing when sizing Hornady Grendel brass.
The Hornady 6.5 Grendel brass has a LARGE Flash Hole, about .078″ versus .0591″ for Lapua brass. Dimensionally, the biggest difference is the shoulder diameter, with the Hornady brass measuring 0.428″ vs. 0.424″ for the Lapua brass. The Hornady is actually a better fit for 6mmAR chambers which are about 0.432″ at the shoulder. Interestingly, case H20 capacity is virtually identical. Water capacity of new, unfired Hornady 6.5 Grendel brass is 35.1 grains, while new, unfired Lapua Grendel brass holds 35.0 grains of H20. Both brands of Grendel brass increase to about 36.0 grains H20 capacity after firing and full-length sizing.
Here are some of the particulars of the Hornady cases:
Hornady 6.5 Grendel Brass
Lapua 6.5 Grendel Brass
Flash hole diameter: ~ .078″
OAL of brass: Average 1.515″
Weight of cases: 111.7 to 113.0 grains
Web diameter, unfired: 0.4375″
Shoulder diameter, unfired: 0.428″
Loaded neck diameter: 0.2895″
6mmAR loaded neck: 0.270″
Flash hole diameter: 1.5mm (0.0591″)
OAL of brass: Average 1.515″
Weight of cases: 111.0 to 112.5 grains
Web diameter, unfired: 0.4385″
Shoulder diameter, unfired: 0.424″
Loaded neck diameter: 0.290″
6mmAR loaded neck: 0.271″
K&M Precision Shooting Products has two very handy products you may not know about yet. The first, a brilliantly simple device that lets you see your case necks as you expand them, can be used by anyone who necks-up brass (with a compatible expander die body). The second new product is a specialized “fat grip” holder that will make neck-turning easier for those of you out there who use K&M neck-turners.
K&M Expand Mandrel Window Riser
This is a simple threaded extension placed between your expander die body (K&M Expand Iron) and the top of your press. It carries the expander mandrel higher, above the press, and has a cut-out view port so you can see the mandrel as it passes through the neck. Smart, eh? This provides visual feedback during the process of expanding your brass. The patent-pending view riser costs $20.00. Will it expand necks faster, or reduce run-out? We doubt it, but we still would like to have one, if only to eyeball the mandrel to control the neck-entry rate more consistently from case to case.
Installation: Thread the Expand Mandrel Window Riser into the top of your loading press, then thread the K&M Expand-Iron (Expander Die Body) fully into the top of the window riser and adjust each so you can stroke out the press completely without driving the case mouth into the press adapter. This allows you to view the expanding operation which is typically blind under the press. The riser also eliminates the need for the stop screw in the expander mandrel. LINK: Expand Window Riser Instructions (PDF).
Ergo Holder for K&M Neck-Turning Tool
K&M’s rounded, oversized Ergo Holder lets you hold the K&M neck-turning body more securely (and with less hand cramping). Priced at $35.00, it is an expensive accessory, but we suspect many guys with K&M neck-turners will spring for an Ergo holder just because it gives you a more secure and comfortable grip on the small, square-edged K&M neck-turner.
Customer Feedback Inspired K&M’s Ergo Holder
The folks at K&M told us that their new Ergo Holder was produced in response to customer requests: “[Customers reported that] the neck turner can be hard to hold due to its compact size, especially in high-volume use. The Ergo Holder is machined from aluminum, providing a fatigue-proof grasp of the neck turner. Its mass works like a heat sink to help dissipate heat from the pilot during the turning process. The neck-turner body easily assembles into the Ergo Holder and is held in place with one set screw. The Ergo holder is also designed with the dial indicator in mind and actually makes its use more convenient”.
LINK: Ergo Holder Installation/Use Instructions (PDF).
Credit Forum Member EdLongRange for spotting these new K&M products.
On our main Accurateshooter.com website, you’ll find a comprehensive review of the STM system for cleaning cartridge brass with stainless media. To clean brass with stainless media, start with five pounds of small stainless pins sold by StainlessTumblingMedia.com. Place these along with a gallon of water, a little liquid cleaner, and two pounds of cartridge brass in a rotary tumbler, and run the machine for one to four hours.
Forum Member Tests STM System
Our reviewer, Forum member Jason Koplin, purchased the STM media and a new Thumler’s Tumbler. He then tested the STM cleaning procedure on his own brass, including some extremely dirty and tarnished “range pick-up” brass. Jason was thoroughly impressed with how well the STM process worked — as you can see from the “before and after” photos below. Brass which looked like it was ready for the scrap heap was restored to “like-new” appearance. The process works equally well on both rifle brass and pistol brass. Jason observed that one surprise benefit of the STM cleaning procedure is a big reduction in noise. Jason said the water-filled rotary tumbler was much quieter than his vibratory tumblers.
You’ll want to read Jason’s full review which shows more before and after images. In addition, the full article features a “how-to” video created by Forum member Cory Dickerson, the young man who pioneered the stainless tumbling process and founded STM. The video shows how to load brass, media, and cleaner solutions into the tumbler, and how to separate media from brass once the tumbling is done. The illustration below shows how to access the article from our new home page. Note that you can click on other featured articles as well.
