Reloading .303 British on a Dillon 550 - Help

Klondiker

Klondiker

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Alberta for now, back to the Yukon someday
Hello folks, here's the problem -

I'm trying to reload .303 British on a Dillon 550 progressive using a set of RCBS dies, and even though the decapping/sizing die is down as far as possible, it doesn't seem to re-size it enough thus making the cartridge difficult to chamber, almost like the shoulder hasn't been set back enough.

It seems to works fine with the RCBS single stage Rockchucker press, I'm guessing due to a 'thinner' shell holder, but I'd prefer to use the progressive.

So, is it possible to take an existing sizing die and 'trim' it somehow? Or has someone else run into the same problem with a Dillon and what was your solution? Are other brands of dies any shorter overall than the RCBS?

The die measures out at 2.852" from the base to the shoulder.

Thanks and I look forward to your suggestions.

Greg
 
Will the die not thread completely through the head? If it does, put the lock nut on the bottom. I have done this on a few Lee dies to get them to work.

On edit: I think I read your problem wrong. You should not have to trim anything. something is a miss with the set up.
 
Looking at my post, I don't think I explained the problem totally accurately :)

There is more thread left on the die, that part's OK, but the problem is the bottom of the die comes in contact with the shell holder too soon. I would like to be able to screw the die down at least another turn or two to be able to push the brass a little further into the die, thereby pushing the shoulder back a little further.

Looking at Dillon's website, I don't see that they offer a die set for .303 . I have their carbide rifle sets for .223 and .308, and they work great, but no .303 listed.

Does anybody have a Redding or Hornady .303 die that they could measure the overall length on? Or is there a short base sizing die out there?

I hope this paints a little better picture.

Thanks again for the suggestions though.
 
If it was my equiptment I would take the die out to my friends shop and turn down the bottom of the die a little. If my friend dident have a lathe, i would use a bench or angke grinder and CAREFULLY take a bit of material off to let the die sit a little lower. If you can chamber a round you dont need to go much farther to make it work.
 
Once you get away from their carbide dies, Dillon sells Redding, or at least they used to.

I've heard of people turning a few thou off the bottom of their dies to overcome this problem, I have not done so myself.
 
Why not resize and deprime on the Rockchucker and then move to the Dillon for the other steps? This adds a little more work but you're not messing with your dies.

I'm a single stage reloader so this may be a dumb suggestion.
 
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