Quick FL sizing question

chola

chola

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I set up my die to FL resize some 300 win mag brass.....what I normally do is to adjust the die til it touches the shellholder,and then give it a quarter of a turn,worked great in the past.....

Tonight I did exactly the same thing,but when I was chambering the brass to see for a test fit,I noticed the bolt face was smearing the brass on the headstamp as ya closed the botl handle down....I figured that it wasn't moving the shoulder back far enuff,am I correct possibly?

I adjusted the die bit by bit afterwards and got it to where the bolt would close without any noticeable resistance...the die is now set about a bit more than half of a turn down further once it makes contact with the shellholder..does this sound right?

I have never had this before and was curious as to what may be going on.....all brass is 1x fired Winchester
 
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I'm not sure what kind of dies you are using, but RCBS recommends the method you are using for full length sizing: screw the die until it touches the shell holder, then screw it in another 1/8 - 1/4 turn. If you are going a full 1/2 turn, it could possibly be a little too far. What kind of dies are you using?
 
Have you checked the length of the cases? They may need to be trimmed. Your die setup sounds correct. I set up my dies the same way as you described and sometimes will run into problems if the cases are not a uniform length. Shouldn't be an issue if the brass has only been fired once, repeated FL resizing will lengthen the case causing some issues to creep up during reloading and chambering.
 
Scott,they are RCBS

I usually FL size 1x fired brass,then I trim to lenght..then I chamfer and deburr,do the primer pockets and then spin them in my driil with 000 steelwool to polish and remove case lube
 
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SuperCub said:
Hey Bob ...... read this thread. :)

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173394

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WOW...thanks Paul...am gonna try some factory ammo tomorrow to break it in and zero the scope,then I'll get back to the brass issue...here is a pic of a piece of brass from my cousin's Ruger 300 mag....have a look at the case mouth and give me your thoughts,never seen this before either:confused:

These are not handloads,they are factory Winchester,said they were a bit stiff going in/closing the bolt and even worse coming out:bangHead:

IMG_0001.jpg

IMG_0005-2.jpg
 
After mulling it over for a day and reading Supercub's link to a similar problem,I decided I had better measure the shellholder...I used a LEE shellholder this last time to resize the 300 brass,I grabbed an RCBS shellholder this time and noticed quite a difference in dimensions...could this be the cause of my FL sizing dilemna?
I am gonna resize a few brass with the RCBS shellholder and see what happens,should make a noticeable difference I would think...anyway lemme know your thoughts on this:bangHead:
LEE..measures .371
LEE1.jpg

RCBS
RCBS1.jpg

LEE
LEE2.jpg

RCBS
RCBS2.jpg
 
thought I did...NO
..I think I am gonna chuck the brass and get new dies as well.....I am confused Joe...better to be safe than sorry
 
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Actually, you caught me a little groggy this mourning, and neither picture you show is measuring the shell holder correctly.

Measure from the bottom of the wide part of the shellholder (the part that sits on the ram) to the bottom of the cup (part where the headstamp touches) This should give you a proper reading for comparison.
 
From the pictures you've shown the measurements are ok. What you have to realize is that the important dimension here is the first measurement subtracted from the second. This will give you the height difference between the top of the shellholder and where the brass's head rests.

For the Lee, it's 0.1245", and for the RCBS it's 0.1235". Since the RCBS has a value that is a little smaller, the brass will go a little bit further into the die and be sized a little more.

Of course, for either shellholder you can always lightly sand away material from the top of the shellholder until enough sizing is taking place.
 
SuperCub said:
Why new dies and brass? Alot cheeper to just trim the shellholder. Worked for me and all it cost was a shellholder to fix. If that doesn't work, do the new brass thing.


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I was just fruserated Paul.....am gonna go and trim down a shellholder....I was thinking maybe there is something up with the dies...I dunno what,but this was the first time I have used them and not having much success...just frazzled is all.....thanks for all the help so far fellas

I see what you were talking about now Joe,I measured the holders the way ya said,not much of a difference,about .001

time to start sanding;)...will give an update in a little while
 
"...and zero the scope..." You can skip that. You'll have to sight in with your handloads anyway.
Set the die up so it just kisses the shell holder with the ram all the way up and lock it. The extra turn isn't required.
 
sunray said:
Been loading .30-06 and .308 for semi-autos using RCBS FL dies for 30 years with no fuss.
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Right ... and I've been using regular FL dies on my pumps for over 20yrs, but not all chambers are sized the same, as I've just found out with that BRNO 30/06 and Chola with his 300Mag.



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SuperCub said:
Right ... and I've been using regular FL dies on my pumps for over 20yrs, but not all chambers are sized the same, as I've just found out with that BRNO 30/06 and Chola with his 300Mag.



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I agree........

"zero the scope"...I wanted to get it on paper was all...got it dialed where I want with the factory stuff.I do relaize I will have to fine tune with handloads
 
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