Rifle Bulge Buster

[gun_slinger_boy]

I know many of you have seen the Lee bulge buster for pistol casings but have you seen anything for rifle casings? Currently I am reloading 7.62x39 casings. I have gotten over the hump of converting berdan primed casings into boxer primed. Not a super slick way of doing it yet but my current method works. After the conversions I discovered that almost all surplus ammo in x39 creates a bulge that will not allow it to chamber after reloading. Apparently the surplus stuff is loaded very hot and creates a bulge. Since I had about 50 brass surplus casings and x39 brass is not very common I wanted to come up with a way to get rid of the bulge. I imagine this technique will work for all casings.

The closest thing I've found to a bulge buster for rifle casings was the RCBS short base dies. It allows rifle casings to be formed a little bit lower on the casing. While I haven't tried it and it may very well work I wanted to come up with a solution with stuff I already have on hand. Plus the die set is expensive since you HAVE to buy the whole set. Here is what I've come up with.


As you can see, compared to a normal x39 casing(wolf) the brass surplus casing doesn't even come close to fitting the chamber properly. Even just dropping the casing into the chamber it gets stuck and I needed another round to pry it out. The wolf round fits nice and flush at the webbing.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb1_zps5cbe25f3.jpg


http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb2_zpsa8be3356.jpg


The first thing I did was simply take out the pin out of a lee full length sizing die. On a Lee die you will need a vice to do this unless you are friends with the Hulk.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb3_zps10aba78f.jpg



Using the depinned die in my trusty Lee hand loader I simply place the lubed casing on top of the shell holder and press it using the full stroke. Notice that the rim isn't properly placed in the shell holder.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb4_zps1571948b.jpg

[gun_slinger_boy]

http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb5_zps76da47b3.jpg



http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb6_zps60559e0c.jpg


The casing WILL get stuck. No worries though. Since the pin and nut that holds the pin in place is missing the casing is easily accessed from the top. Using a Phillips head screw driver and a few wacks from a hammer the casing easily comes out. If you are using a more precious casing and are scared to use something like a steel screwdriver you could use something softer. Just as long as it's hard enough to push the casing out without breaking. I can tell you though that after close inspection the flash hole is pristine. The casing is simply friction fitted into the die and the blows don't damage it.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb7_zps0a30e174.jpg



Now reloading is S.O.P. The casing is made into a dummy round (no primer no powder) to deploy the "plunk" test. After resizing seating the bullet to proper depth and crimping this is the result.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb8_zpsa36535b1.jpg

[gun_slinger_boy]

The dummy round is then dropped back into the chamber to check for fit (plunk test). As you can see the casing is now nice and flush at the webbing. The round now moves in and out of the camber effortlessly using a finger nail to bring it up.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/metalicmario1/rbb9_zps5b2e4385.jpg



The final test is to load the dummy round into a magazine and load it into the chamber. The round easily chambers and extracts. Success!

[Shooterontheline]

Excellent write-up and images.

[gun_slinger_boy]

Thanks. Hope it's useful :cool: