I had a guy come over to load some 45-70 and I left him alone while he was expanding/belling 100 cases (2 blocks). After we charged all of the cases I discovered he had not done one of the blocks. I tried to expand them with the charge but it would have compressed/crushed the charge so I dumped them.

I am wondering why I can't shorten the expanding plug in case something like this should happen in the future.

Thoughts?

Expanding plug?   Use a bullet that will fit the neck of the fired case, and don't wear out the brass by sizing/expanding it all the time.
CHRIS

Turn the die out a bit?

He's talking about running the expander into a case that's already got a powder charge in it.   

No-go AFAIAC.  He did the right thing and dumped 'em.  

Expander plugs must have a long enough guide section to keep the case straight before the expansion starts.  Otherwise the case will cock off line and the expansion will be asymmetric.      Bought a set of C4HD 28-30 dies that did this. Wound up making a complete separate die with an expander almost 2 inches long.

Yes, that is what he said but, duh, I skipped over the part about the powder being in there. I bell the neck before I load the powder. I actually keep the cases upside down in the block until I bell the neck.

I’ve been in that situation too.  I keep saying I need to make a short belling plug, but the impulse hasn’t lasted longer than the “emergency” situation.

I have a couple of little hammers I’ve found at swap meets, yard sales and resale stores.  One of them is a little ball peen hammer, the “peen” end being just large enough to sit on the mouth of a .45-70 case.  I hold this on the case mouth and give it a tap on the hammer face with another small hammer.  This bells the shell mouth enough to seat a bullet without shaving it, after a little practice.

Then I turn the expanding plug in the expander die in a partial turn and forget the problem until and unless it recurs.

A 1/2” ball bearing ought to do the job as well.  Getting the “tap” just right to bell the mouth without grossly expanding it doesn’t take long.

If you’re traditional minded, the conical end on the loading/crimping chamber on an Ideal tong tool can expand the case mouth, if you can find the right size.

Ranch13 wrote on Nov 14^th, 2023 at 1:43pm:


I use my Lyman M dies as a compression die also. It works great.
I have probably a dozen die bodies from various makers that I got for a buck or so each, and I use those to hold a homemade expander or cut the expanders square for compressing BP.

If your just looking to bell the case Lee sells a universal case flaring tool. That's what I use to flair all my cases ever so slightly as I almost never resize.

Lee Precision 90798, Universal Neck Expanding Die, 25 to .45 Caliber