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I _finally_ got my first round loaded correctly (ok, haven't fired it yet).

I have a Lee Classic Turret with Lee Carbide dies. I'm loading .40 S&W with 4.7gr of TiteGroup (yes, I know, not really the best "starter powder") and 155gr FMJ Rainier bullets.

The first thing I noticed is that the resizing step doesn't widen the case mouth as much as I expected. When I put the bullet on top for seating, it doesn't sit in the mouth, but must be carefully balanced. Unfortunately, my first three attempts seated the bullet below the min OAL, 1.125 (the first one, in fact, seated very deeply).

I tried using my bullet puller (http://www.quineticscorp.com/bullet-puller.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) with absolutely no luck. I tried several surfaces and several ways of holding it.

Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong?

What are you hammering it on? It will not work on wood floors, it needs a non porus surface such as concrete or asphalt to function properly. I have owned mine for over 35 years and that iast what is takes. Also, make sure to top is heavily tightened to allow all the force to exert pressure to remove it. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback, but yeah, I tried it on concrete too. I'm just wondering if things are just smashed in there too tight (based on the fact that the bullet doesn't really "pre-seat" prior to bullet seating.

Ah, got it working...apparently, this bullet puller prefers bathroom tile and about 4 hard strikes

The statement "The first thing I noticed is that the resizing step doesn't widen the case mouth as much as I expected" confuses me. The case mouth is "widened" by the belling die, not the resizing die. Not trying to pick at your words, just wanting to see if you are clear on your understanding of the belling step.

I cracked a tile in our floor once while trying to pull a bullet indoors. That was many years ago and the wife still points out the cracked tile to me. I would recommend you go back outside to the concrete and swing harder.

Thank you Houston. Makes my post unnecessary.

The Lee powder dispensing die does the case mouth belling just screw it in a little farther like a 1/4 turn at a time till the mouth of your case is just belled enough to start the bullet.

What Mojo said. Right now I'm very conservative with this. The reason being, that the less you stretch the brass out, the less fatigue there is on the case and the longer it will last. For mine, I only bell it just enough to get the bullet to sit barely in it. If it sits a little crooked, that's fine - the seating die and case will straighten it out as it seats.

In my limited experience I have not seen the seating die or the case straighten out a bullet that is setting crooked on in the case.

I tend to over bell myself but that is just a personal preference. If you are not crushing brass then you have enough bell. No way that I know of to specify exactly how much bell you need, it's just one of those touchy feelie things.

Aha! I'm glad you guys followed through on my other comment :) So it turned out that on the Lee, it's the Powder-thru Expander die, and it wasn't belling at all based on the depth I had originally set.

I made some adjustments and not only did that address the bullet seating issue, but the bullet puller now works with a single light tap on my carpeted floor (which has a concrete foundation). I will also avoid any future tapping on the bathroom tile...wouldn't want to make the missus mad :)

Thanks for all for your perseverance in this!

Since you are a new reloader I am going to ask you about your new settings. The bullet should not be pulled from the case with a single light tap on any surface. Your statement leads me to believe you are not getting enough case tension to hold the bullet in place. Bad news is I cannot define how much of a tap but I rarely remove a bullet with less than a couple of hard taps, certainly not a single light tap.

I would recommend you load a dummy round and then push the bullet into a wood or other hard surface to see if you can push it back into the case by using your thumb pressure on the primer end of the case. If your are able to push the bullet into the case by hand then you need to check your die settings to make sure you are resizing the case correctly.

Houston1944 wrote:... The bullet should not be pulled from the case with a single light tap on any surface. Your statement leads me to believe you are not getting enough case tension to hold the bullet in place. ....I would recommend you load a dummy round and then push the bullet into a wood or other hard surface to see if you can push it back into the case by using your thumb pressure on the primer end of the case. If your are able to push the bullet into the case by hand then you need to check your die settings to make sure you are resizing the case correctly.

Good advice. I think the expander is going too deep now (vs not at all earlier). I'll fine tune it, but it's clear that I'm in the right "range" now :-)

I wanted more control over the bell. I use a 5 station loadmaster by Lee, so I use a flare die in the priming station. The flare at the very top of the case as opposed to the deep insert of the powder die at the powder station seems to make the bullet start easier, but fit tighter when it seats. It also seems to keep the priming station a lot more consistent with seating, since the primer is seated at the top of the stroke on the loadmaster.

I always smacked mine on a 4x4 I keep in the loading room. I turn the 4x4 upright and smack it on the end.