Shaving a sizing die.

[dkhunt14]

It is a fact that if you cut too much metal off of the shell holder you can break it.

A shell holder has a chamfer, so taking a few thousandths off will not hurt it. It is real easy to do. You take a piece of 600 grit wet dry and put on a flat surface and rub in circles. RUB, MEASURE AND RUB TILL YOU GET A FEW THOUSANDTHS.

ireload2, you really need to go back and read your posts. You are sounding like a few others on here or a LIBERAL. It really is a simple fix and taking a few thousandths off will not weaken the shell holder to any great extant. MATT

 

[hogpatrol]

A shell holder has a chamfer, so taking a few thousandths off will not hurt it. It is real easy to do. You take a piece of 600 grit wet dry and put on a flat surface and rub in circles. RUB, MEASURE AND RUB TILL YOU GET A FEW THOUSANDTHS.

ireload2, you really need to go back and read your posts. You are sounding like a few others on here or a LIBERAL. It really is a simple fix and taking a few thousandths off will not weaken the shell holder to any great extant. MATT

Have a .20 Practical and the Redding neck sizing die I use wasn't getting all the way to the neck shoulder junction. I wound up taking .015 off the top and never had a problem. Used the lathe (Hardinge) with a collet and a carbide tool. Can't remember if it was an RCBS or a Redding but it was soft. Works perfect. As with any machinist operation and process, many ways to skin a cat and every one is better than that other guy's.

 

[Langey]

While the Redding Competition Shell holder sets are all what you stated they are and work well for die adjustments UP. And since they are five piece sets in .002” increments (+.002”, +.004”. +.006”, +.008” and +.010”) above the standard deck height dimension of 0.125", they work well for making .002" adjustments UP to the dies.
Wish Redding would offer minus (-) sets as well !.!.!

Are you machinists/reloading tool makers listening? It would be nice if you would offer some of the more common shell holder sizes that have been ground down. These modified shell holders could be used to solve a lot of the sizing problems mentioned on this Reloading Forum.

 

[hogpatrol]

Are you machinists/reloading tool makers listening? It would be nice if you would offer some of the more common shell holder sizes that have been ground down. These modified shell holders could be used to solve a lot of the sizing problems mentioned on this Reloading Forum.

Ok, I'll go first. I went to the Redding website, contact pull down and sent them the link to this thread and asked them if they'd make a shell holder set from -.002 to -.010. Possibly if they get enough requests, they'd make a simple CNC program change and start cranking out "minus" sets. Stay tuned.

Edit, Opinions on a set of -.002 to -.010 or a set of -.001 to -.005 or both? First set in incremens of .002 and the second set would be in increments of .001, five shell holders in each set.

 

[dedogs]

both

+1

 

['Freak]

Ok, I'll go first. I went to the Redding website, contact pull down and sent them the link to this thread and asked them if they'd make a shell holder set from -.002 to -.010. Possibly if they get enough requests, they'd make a simple CNC program change and start cranking out "minus" sets. Stay tuned.

Edit, Opinions on a set of -.002 to -.010 or a set of -.001 to -.005 or both?

-.010” to +.010” in one thousandth increments.

 

[dedogs]

It seems from this thread that there are an awful lot of dies being made to maximum chamber specs. I wonder why that is? Removing material from the shell-holder seems to be the most logical method for dealing with this problem and I have done it myself with success.
However Ireload2 brought up a good point. If you have to take a lot of material off the shell-holder to get the die to bump a BELTED MAGNUM case it seems that at some point the belt will interfere with the die. Am I missing something here? dedogs

 

[hogpatrol]

-.010” to +.010” in one thousandth increments.

Another good option.

 

[dedogs]

-.010” to +.010” in one thousandth increments.

This would be even better but I'm afraid the cost might be prohibitive to some. dedogs

 

[hogpatrol]

This would be even better but I'm afraid the cost might be prohibitive to some. dedogs

Twenty shell holders MIGHT not be too bad for one caliber but I'd succumb to buying them for all mine.

 

[RonAKA]

Some one mentioned redding has shell holder sets that are diffrent specs besides the standard .125"?

Yes, they have a competition shell holder set with different thicknesses. I have not used them, but I believe they go the opposite way as you want. They go thicker than 0.125 in 0.002" increments to a max of +0.010". Again my assumption but I believe they are intended for those who want longer cases to fit their chamber but still want to bump the shell holder for consistency.

 

[RonAKA]

A shell holder has a chamfer, so taking a few thousandths off will not hurt it. It is real easy to do. You take a piece of 600 grit wet dry and put on a flat surface and rub in circles. RUB, MEASURE AND RUB TILL YOU GET A FEW THOUSANDTHS.

In my experience that would take forever. I would use the coarsest wet/dry you can find, like 240, to get the bulk off, and then finish with 400 or so.

 

[hogpatrol]

Yes, they have a competition shell holder set with different thicknesses. I have not used them, but I believe they go the opposite way as you want. They go thicker than 0.125 in 0.002" increments to a max of +0.010". Again my assumption but I believe they are intended for those who want longer cases to fit their chamber but still want to bump the shell holder for consistency.

http://redding-reloading.com/index....&Itemid=15&id=35:competition-shellholder-sets

 

[dkhunt14]

In my experience that would take forever. I would use the coarsest wet/dry you can find, like 240, to get the bulk off, and then finish with 400 or so.