Cabela’s is running a nice promotion now on its Cabelas.com website. Reloading components, including bullets, brass, powder, and primers, are now discounted 20%. Plus there are even great savings on some products listed in Cabela’s Bargain Cave. To see the discounted items, visit Cabela’s Reloading Components SALE Page.
Here are some of the hundreds of products currently On Sale at 20% Off:
Story Tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
MidwayUSA has the Tipton 12-piece multi-caliber Jag Kit on sale again. Now through Sept. 30th, you can purchase the Kit, item 582621, for $12.99, five bucks off the regular $17.99 price. The set includes 17, 22, 243/6mm, 25, 270/7mm, 30/32, 8mm/338, 35/9mm, 375, 40/416, 44, and 45 Caliber Jags, in a sturdy box with fitted holes for each jag. This Editor owns two Tipton jag kits, one for the range kit and one for the loading room. These kits work for everything from my 17 Mach2 up to my 45/70. I use the jags for both rifle and pistol calibers. I like the fact that you can easily switch from a bigger jag to the next smaller size to adjust patch fit as the job requires.
Nickel-Plated Jag Kit Also Available
MidwayUSA also markets a 12-piece Jag Set with nickel-plated jags. This is a smart innovation that has been well-received by shooters. The nickel jags aren’t affected by solvents so they don’t give “false positives” when you’re cleaning copper fouling from your barrels. The Nickel Jag Kit, item 812503, is currently priced at $24.49, but, it also goes on sale from time to time. When it’s on sale, you can pick up the Nickel-Plated Jag Kit for under $20.00.
With top-quality cartridge brass approaching $1.00 per case, it’s more important than ever to get maximum life from your match brass. Annealing can extend the useful life of your brass, and ultrasonic cleaning allows you to eliminate carbon build-up inside cases that have been fired numerous times. You can certainly do annealing and ultrasonic cleaning yourself, but to get the best (and most consistent) results, you’ll need to invest in quality equipment and spend a good deal of time and effort learning how to use it properly. Likewise, turning case necks requires expensive tools, and it takes time and practice before you’ll get perfectly-turned necks.
DJs Brass Offers Annealing, Cleaning, and Neck-Turning
If you don’t have the resources to purchase annealing and ultrasonic cleaning machines, or if you don’t have the time to neck-turn hundreds of cases — don’t fret, there is an affordable option. DJsBrass.com, run by benchrest shooter Darrell Jones, offers annealing, ultrasonic cleaning, neck-turning, and complete brass prep services (including OAL trimming) at very reasonable rates. Darrell will anneal 100 cases for $15, and he’ll neck-turn your cases (any caliber), starting at $30.00 per hundred. Even if you’re a skilled neck-turner, if you just acquired a new caliber, it might make sense to send the work to Darrell, instead of purchasing new expander mandrels and turning arbors.
False-Shoulder Forming for Wildcats
Do you shoot an “improved” short-necked wildcat like the 6mm Dasher? Want your fire-forming to go without a hitch? Darrell can take your parent brass and create a false shoulder so you get a good crush fit in the chamber. If you’re running a tight-necked chamber he can create a false shoulder AND turn the top half of the neck to fit your chamber.
Video Shows Annealing Process
In the video below, Darrell explains the wide variety of brass restoration services he offers. Darrell says he can “bring your brass back to life” and we have found that to be true. We had some 6mmBR brass with no-turn necks that started to lose their “competitive edge” after just 7-8 loadings. The neck tension had become inconsistent from case to case, and bullet seating force (measured with a gauge-equipped K&M arbor press) varied widely. We were seeing unexplained flyers, and ES had nearly doubled compared to when the brass was fresh. Annealing the cases really made a difference. The neck tension was much more consistent and bullets seated more uniformly with less “spiking” of seating force. Paying $15 for annealing is a lot cheaper than buying a new box of brass for $80.00 or more!
Darrell offers a variety of services at affordable rates. To order work by Darrell, visit DJsBrass.com, or call (205) 461-4680:
Case Annealing Only
Cost: $15.00/100 for standard cases; $20.00/100 for magnum cases.*
Combination Service (Cleaning and Annealing)
Ultrasonic Cleaning, Check for split necks, Anneal case necks.
Cost: Starting at $20.00/100 standard and $25.00/100 for magnum cases.*
Full Service (Case Prep, Cleaning, Annealing)
Uniform primer pockets, Chamfer, Ultrasonic cleaning/polishing, Anneal case necks.
Cost: Starting at $30.00/100 and up.*
Neck Turning or Trim-to-Length Custom Order Service
Cost: Starting at $30.00/100 for standard cases.*
(Darrell can also resize necks or false shoulder your cases. Call for quotes.)
*Add USPS flat-rate return shipping. Call (205) 461-4680 for quotes on miscellaneous, military bulk brass or high volume discount. Note: Prices subject to change.
With the price of premium brass topping $90/100 for many popular cartridges, it makes sense to consider annealing your brass to extend its useful life. Forum member 
On our main 
DJs Brass Offers Annealing, Cleaning, and Neck-Turning
