How much pressure should be required to operate a press?

[Don Quixote]

i am pretty new to reloading. My set up is a RL550B with Lee dies. i have about 600 or so 9mm rounds loaded with this set up.

I set up my press for .38 today for the first time and I notice that quite a bit more force is required to get the brass through the dies than with the 9mm. It's not binding on anything (Well, not after I adjusted the flare correctly) but still much tighter than the 9mm.

Is this normal? They are the right dies (I checked the stamping). I don't want to damage anything

[M&P Chris]

Are you using carbide dies? Some force will be used for depriming/resizing, especially with larger brass.

A little force is normal, breaking a sweat or hands is not.

[Bang]

Sum Ting Wrong ... .38 is a little longer than 9mm but it's a straight-walled case and should go easily...especially using carbide dies (are you?) Are you lubing the cases too much? You could be inducing a hydraulic resistance. BTW, carbide dies require no lube.

Second thought... what are you firing the .38s in? You may have oversized chambers in which case the shell will be a bit harder to resize.

[Don Quixote]

Sum Ting Wrong ... .38 is a little longer than 9mm but it's a straight-walled case and should go easily...especially using carbide dies (are you?) Are you lubing the cases too much? You could be inducing a hydraulic resistance. BTW, carbide dies require no lube.

Second thought... what are you firing the .38s in? You may have oversized chambers in which case the shell will be a bit harder to resize.

Sum Ting Wuz Wong Awight.

I read the responses then went to the press and ran only 1 round through the dies.

Decapper: Seems a bit harder to run than the 9mm. i feel resistance even if I pass the same round through it multiple times. Maybe since it's so much longer than the 9 I notice it more. Anyway, I can run the handle with 1 finger without breaking a bone so I guess it's OK.

Powder die.... seems fine

Seating die ..... here is where I found the problem. It seems I may have been belling the case a bit too much and it was snagging on the way in. Adjusted the flare and it got better.

Crimp die.... harder to run than the 9mm, and there is a definite feeling of 2 "stages". It feels like there is resistance, then it loosens, then there is resistance again. Is this normal? It's a different crimp than the 9 and it looks fine when its done. Is that normal?

I am using the Lee 4 die set. Pretty sure they are carbide. THe gun is a S&W 686SSR. Various brass. No lube. Cast bullets.

i think stage 1-3 are good. What about what I described in the crimp die?

Thanks in advance.

[Sshuker]

How much are you belling your cases?

I have gotten to where I can not even see the expansion. I set it just enough so the it does not shave off bits of the cast bullet. That seemed to make the factory crimp die run much smoother.

[Don Quixote]

How much are you belling your cases?

Before or after this post? I just cut it way down.

[Sshuker]

Keep in mind that cast bullets are slightly larger that jacketed rounds, so that can make a little difference.

Bell the case as little as you need to. If you are shaving cast bullets, you need just a little more. If not, you are good. The more you bell the brass, the more it needs to be compressed during crimping, and the more you flex brass, the shorter the life.

Edit: I know plenty of old timers that do not even resize revolver brass if they are only shooting it in the same gun.

[noylj]

You should have set-up with one case in the press. Usually, folks like to make one or two inert dummy rounds first for die set-up and to play with COL until the round(s) feed and chamber easily. During this time, you should know how each station feels.
9x19 is usually harder to resize and, often, a very little amount of case lube every 3-5 cases will ease the problem.
Over-flaring will simply cause a momentary halt to the press function and then it is smooth again.
Another area is the expander die (or the powder-through expander plug), particularly with overly cleaned cases that no longer have soot to act as a dry lube. This will show up on the down stroke.

[wanneroo]

Even though I use carbide dies, usually every 100 cases or so I take some of the Dillon case lube, lube up a case and run it through when I am resizing. It seems to help keep things running smooth.

Also I take my dies apart periodically and no matter what they always have junk in them so I don't think there is anything wrong with giving them a good clean here and there. When I took my 9mm dies apart last year after doing thousands of rounds, my resizing die definitely needed a clean.

[Yoder]

The case diameter is larger and the case is longer (probably twice as long), it's going to be harder to resize. I just switched from .45 ACP to .44 mag and there was a huge difference just because the .44 is longer. Probably twice as hard to resize.