You have to care what the diameter is otherwise if the shoulder angle is off you will have an error - I guarantee....
I have asked you many times if you know what ASME Y14.5 is. Apparently you don't and you don't want to know because it would interfere with your riddling.
ASME Y14.5 is the US national standard for dimensioning and tolerancing of drawings, including datum and datum structure definitions. It the document that controls the conventions for the SAAMI and other industry's engineering drawings. This standard is pretty much adhered to by all significant industry in the US including the automotive, aerospace, medical components and semiconductor.
I fully understand what you are saying and I will absolutely be the first to say you are 110% correct...but.........................for what we are doing, I agree with Guffey that as long as we have a diameter on the comparator that is set with a gauge cases sized to that dimension will go in the rifle and be safe to shoot because that point {where ever it happens to be on the shoulder} will not allow the case to move forward when the striker hits the primer. Don't get me wrong, I want the shoulder angle to be correct and I want the best possible brass case to chamber fit that will give me the best accuracy and case life like everyone else. I have yet to run up on a chambering reamer or a resize die of any kind that did not put the correct shoulder angle in the rifle/case.
The subject of headspace is a tough one...I really believe most people do understand what it is and the importance, but they have trouble when it comes time to convey their thoughts on the whole process of measuring it. We are concerned with 4 dimensions...chamber minimum and maximum and shoulder to datum min/max. The part that is hard is that both chamber and case sizes only matter when they are put together. If a chamber never sees a round who cares how deep the chamber is??? If ammo is going to sit in the box what difference does the length make??? Guys are always talking about "no, that's chamber headspace" or "I am only concerned with the case shoulder to head length". They both interact to make the gun safe or dangerous.
Edit: I have several Ackley Improved rifles that are my personal hunting rifles. When I reload for them I made my own comparators to go in the dial calipers because no one makes them for Ackley's. I turned the size of the hole to the dimension of the neck and shoulder junction. I did it by running the same chambering reamer into the comparator I was making so it has the exact same dimension as the chambers I am loading for. I understand the need for the exact hole size especially with an Ackley. I want to know exactly what my headspace is if at all possible, otherwise I may not be making the correct adjustments.
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