bullet jump

[daniellawecki]

Boy when things go wrong they go bad wrong. Today at the range my bullet jumped forward locking up my Smith 629. Well can't open the crane so I'll have to push bullet back in the case with primer and powder still in the case. I'll shim the round forward but leave the primer unsupported then drive bullet back into case. Never had to do this so care will come first. what would you do and how ?

 

[oldman10mm]

Same as what you proposed. All you're doing is reseating the bullet just as you would during the original seating of the bullet during assembly except you'll be 'fighting' the crimp. How much forward did the bullet jump/move ?

 

[ADulay]

Boy when things go wrong they go bad wrong. Today at the range my bullet jumped forward locking up my Smith 629.

What exactly is "jumped forward"? Is that like you had a squib load?

AD

 

[daniellawecki]

No squib while shooting today with full power loads. Had a real heavy crimp on 250 grain cast bullets one moved forward. so I can't open the action so it has to go back in case. Live primer in case along with a heavy dose of IMR 4227.

 

[daniellawecki]

Oldman10mm you asked how far bullet jumped forward my best measurement is .050ths -.055ths. That's a pretty good amount of forward travel. So later this week bullet will be driven back into the case. These were loaded on RCBS dies and once the gun can be clear I will measure rounds still loaded in gun. I will size a few brass measure ID of sized brass remeasure cast bullet and check tension before crimping. Will also look at expanding and flaring die combo. What are your thoughts any advice will be taken wholeheartedly.

 

[oldman10mm]

.50ths -.55ths ? does the ths mean thousants of an inch so it would be .050"-.055" OR is that .50"-.55" ?
everytime I see the situation on the gun forums,it's either corrected by the poster by increasing the crimp or decreasing the diameter of the stem that goes in the case with the 'bell mouther'. even without a crimp,there should be force required to push the bullet into the case,'neck tension'.
Maybe an inconsistent crimp due to inconsistent brass length. a shorter case,even by a few thousants,would have a weaker crimp because,then, the case isn't going up into the crimping die as far as the others did. All my brass gets length trimmed only because I want a 'consistent pressure' crimp.
On my 'nuclear' 357 loads,stricly a display photographic load,way past the max recommended with 2400,I would typically just load one because that case would have to be 'hammered out' due to extreme pressure. whenever I did load more than one,I never had 'bullet jump'. for the 44 nuclear loads with 2400 and 4227,I also never had bullet jump.
How many rounds in the cylinder were fired before 'cylinder lockup' ? was it after the 1st one or after ? ? If it took more than one,you're gonna have to load two,fire one and measure the remaining one to see if it changed in length.
Are you working with a progressive press or a single stage press. Because a progressive does multiple processes 'per stroke',it's difficult to sense/feel the crimping pressure as with a single stage.

 

[daniellawecki]

It was after 4 rounds so it was the 5th that pulled yes I was going to check every thing. the sixth round is in the cylinder as well.

 

[oldman10mm]

any new info ?

 

[daniellawecki]

Not yet haven't done anything. This weekend probably Sunday haste makes waste.

 

[daniellawecki]

Well a little tap with a wooden dowel and the trusty hammer. That was case #5 -#6 it moved .055 forward cases are trimmed and the dies are from 1971. The crimp die will be replaced a heavy crimp is my normal. Cleaned the die looks good but buying a new set can't hurt. Tuesday grandson & myself will go to the club for your fun day. I put one hell of a heavy crimp on the rounds. Well with warmer weather grandson and myself will get out a 4-5 times a week.

 

[whitewolf68]

Glad you were OK Daniel. I had my father's S&W revolver blow up on him and a man he was giving lessons to. Thankfully the both came out uninjured STS, less a pair of underwear for each of them though.

He had some reloads from his brother and me thinks he was drinking when reloading as usual. Needless to say my father does NOT use his reloads anymore. Mine are another thing though. I check damn near every round I produce to make double damn sure they are safe and quality build. I pride myself on that and my father loves them too. He used some of my .308 loads I made once and after about 6 shots he asked me who manufactured those rounds, my question was why? He then went on to tell me they were the most accurate .308 rounds he'd ever shot in is Savage and his M1. I loved the look on this face when I told him I made them, one by one and hand metered the powder and all specs to very tight tolerances.

 

[daniellawecki]

Well good news Lee Dies saved the day and the crimp is heavy and firm. Shot nine rounds Sunday no bullet pull or jump forward of the crimp. The load was 22.0 grains of H110 not a hot load but I'll go up in 1/2 gain jumps. The bullet is a 250 grain cast bullet SWC .

 

[daniellawecki]

I'm up to 23.5 grains of H110 and there's plenty of room to reach 25.0 grains to 25.5. Gun club Saturday for some group shooting.

 

[dogrtst]

I had a similar experience, when I first started reloading and didn't crimp my bullets tightly enough. I was shooting starting loads in my .44 Mag Anaconda and the recoil caused the bullets to, as you say, 'jump forward', preventing the cylinder from turning. Not all of the rounds in the cylinder jumped forward, but a couple did. Lucky for me, I was able to push the bullets back into the cylinder, with the tip of my finger, (after the first round I had just fired), I opened the cylinder and removed the loose bullets. I took them back home, took the bullets out and re-seated them and made sure to crimp them correctly.

Lesson learned.

I have another 'squib' tale, but that's another story, for another time.

dogrtst.