RCBS Shell holders suck!

notsorichguy

notsorichguy

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So I've been doing some reloading this weekend in preperation for my newest aquistion....

I've been 'trying' to reload 338 Lapua.

I've got the brass (1xf)
I've managed to find Fed Match Mag primers (200)
I found a set of Dies
I have 200 Hornady 225 Gr. SST Bullets
I'm gonna start with IMR 7828 as I have 8lbs of it in my 'tickle trunk'

So the New WSS opens up on Thursday, I've been there 4 times now in the last 4 days.

First was to get the dies and a couple of shell holders for my Lee hand prime and for my Single stage press.

Second time was to get the shell holders as they didn't make it into the bag when I left the store.

Third time was to take back the RCBS SHell holder (# 37, it actually says 338 Lapua on the back of the package) as the 338 brass will not fit into the shell holder. I tried 6 different shell holders off the shelf and they all were to small to fit the case, so I went home with a lee shell holder instead..... For $5 less I might add.

The forth trip was to pick up the 'right' parts for my RCBS Trim-pro so I can make the cases a touch shorter (the re-sized cases are all 1 thou+ over trim length.

I will be making a fifth trip to WSS on Monday....... The #37 Shell holder for the Trim Pro is also too small to hold the 338 Lapual case.........

Does anybody happen to know which shell holder is the "right one".... All of RCBS's info online and in my manuals is obviously wrong.

Cheers!
 
Occasionally, brass of a certain make won't work with a specified shell holder. I've used a Dremel to open the mouth of the shell holder to allow the case to slide in but every now and then the rim will be too thick and a different number will have to be tried. Another problem is that the height of a substituted shell holder might prevent the shoulder form being bumped back enough to chamber easily, this is something to watch for when you are forced to switch to a number other than that specified.
 
Classic example is Privi 6.5x55 brass.It won't go into the RCBS shell designed for that caliber you have to use the next one up...........yet they all feed into the rifles? Harold
 
The brass is Lapua headstamp so I would assume it would be the benchmark all shellholders are made from......

I picked up a #14 today and it seems to be the right fit, although there seems to be a bit more play than I would like.......

Thanks
 
The headstamp doesn't necesarily mean that the brass is proper. Recently there were thousands of 577 Snider and 577-450 brass made up and sold by a rather good company and it wouldn't fit any of the shell holders so.....two things happened, new and more generous shell holders were made up especially for that brass and #2, many sent their brass back to be re- machined. Good luck with it....Dave
 
notsorichguy said:
The brass is Lapua headstamp so I would assume it would be the benchmark all shellholders are made from......

I picked up a #14 today and it seems to be the right fit, although there seems to be a bit more play than I would like.......

Thanks
Click to expand...

Im pretty sure RCBS were selling shell holders before Lapua started selling brass in NA....just a guess though. But yeah I hear what you are saying its supposed to the best brass you can buy.
 
Pathfinder said:
Im pretty sure RCBS were selling shell holders before Lapua started selling brass in NA....just a guess though. But yeah I hear what you are saying its supposed to the best brass you can buy.
Click to expand...

It wasn't so much that as it was Lapua who invented the cartridge...... I was assuming all the other headstamps would be basing their brass on the Lapua 'brand' brass.... As an extrapolation, I would also assume that the different reloading companys out there would also base their 'parts & bits' off of Lapua's specs as well.......

Or am I way out to lunch on this one.......

It's all 'water under the bridge' now, I have the #14 Shell holder for my trimmer and my brass is trimmed. Now I just have to load the shells......

Cheers!
 
It's called "tolerance". Way back in the early days of the 7mm RemMag one had one shell holder for North American brass and another for European brass.
The 6.5 Swede problem is similar. I believe that the US made Swede brass uses standard Mauser head-size (IE about 0.473") whereas the Euro-brass uses 0.480" head. Puting the smaller brass in the larger shell holder will work; but there won't be as much contact and your chances of getting a case stuck in a die are greater.
 
A friend was wanting to load .303 Brit and didn't have a shellholder.A Lyman .444 Marlin fit perfectly no problems.................Harold
 
notsorichguy said:
Third time was to take back the RCBS SHell holder (# 37, it actually says 338 Lapua on the back of the package) as the 338 brass will not fit into the shell holder. I tried 6 different shell holders off the shelf and they all were to small to fit the case, so I went home with a lee shell holder instead..... For $5 less I might add.
Click to expand...

RCBS #14 works fine for me.

IIRC that's a well known issue with Lapua brass.

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