11/1/20: Victory! There is a small hole halfway up the die. Shine a light through the hole and make sure the bottom third of the sizer is lined up with the beam. I screwed the die down until there was the slightest bit of cam over. You absolutely need to use a Hornady headspace gauge mounted on a caliper to set up a sizing die - it is impossible to get accurate headspace readings using a Wilson case gauge. I zeroed out the caliper based on a Hornady factory round that stuck a little. Fired brass was +.003 and sized brass (44 pieces) was consistently between -.001 to -.002 under the factory round. This should make it possible to easily chamber a round even if the chamber isn't completely free of carbon/whatever.
Assuming the chamber on my 10TR is a little "shorter", I sized some at -.004. We'll see what it expands to after firing on a clean chamber. It seems that most modern bolt rifles have pretty tight tolerances with 2-3 thousandths of expansion on fired cases (at least that's what I have found on the 10TR and a 116 in 7mm-08).
I will be replacing the rest of my bottleneck case sizing dies with Forster units (or bump bushing decapping units). I have already done this on two RCBS dies - an under-sized 308 die (for stubborn 1F x51 brass) and a regular .223 die. I guess I got lucky with those - the decapper units must have been screwed in far enough.
Conclusion: The expander ball was too high causing the inside and outside of the neck to be sized at the same time. This caused the shoulder to partially collapse.
+++++
First of all, factory rounds at .002" above minimum headspace don't always chamber unless it is squeaky clean. My 10TR 1F brass is at or just below minimum headspace on the Wilson gauge; 1F brass from my friends 10TR is 0.004" above the minimum. First question - is it ok to size the brass at minimum or a little below to ensure the bolt closes easily?
Next question. The two pieces on the left are 1F from by rifle. The third piece is Winchester sized to minimum using a basic Redding die. Here's where it gets interesting. The fourth piece is sized using a Forster full length sizing die. I am reloading Winchester brass and took the time to apply Redding sizing wax to the inside of the neck and sparingly on the outside of the case. There is a lot of pressure on the upstroke. I didn't think Winchester brass had particularly thick walls...
The expander ball measures .306 to .3065 on the Forster sizing die. The Redding size button expander is a little larger at .3065 to .307. Outside neck measurement is .329 for brass sized with both dies. I have to conclude that the Forster "E-Z" Out Expander Ball design is inferior to Redding's more traditional "size button".
Assuming the chamber on my 10TR is a little "shorter", I sized some at -.004. We'll see what it expands to after firing on a clean chamber. It seems that most modern bolt rifles have pretty tight tolerances with 2-3 thousandths of expansion on fired cases (at least that's what I have found on the 10TR and a 116 in 7mm-08).
I will be replacing the rest of my bottleneck case sizing dies with Forster units (or bump bushing decapping units). I have already done this on two RCBS dies - an under-sized 308 die (for stubborn 1F x51 brass) and a regular .223 die. I guess I got lucky with those - the decapper units must have been screwed in far enough.
Conclusion: The expander ball was too high causing the inside and outside of the neck to be sized at the same time. This caused the shoulder to partially collapse.
+++++
First of all, factory rounds at .002" above minimum headspace don't always chamber unless it is squeaky clean. My 10TR 1F brass is at or just below minimum headspace on the Wilson gauge; 1F brass from my friends 10TR is 0.004" above the minimum. First question - is it ok to size the brass at minimum or a little below to ensure the bolt closes easily?
Next question. The two pieces on the left are 1F from by rifle. The third piece is Winchester sized to minimum using a basic Redding die. Here's where it gets interesting. The fourth piece is sized using a Forster full length sizing die. I am reloading Winchester brass and took the time to apply Redding sizing wax to the inside of the neck and sparingly on the outside of the case. There is a lot of pressure on the upstroke. I didn't think Winchester brass had particularly thick walls...
The expander ball measures .306 to .3065 on the Forster sizing die. The Redding size button expander is a little larger at .3065 to .307. Outside neck measurement is .329 for brass sized with both dies. I have to conclude that the Forster "E-Z" Out Expander Ball design is inferior to Redding's more traditional "size button".
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