2nd full length resizing?

MotoJack

MotoJack
I am a new reloader.I have a large pile of once fired military 308 brass.I processed 300 yesterday.Tumbled,resized/deprimed,removed military crimp,trimmed,primed,loaded 30 of them with m80's.The rounds would not chamber.I had not adjusted the full length resizing die down far enough.Rather than lose the brass and primers I pulled the bullets and resized the 30 pieces of brass again with the center rod primer/punch pin thing taken out of the die.I loaded them again and went to the range and fired them in my Remington 700 VTR.They worked good with no problems I can see.I fired through a shooting chrony and checked the velocities and all were 2675-2760 Ft/sec @ 10 ft from the muzzel.My question:Is there anything wrong with what I did?I mean I did the full length resizing the second time with the center rod removed from the die.My friend who has been reloading for many years said he'd never heard of doing that and didn't know if it would mess up my head space or something.Anybody here ever done this?If this is not good practice,what are the problems I'm likely to run into.I still have 270 pieces of this brass which needs to be resized a second time to make it able to chamber in my VTR.Experienced reloaders please advise me.I'm using LEE dies and a Rock Chucker Supreme press.Thanks
__________________
 
Premature failure

It sounds like you ended up neck sizing the once fired brass and the tighter chamber on the VTR wouldn't let you chamber the rounds. (probably fired through loose military chambers:pleasantry:)
The one issue I could see with FL resizing without the depriming pin is you could have neck deformation since the depriming pin is usually also the neck expander. You are running the risk of causing a crack or fold around the neck, but it should be obvious when you try to seat the bullet.

Military brass is sometimes thicker than commercial brands and you could run into some higher than allowed pressures due to the decreased case volume.
.308 Winchester Cartridge Guide

EDIT: This info is for discussion purposes only and since you are a grown up are responsible if you get blowed up!
 
You did nothing wrong. I just did the same thing last week. I set my sizing die for some 300 WSM and I didn't look at the die it's self. When I went to load it in my Rem 700 it wouldn't chamber. I pulled the bullet and resized the brass with primers and powder still in the case. Then I put the bullet back in and crimped it. Luckily I only did 6 rounds before I caught it. Lee actually makes a crimping sizing die for 45, 9mm and other auto rounds. It has a carbide ring that sizes the brass before crimping the bullet. It really cleans up the rounds that has a tendency to expand when seating a bullet. I use them on all my auto pistol rounds. So what you did is not a problem!
 
It sounds like you ended up neck sizing the once fired brass and the tighter chamber on the VTR wouldn't let you chamber the rounds. (probably fired through loose military chambers:pleasantry:)
The one issue I could see with FL resizing without the depriming pin is you could have neck deformation since the depriming pin is usually also the neck expander. You are running the risk of causing a crack or fold around the neck, but it should be obvious when you try to seat the bullet.

Military brass is sometimes thicker than commercial brands and you could run into some higher than allowed pressures due to the decreased case volume.
.308 Winchester Cartridge Guide

EDIT: This info is for discussion purposes only and since you are a grown up are responsible if you get blowed up!

I'd also double check the cases after the second sizing just to make sure they're still within the correct case length measurement. If you have a neck sizing die you could also run it though that also to make sure the case neck is back to proper specs.

Lastly make sure the rounds are properly lubed. I'd hate to get a case, with a live primer, stuck with out the neck expander/deprimer pin there. Getting that out would be a ........ well you know.

If I think of anything else I’ll let you know.
 
You did nothing wrong. I just did the same thing last week. I set my sizing die for some 300 WSM and I didn't look at the die it's self. When I went to load it in my Rem 700 it wouldn't chamber. I pulled the bullet and resized the brass with primers and powder still in the case. Then I put the bullet back in and crimped it. Luckily I only did 6 rounds before I caught it. Lee actually makes a crimping sizing die for 45, 9mm and other auto rounds. It has a carbide ring that sizes the brass before crimping the bullet. It really cleans up the rounds that has a tendency to expand when seating a bullet. I use them on all my auto pistol rounds. So what you did is not a problem!

+1 on the Lee's factory crimp dies.
 

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