Actually the paper I got really cuts and it only takes a few minutes to remove .005. MATT

 

[hogpatrol]

Actually the paper I got really cuts and it only takes a few minutes to remove .005. MATT

I'm not sure which manufacturer hardens their shell holders but the one I faced off for my practical was dead soft. I used carbide but a high speed steel tool bit would have worked just as well.

 

[savagedasher]

All a die need is a dead stop where The shell holder and the die touch together. A friend drilled the die and taped it for a Allen set screw . I have see some custom dies that the base is adjustable for the dead stop.
That sound like they are skinning frog hairs to me.
All that is needed is for the die to give you the ability to push the shoulder back..
That is where annealing Or the resistance of the brass matters. Larry

 

[SheepDog]

It seems to me that, at least, some here are using a shoulder bump to compensate for reloading technique. I have reloaded for well over forty years and for the last 35 I have only partially neck sized my brass leaving a portion of the necks at fired size. I have never run into hard extraction on any of my reloads in any of my guns. I did, at one point, have a problem chambering reloads but I could easily chamber a fired brass before reloading. In my case the neck sizing plug was pulling the shoulder which deformed the case enough to be hard to chamber. Once I cured that problem I had no further chambering problems.
There is a caveat here: I load for accuracy below maximum listed loads. I tuned the neck sizing dies to do as little forming as was possible while insuring bullet hold. If you understand brass you know that when it is soft there is very little spring to it but as it hardens it gets more spring but if it is moved more than it can spring it will crack. Annealing the neck and shoulder prevents the cracking. If you have trouble with cases growing to the point where there is hard extraction then you are shooting ammo that generates enough pressure to expand the CHAMBER in your gun beyond the elastic properties of your cartridge. That is the only way that brass can become larger than your chamber. As long as the chamber doesn't expand beyond the elastic properties of your brass the only place for it to grow is the length of the neck. At some point I expect my brass will thin to the point where it will fail but even after more than 20+ reloads in each case I have not reached that point. Even in my "well worn" 03A3, with the barrel it was sold with, I can maintain sub-MOA groups. The throat on this gun is so eroded that I can't seat a 180 grain bullet long enough to hit the lands. I load to the length listed in the book and work around that length to get my accuracy.
The only time the shoulder should be set back is if you have a bolt lift problem. If the case comes out easily then it should go back in easily - try it before and after your reloading process. If it came out easy and the fired case goes back in easily but won't after being sized then there is something in your sizing technique that is changing the dimensions of your brass. Fix that and you will have brass with a longer life and you might find that you get better accuracy. YMMV

 

[savagedasher]

It seems to me that, at least, some here are using a shoulder bump to compensate for reloading technique. I have reloaded for well over forty years and for the last 35 I have only partially neck sized my brass leaving a portion of the necks at fired size. I have never run into hard extraction on any of my reloads in any of my guns. I did, at one point, have a problem chambering reloads but I could easily chamber a fired brass before reloading. In my case the neck sizing plug was pulling the shoulder which deformed the case enough to be hard to chamber. Once I cured that problem I had no further chambering problems.
There is a caveat here: I load for accuracy below maximum listed loads. I tuned the neck sizing dies to do as little forming as was possible while insuring bullet hold. If you understand brass you know that when it is soft there is very little spring to it but as it hardens it gets more spring but if it is moved more than it can spring it will crack. Annealing the neck and shoulder prevents the cracking. If you have trouble with cases growing to the point where there is hard extraction then you are shooting ammo that generates enough pressure to expand the CHAMBER in your gun beyond the elastic properties of your cartridge. That is the only way that brass can become larger than your chamber. As long as the chamber doesn't expand beyond the elastic properties of your brass the only place for it to grow is the length of the neck. At some point I expect my brass will thin to the point where it will fail but even after more than 20+ reloads in each case I have not reached that point. Even in my "well worn" 03A3, with the barrel it was sold with, I can maintain sub-MOA groups. The throat on this gun is so eroded that I can't seat a 180 grain bullet long enough to hit the lands. I load to the length listed in the book and work around that length to get my accuracy.
The only time the shoulder should be set back is if you have a bolt lift problem. If the case comes out easily then it should go back in easily - try it before and after your reloading process. If it came out easy and the fired case goes back in easily but won't after being sized then there is something in your sizing technique that is changing the dimensions of your brass. Fix that and you will have brass with a longer life and you might find that you get better accuracy. YMMV

Can you tell me why you and I do it the same way and we are. WRONG . Larry

 

[SheepDog]

Dasher,
I don't see where I said it was wrong - just different. If we are reloading the same way then the results should be the same.
You say that you use the die to stop the ram, my ram and die never touch unless I am forming brass that was fired in a different gun.
Your technique and mine are different but that doesn't make either of us wrong - just different. OK?

 

[savagedasher]

Dasher,
I don't see where I said it was wrong - just different. If we are reloading the same way then the results should be the same.
You say that you use the die to stop the ram, my ram and die never touch unless I am forming brass that was fired in a different gun.
Your technique and mine are different but that doesn't make either of us wrong - just different. OK?

I agree with you But many here won't agree . What I do is the same as you and for the same reason . I size my neck amount for how much I want for holding the bullet . Most of the time it is around only half of the neck . Larry