.40 S&W base bulge

[clepidus]

I am starting to notice a slight bulge in the base of my .40 brass. I have loaded these about 3 times now and am thinking I should buy a die to get them in spec. Does anybody know of a good base sizing die? Is the Redding G-RX base sizer any good?

[aa1911]

yes, buy it. What gun are you using? Glock?

if so, there's a bunch of threads on here concerning the glock buldge.

it's a bit time consuming but cheap insurance; also, stay on the lower end with the powder

[steve4102]

I have the Redding G-RX steel die. I use it on all my 40 and 10mm brass. It works great, but you have to lube the case. They make a new one now in Carbide for a bit more $$, but no lube required.

Lee makes a Bulge Buster kit that pushes the case through their Lee Factory Crimp die and does the same thing. It is less $$$ than the Redding, but.
I have tried the BB method pushing the case through the LFCD and I found it to be a little on the small side and took way more effort than the Redding die.

[312shooter]

Debulging can be done easily with a Lee Factory Crimp Die. Remove the guts of the die and push the casings through the die backward (headfirst). Use a .223 casing and shell holder to do the pushing, it goes rather smooth. I've never needed to buy the GRX setup, but I'm sure it does fine.

[aa1911]

+1 for getting the carbide version of the Redding, I use it and no need for any lube although I do some light lube about every 50 cases or so just because. But ran the first few thousand through dry just to see, no issues at all. IIRC, it wasn't hardly much more than the original one they put out.

[JLA]

funny how nothing i load ro shoot does this.. only the .40 and only in glocks.. WTH??

[soundguy]

are these the ones witt he partiall unsupported chamber I hear of?

[clepidus]

I don't shoot a Glock myself but my friend does and that is the problem. I load for him too and the brass gets mixed up when we shoot together. My XD doesn't have the problem that I can see anyway.

I guess I will go ahead and get the G-RX and try and keep brass a little more separated when we shoot.

Thanks for the input.

[aa1911]

it does only seem to be a Glock and .40 cal specific that I've heard anyway. My Glock 9mm don't do this and I've not seen the .45 ACP or GAP do this either in the ones I've fired (factory ammo).

It really doesn't look like that much is unsupported in the chamber but it's enough and more than anyone else's gun.

so a little extra work to reload for a gun that is (in theory) more reliable feeding. Remove the bulge, don't load full power loads and you'll be just fine.

Another option is an aftermarket barrel such as Lone Wolf, Bar-sto, storm lake, etc... some mixed reviews but overall most of them have decent reliability and support more of the chamber to almost if not altogether eliminate the dreaded bulge.

[Appliancedude]

Ok, explain this to me. I don't have a auto I load for. Why does the resizer die not fix this.

[aa1911]

a standard resizing die (even full length) does not go all the way down to the base of the cartridge, you can see it from the squeeze marks, stops about 3/16" from the base at least.

the bulge happens to occur in that exact same (untouched) spot, so the push thru die resizes the entire thing from start to finish, squeezing that bulge back to something close to orginal intended size.

[Appliancedude]

Got it. I've collected a few hundred of them (range brass) have no idea what they were shot out of. I've tumbled them and tossed them in a bucket. Might have to go inspect a few of them. Now I'm curious

[aa1911]

easy to spot the Glocks, look for a rectangular strike on the primer. Not sure what else is using anything similar anymore, but glock rounds are easy to spot.

[Appliancedude]

Thanks. when I get a chance I'm gonna inspect a few of them. I've been collecting range brass for the day I get a gun that will shoot them. Then I'm ahead on the brass situation. I'm sure there is some in there.

[aa1911]

I hoard brass, even if I don't have the caliber yet, I scrounge all I can because eventually I will either have that caliber or trade it for stuff I need in what calibers I own.

Brass gold!

[Appliancedude]

Originally Posted by aa1911

I hoard brass, even if I don't have the caliber yet, I scrounge all I can because eventually I will either have that caliber or trade it for stuff I need in what calibers I own.

Brass gold!

Exactly. Once I get enough of a certain round, it gets its own container. I deprime it all with my universal, and tumble it. That way I can give it a once over.

[soundguy]

Originally Posted by aa1911

I hoard brass, even if I don't have the caliber yet, I scrounge all I can because eventually I will either have that caliber or trade it for stuff I need in what calibers I own.

Brass gold!

same here. if I even think Imay ever own or laod for it.. i keep it.

i have die sets for cartridges i don't even reload yet.. but do have a gun .. and will stasrt relaoding for them when I get enough built up brass.

[erikk]

Get the LEE Bulge Buster Kit and a SS press if you want to keep it simple. I only use range brass in my 45's & encounter that situation all the time. "PLUNK" test all your rounds & use the kit for the ones that don't "PLUNK"

[howlnmad]

You get bulges in 45 brass? What are you shooting them from if you don't mind?

[aa1911]

I was wondering the same thing. Even the Glocks don't bulge the .45's that I've seen, only the .40's

what gun?

I would also run ALL your .40 brass through the base sizer, not just ones with visible bulges. Many with bulges will still fit easily into the chamber.

[stev32k]

I just finished de-bulging 200 S&W .40 clean and deprimed cases with the Lee de-bulging set-up. As expected some were hard to get though the die and others were easy. Just out of curiosity I ran several that seemed to be bulged the most though the die a second time. They were mostly as hard to get though the die the second time as the first. Then I ran several though the die as many as five times and they were still hard to get though every time.

When I get the time I'm going to sort them by head stamp and see if one particular brand has more problems than the others. I noticed that the nickel plated cases had, in general, less bulge than the plain brass.

I have a suspicion that some are made with a slightly larger diameter base than others and that is what I'm going to look for when I get the chance.

[aa1911]

I've noticed the same thing; running the 'tight' ones thru several times and they are about just as hard as the first time through.

and some slide right thru, others need some oomph.

[BobMcG]

I didn't address this post for a while as a lot of people gave appropriate advice long before I came across it.
However, I'll add that I use a carbide Redding G-RX die (because of my Glock 23) and it works just fine. And to note that I've come across plenty of range brass that also shows the same bulge but without a Glock firing pin strike on the primer. This shows me that Glock .40 fired brass isn't the only brass needing this treatment.
(My Taurus and Firestorm .40's are two that don't need the treatment.)

[aa1911]

I'm also curious to find out what other .40's don't fully support the chamber. The M&P seems to not cause any bulges, anyone know of another brand besides Glock that has similar issues?