.223 Lake City brass resizing

[bddc2012]

I am full length resizing several 1,000s of Lake City .223 fired brass on a Dillon RL 450 with Dillon dies, about 90% are sizing fine based on a Lyman case length/ headspace gage, several will not fit the gage being 1/16 long. I am checking about every 10 cases and culling the long cases. These will all be fired from the same Rem 700 Heavy Varmit Synthetic. The die is set to touch the shell plate with 1/3 turn more. Do I need to be concerned ?

Thanks

 

[bigedp51]

Do your problem cases look like this when you drop them in the case gauge?

 

[tome]

bought 500 pcs of once fired LC that was supposed to be cleaned, full length re sized and trimmed. the brass looks good and measured correctly , but when I tried them in a case length gage , they all sat slightly high. not as bad as your picture, but high enough to drag on a straight edge. I re sized them all and have no problems running them.

 

[243winxb]

My undersize RL 450 shell plate gave me problems. Excessive head clearance.

I would be concerned if the sized brass will not chamber in the rifle. You need to find out why. May just be brass thats oversize in the web area, needing small base dies. Or it may be a shell plate problem. Normal deck height should be around .125" at each station. If to thick, less FL sizing.

 

[CatShooter]

Re: My undersize RL 450 shell plate gave me problems. Excessive head clearance.

I would be concerned if the sized brass will not chamber in the rifle. You need to find out why. May just be brass thats oversize in the web area, needing small base dies. Or it may be a shell plate problem. Normal deck height should be around .125" at each station. If to thick, less FL sizing.

The proper way to measure the shellholder of a progressive press is not to place it on a flat surface - but to have it in the press and measure down the the true working deck.

When the shell holder is installed in the progressive press (I have a 550 sitting around)... there is a space under the shell holder - between the shell holder and the deck - and it is probably 5 or 6 thou.

I just measured the height of the shell holder in my 550 and it is, Ta ta...

... 0.125"

It's OK to complain, but you gotta be fair in your measurements and don't cook the numbers.

 

[bigedp51]

If I understand your posting correctly 10% of your cases will not drop into the case gauge correctly and are sticking slightly out of the gauge.

There are two possible causes.

1. Some of the Lake City cases were fired in a M249 machine gun with a larger diameter chamber, you will need to resize them with a small base die at least once.

2. The case has a ding or dent in the rim from the extractor and it's hitting the lip of the case gauge preventing it from dropping into the gauge.

If the case fails to enter the gauge, then turn the case upside down and insert the base into the gauge. If the case doesn't fit you have a damaged rim and you will need to file and remove the ding or dent.

Note: I have a small fine files on my reloading bench used to smooth out dings and dents on the rims of my semi auto rifles. Rifles that throw perfectly good brass away are hard on case rims and extractor grooves. If you have damage inside the extractor groove the case can be canted in the shell holder when the neck is expanded in standard dies which will increase runout.

The case I have pictured had a expanded base diameter and was too "FAT" to enter the gauge. To be safe I resized all the once fired .223/5.56 cases I have that were "NOT" fired in my AR15 rifles with a small base die.

A M249 Machine gun has a chamber .003 larger in diameter than SAAMI dimensions and the military GO and NO-GO gauges are .003 longer. And brass is elastic and tries to spring back to its original or last fired dimensions. I would buy a small base die and resize all cases not fired in "your" rifle and slim them down from "husky" to "normal" size.

 

[bigedp51]

Re: My undersize RL 450 shell plate gave me problems. Excessive head clearance.

I just measured the height of the shell holder in my 550 and it is, Ta ta...

... 0.125"

It's OK to complain, but you gotta be fair in your measurements and don't cook the numbers.

CatShooter, your a hard a$$ but fair, you should run for Congress and bump shoulders with the knuckle heads in Washington, you would get my vote.

 

[CatShooter]

Re: My undersize RL 450 shell plate gave me problems. Excessive head clearance.

I just measured the height of the shell holder in my 550 and it is, Ta ta...

... 0.125"

It's OK to complain, but you gotta be fair in your measurements and don't cook the numbers.

CatShooter, your a hard a$$ but fair, you should run for Congress and bump shoulders with the knuckle heads in Washington, you would get my vote.

OMG... I don't friggin' believe it...

 

[243winxb]

The OP is

The die is set to touch the shell plate with 1/3 turn more.

This removes all clearance from under the shell plate. My measurement is CORRECT. He is FL sizing a bottle neck case, not doing 45acp. Each station of the shell plate may have a different deck height. This may be why 90% are sizing fine.

 

[CatShooter]

The OP is

The die is set to touch the shell plate with 1/3 turn more.

This removes all clearance from under the shell plate. My measurement is CORRECT. He is FL sizing a bottle neck case, not doing 45acp.

