Newbie question re:dies

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paladin

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I bought a couple of used sets of .222 dies. On one set, the person sealed from the inside the hole for the set screw on the lock collar. Looks like it might be JB weld or something like that. Why?? Should I use these? Do I need to be able to lock down the lock collar?? Do the threads on the dies need to be lubed with something?? On the top of each die thereis a number but the number for each set is different. Whart does the number mean & can I interchange the dies with different numbers?
Thanks
 
The stuff "sealing" the hole probably is a piece of lead shot. It is there to prevent the set screw from buggering up the threads on the die when it is tightened.

Locking the die ring in place allows you to replace it at the same setting next time you use it. Once you get a little experience with "basic" reloading you can use the lock ring to "Square" the die in the press.

No, you don't "need" to lube the threads but a very thin coat of gun oil will help prevent rust.

The numbers on the top of the die indicate the cartridge the die is for. RCBS dies are also stamped with a year date indicating when they were manufactured.
 
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paladin said:
To Boo, "Square" the die in the press???
Click to expand...


That is a lesson on it's own ....................... ;) LoL

The short answer is that the play in the threads of both the die and press can result in the centre axis of die being non-concentric to the centre line of the ram in the press. This can result in the necks of cases being re-sized ending up having "run-out" which can cause accuracy to suffer. (Remember the more concentric your whole cartridge is the more accurate it will be all other things being equal) This also holds true when seating bullets. If your seating die is "cocked" there is a good chance you will impart some run-out to the bullet while it is seated.

Now to "square" the seating die what you do is raise the ram - with shell holder in place - and screw down the die until the bottom touches the shell holder. back off on the handle a bit and screw the die in another half-turn. Raise the ram and while keeping pressure on the handle screw down the lock ring and tighten it. The bottom of your die and the top of the shell-holder are now parallel and - if your press and dies are accurate - the centre lines are now concentric. A variation of this is if you are going to "partial full-length" re size where it is not desirable to have the die contact the shell holder. (You are not pushing the case shoulder as far back) The method I use is to back out the decapping stem from the die and using a set of flat feeler guages set the die as I described above. By using different thicknesses of guages I can fine-tune the amount of shoulder set-back.

The same thing is done with the seater die but I set the die by first placing a empty re sized case in the shell holder and raising the ram to the top of it's stroke. Screw down the die until you feel the crimper in the die make contact with the case mouth. Now back the die out one full turn and lower the ram and remove the case. Stack as many flat feeler guages as require and place between the die and shell holder. Raise the ram and again holding pressure against the bottom of the die tighten the lock ring. (Note that with some press/die combinations the seating die will not protrude far enough below the press to allow the use of the feeler guages. In cases like this use stacked high-grad washers to accomplish the same thing.)
 
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