6br Base Diameter

[czim]

I am having an issue with sized brass that is still a bit sticky when I chamber it. I think I have narrowed it down to not getting a complete sizing of the base. From what I can find the die should be sizing down to somewhere around .469-.471. Mine are measuring around .4725-.4735. This is with a Redding Type S full length bushing die. Does anyone know what their base diameters size to with their dies?

 

[Sheldon N]

Call Harrell’s and send them a piece of 2x or 3x fired and unsized brass. They’ll get you a custom fit die that does the job properly.

 

[22DASHER]

Send three pieces of 3x fired brass to Harrell’s. Only neck size those three pieces in between firings.

 

[czim]

Wow, it looks like my redding die is way out of spec. That is disappointing as I splurged a bit thinking I was getting the best. Thank you all for the quick replies.

 

[FrankG]

Your die might be just fine.

How are you adjusting the die down to the shell holder? Touching? Turning a little past etc....?

Just in the past month we’ve taken two different shell holders for different rounds and ground/turned some off the shell holder so you could adjust the die down properly to size the case properly and worked like a million bucks. Mark did one for a local customer and I had to do one for myself. Different calibers, different dies etc...

Took approx. .010” off of each one.

The one I had to do for myself I had the die made to my reamer print and a fired sample case. There was no issue with the die.

I measured two different shell holders I had and out of the box they differed approx. .005”.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels

 

[JEFFPPC]

Frank brought up a very good point.I have 4 RCBS shell holders for 6br boltface.They all measure different. You might need a small base die or get a custom dies as mentioned to fit you brass. So what do I do with 4 different shell holders. Put 3 away and only use one, same one always.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

If you want to splurge buy a whidden fl bushing die and sell your redding set. You can use any shellholder you want then. Mine is an off the shelf die and sizes to .468-.469 and still has a gap over the shellholder to fit any chamber that one could ever cut short.

 

[Link]

I remember running some of my 6 br brass through a 30-06 or a 308 die to size it down. Someone will chime in.
Don

 

[boltfluter]

I remember running some of my 6 br brass through a 30-06 or a 308 die to size it down. Someone will chime in.
Don

I have done the same as Don with an old .243 die. Worked well enough to get me by.

Paul

 

[czim]

Currently my sizing die is set up to bump the shoulder just around .002-.003 with brass that was 2-3x fired so I don't think I want to run it down tighter against the shell holder and oversize the shoulder, or am I not doing that correctly? I am running them through a 6.5 creedmoor whidden die right now and it gets much farther down the base than the redding die was doing, but still unacceptably difficult to chamber. I'll double check but I think I am already camming over with this die.

Lots of great suggestions her folks. Thank you very much.

czim

 

[jds holler]

After I realized that my problem wasn't headspace/shoulder problem, I obtained a small base 308 die, and problem solved. jd

 

[Link]

I looked up a print and the 6.5 creed is .4714 at the base and I believe the 6br is .4729 [that what it lists the 30br as] So if you are bumping the creed die and it still isn't working, I would be wondering why.
Anyone ?

 

[JFrank]

Currently my sizing die is set up to bump the shoulder just around .002-.003 with brass that was 2-3x fired so I don't think I want to run it down tighter against the shell holder and oversize the shoulder, or am I not doing that correctly? I am running them through a 6.5 creedmoor whidden die right now and it gets much farther down the base than the redding die was doing, but still unacceptably difficult to chamber. I'll double check but I think I am already camming over with this die.

Lots of great suggestions her folks. Thank you very much.

czim

So one thing at a time,

Your sizing 2 maybe 3x fired brass?
Humm let’s be sure your not trying to headspace brass that isn’t fully fire formed as you may not be sizing that .002-.003 you believe you are.
Secondly,
You may indeed have to adjust your Die closer to the shell holder maybe touch followed by a slight cam over.
Thirdly,
What’ Up with a Creedmoor Die on a 6 Br case?
Fourthly,
Size um just enough to chamber, take a few measurements and call it a day.
J

 

[czim]

@SPJ That is a good suggestion to double check I am headspacing correctly. I will start there. I used the creedmoor die on a whim to see if it had a bit tighter tolerance at the base and it definitely sizes farther down than my 6br redding die does.

Thank you all,

czim

 

[eas1949]

Buy a Lee 45ACP carbide die and run those pesky cases through with the shell holder touching the die.
Eric

 

[Charwell]

I looked up a print and the 6.5 creed is .4714 at the base and I believe the 6br is .4729 [that what it lists the 30br as] So if you are bumping the creed die and it still isn't working, I would be wondering why.
Anyone ?

When you size the base down smaller it pushes the shoulder forward. Re run back thru your shoulder bump die.

 

[czim]

Well I had a chance to look at the suggestions made here and picked 5 pieces of brass at random to try some things with. Of the 5, one chambered with no problems, two had some resistance but not bad, and two were pretty tight. I started checking headspace and only the first piece passed my headspace test. So I went ahead and started screwing my sizing die down a little bit more at a time and testing again. Lo and behold @SPJ was right. I guess the brass that I though was fully fire-formed was not. Now all 5 pieces run through the sizing die chamber with ease and pass my headspace test. Going to load up some and give them a go this weekend if the rain ever stops in South Florida.