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Scratching from dies

I am reloading new Lapua brass with new Forester Benchrest dies. After sizing the diameter of the neck has continuous vertical scratches 360 degrees around the case neck. Is this normal?
Secondly when seating I'm getting .0050 variation in seating depth. Is this normal for these dies? Never had the problem before in all my years of reloading. Of course I've never used Forester dies before and they have to good of reputation for me to question their product. I have attached a picture All advice appreciated.
 

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Same thing here on some 6 x 6.5X47 Dies from Forester, leaves the necks looking like they've been fired in an HK-90something chamber.
First and least set of their dies I'll ever own.
 
After sizing the diameter of the neck has continuous vertical scratches 360 degrees around the case neck. Is this normal?

Depends. You don't state your lube practices. It can be common for the die to pick up some brass and start marking the cases during sizing. Most folks don't lube the neck to avoid dimples from excessive lube.

You can take some Flitz and polish the portion of your die where the marking is occurring. This should make it stop.

Regarding the OAL variation, is the tip of the bullet contacting the seating plug?
 
I had the same issue - sent it back and they said there was a burr in there. They polished it out and it's been good ever since. Ruined some Lapua brass though.:(
 
I am reloading new Lapua brass with new Forester Benchrest dies. After sizing the diameter of the neck has continuous vertical scratches 360 degrees around the case neck. Is this normal?
Secondly when seating I'm getting .0050 variation in seating depth. Is this normal for these dies? Never had the problem before in all my years of reloading. Of course I've never used Forester dies before and they have to good of reputation for me to question their product. I have attached a picture All advice appreciated.

Had a similar problem but not as severe as yours. I didn't chamfer the neck o.d. enough and tiny pieces of brass broke free and got dragged down the neck. Brass was bonded to the die and the high points had to be removed with 1200 grit sandpaper on a split wooden dowel and Cu bore cleaner. Brass builds up in the die from each case that has little nibs broken off. I was getting scratches on the body and neck The damage initially is tiny pieces of brass dragged down the neck then as the brass builds up in the die the die does the most damage. Look in the die neck and body with a flash light for Cu streaks. let us know what you find.
 
Depends. You don't state your lube practices. It can be common for the die to pick up some brass and start marking the cases during sizing. Most folks don't lube the neck to avoid dimples from excessive lube.

You can take some Flitz and polish the portion of your die where the marking is occurring. This should make it stop.

Regarding the OAL variation, is the tip of the bullet contacting the seating plug?
I am reloading new Lapua brass with new Forester Benchrest dies. After sizing the diameter of the neck has continuous vertical scratches 360 degrees around the case neck. Is this normal?
Secondly when seating I'm getting .0050 variation in seating depth. Is this normal for these dies? Never had the problem before in all my years of reloading. Of course I've never used Forester dies before and they have to good of reputation for me to question their product. I have attached a picture All advice appreciated.
Dies were new then I cleaned them. Cases were lubed on the body. I'm talking First sized and lubed case. Then cleaned and same thing on second casing. Thank You appreciated Billl
 
I had the same issue - sent it back and they said there was a burr in there. They polished it out and it's been good ever since. Ruined some Lapua brass though.:(
Thanks Rick. I have sent Forester a mail. Just trying to see if my concern is necessary.
 
I had the same thing with new Lapua brass. I found out if you take a piece of fine scotch brite and hit the neck and shoulder area of the brass and then wipe them off it will not scratch your dies. It's NOT the dies, it's from the BRASS. ( Lapua )
Tarey
 
I had the same thing with new Lapua brass. I found out if you take a piece of fine scotch brite and hit the neck and shoulder area of the brass and then wipe them off it will not scratch your dies. It's NOT the dies, it's from the BRASS. ( Lapua )
Tarey
I'm with ^^^^ above, if you plan to size new brass, a quick pass on a 3 way cutter-trimmer goes a long way.
 
Im thinking .005 difference can be thickness of the base of the case or a little grit on the shell holder.
Hard to read .005, push the caliper too hard and it's gone ...
 
I had the same thing with new Lapua brass. I found out if you take a piece of fine scotch brite and hit the neck and shoulder area of the brass and then wipe them off it will not scratch your dies. It's NOT the dies, it's from the BRASS. ( Lapua )
Tarey

Agreed! It is interesting in that this pops up about every 3 months or so and every time, it is LAPUA brass involved. After I started running new Lapua brass through the tumbler, with walnut media, before doing any case prep, my problems ceased.
The beautifully annealed cases seem to leave some oxidation on the necks causing the problem.
 
Dies were new then I cleaned them. Cases were lubed on the body. I'm talking First sized and lubed case. Then cleaned and same thing on second casing. Thank You appreciated Billl

You said the cases were lubed on the body. Are you saying you never lubed the necks or shoulders. Get a good chamfer on the neck o.d. lube the neck and shoulder. The problem will go away. Someone mentioned shoulder collapse from too much lube. You should know what works for the amount of lube put on. Never had a shoulder wrinkle from too much lube. I clean the die with a q-tip or carb clener once in a while.
 
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First, I like and prefer Forster full length benchrest dies and have nothing bad to say about them.

Second, I have had the same marks on case necks with new Redding and other make dies.

The problem is soft brass, lack of case lube and a sharp edge at the neck shoulder junction of the die.

Clean the the neck shoulder junction of the die with a good copper bore cleaner and remove as much copper as you can.

Next chuck a snug fitting shotgun cleaning mop in a drill and apply some J&B Bore cleaner, Flitz, automotive rubbing compound, Mothers Mag and Wheel Polish, etc to the mop. Now polish the inside of the die with emphasis on the neck shoulder junction of the die.

Once any brass begins to stick to the die or bushing it just keeps building up with the brass sticking to itself.

If you are lazy then just take the die apart and put the die body in a vibratory tumbler with treated walnut media and let it tumble all night.

I have used both methods above to clean and polish the die to remove any dirt or grit stuck inside the die that is scratching the cases.

My guess to the problem is caused by not beveling/chamfering the outside of the case mouth enough and lack of lube.

I wet tumble my cases with stainless steel media and this can peen over the case mouth. And I trim and debur the case mouth to keep this same problem from happening.

Now watch the video below and see what brand of die has the best finish polishing at aproximatly 3:03 into the video.


vEmboge.png


Below a Redding steel bushing with brass sticking to the inside of the bushing causing vertical scratches on the case neck.

LyFIQbw.jpg


Bottom line, some good copper cleaner and polishing the surface fixes the problem. And you do not need to send the die back to the factory for something simple you can do yourself.
 
If you polish the bushing too much it’ll change the size it sizes. Keep that in mind

Its my understanding that dies and bushings are heat treated and very hard. And the grit in J&B bore paste is softer than steel but harder than copper. And you do not leave the shotgun cleaning mop inside the die until it starts smoking. ;)

And Montana Extreme Copper Killer will curl your nose hairs and remove any copper buildup inside the die.

Bottom line, you are not polishing the die or bushing with 150 grit sandpaper at 3000 rpm. :rolleyes:
 
I had a bushing. Gunsmith told me to solve that issue of the streaks to polish the inside of the bushing. Used some sort of polish and mop on a drill. The exact same bushing was now measuring 1k different. Sent back. Got new bushing. Nothing done to it. Measured dead on. So I have first hand experience. Not sure why. But it changed from polishing the bushing. He only did this for 15 to 20 seconds
 

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