Sorry, but your measurement is NOT correct No matter how hard you turn down the die, it will never EVER go past the shell plate cut.

It is from that surface to the working deck that the measurement must be made - this is something that you are guessing at... NOT something you know!!

 

[243winxb]

and

 

[CatShooter]

That is not how you measure it...

... but if that is how you want to do it, be my guest.

 

[243winxb]

And here is my RL450, same as the OP is using.

 

[243winxb]

The bottom of the shell plate is undercut to give the rim clearance. When full length sizing a bottle neck case like the 223 Rem, the bottom of the shell plate will contact the platform. This should give a deck heigth of .125" for correct sizing. Each station may be different. Use a L.E. Wilson case gage to check for correct sizing of the brass.

I'm Done.

 

[bigedp51]

I am full length resizing several 1,000s of Lake City .223 fired brass on a Dillon RL 450 with Dillon dies, about 90% are sizing fine based on a Lyman case length/ headspace gage, several will not fit the gage being 1/16 long. I am checking about every 10 cases and culling the long cases. These will all be fired from the same Rem 700 Heavy Varmit Synthetic. The die is set to touch the shell plate with 1/3 turn more. Do I need to be concerned ?

Thanks

1/16 of an inch = 0.0625 and the OP states that "SOME" of his cases are above the top of the case gauge.

I have never seen a shell holder flex and change from .125 to .1875 or 1/16 of an inch and make the case shoulder .0625 longer.

The OP has some "fat" cases after sizing or dings in the rims, end of story.

Dillon Support
Cases are not properly sized
1. Not pulling the operating handle (part #511 or #20636) down all of the way
a. handle travel could also be blocked by something. Either the cartridge chute bracket or loose cartridge chute bracket screws could be blocking the handle
b. pull the handle down all of the way and then push it up all of the way
2. Case may be oversized from firing in a gun with an oversized chamber
a. the case may have outlived its useful life
b. start with new cases and fire only in a known chamber
c. it could have also been too hot of a load or an over-pressured load
3. Sizing die is not adjusted properly
a. pull the operating handle down all of the way and screw the sizing die down all of the way to the shellplate. Raise the handle and insert an unsized case into the shellplate. Pull the handle down all of the way and tighten the die lock nut
4. If you are still having difficulty, please E-mail Dillon’s Technical Support Staff or call 1-800-762-3845 or 480-948-8009

 

[bddc2012]

Thanks to all for the replies , very good feedback from you men

My issue is what is being shown in the picture from bigedp51 not as severe as that but the same issue.

I guessed that some of the cases were fired from MGs and the possible issues that come from that.

FYI I listed the reloading equipment strickly as a troubleshooting tool not as a condemation of Dillon products as I love and have used Dillon for 25 +years

I will look at everything the next few days and report back my findings.

 

[bddc2012]

I done some checks of my reloading process and found that the shell plate had worked loose slightly, I tightened it up and all seems to be fine now.

I did find something interesting to report most of the cases do resize to fit a case headspace gauge however there is a percentange that resize VERY HARD to the point I have broken 2 Dillon depriming rods along with a Lee,I am switching to another purchase of brass and see how they do.This is frustrating as hell as I have only broken 1 depriming rod in the past 20 years and now have broken 3 in 2 weeks.

Thanks to all who replied

 

[jonbearman]

The 3 cases that broke your decapping pin are lake city for sure?Could they be something else like FNM headstamped? Some military cases being brass are berdan.FNM makes both.It is a long shot but when you look into the 3 cases are there 2 flasholes?

 

[CatShooter]

The 3 cases that broke your decapping pin are lake city for sure? Could they be something else like FNM headstamped? Some military cases being brass are berdan. FNM makes both. It is a long shot but when you look into the 3 cases are there 2 flasholes?

What he said...

 

[Gordon Marsh]

I am full length resizing several 1,000s of Lake City .223 fired brass on a Dillon RL 450 with Dillon dies, about 90% are sizing fine based on a Lyman case length/ headspace gage, several will not fit the gage being 1/16 long. I am checking about every 10 cases and culling the long cases. These will all be fired from the same Rem 700 Heavy Varmit Synthetic. The die is set to touch the shell plate with 1/3 turn more. Do I need to be concerned ?

Thanks

I was having trouble with about 10% of the military brass I was reloading. Turns out the case heads were over size. I think maybe from swagging the primer pockets but could be for other reasons. I solved the problem fore ever when I bought a case head sizing die from Wholesale Hunter. The case passes all the way through die and sized the head as well as the rim. All the cases that failed the case gauge now work fine. You can fine the die at the link https://www.wholesalehunter.com/Product/Details/11218572?fs=1