Adjusting The Degree of Sizing
- Thread starter K22
- Start date
Like I said earlier, they're nice!! I installed a rubber washer under mine to free float it...Patch700 said:
SHootSTraight22 said:
Pats adjustable lock ring in comparison to moving the die and then re-measuring in my mind would be equivalent to changing a flat tire on my pickup with only a cresent wrench and a bottle jack.. Absolutely it can be done but there are easier ways lol.
Adjusting to a half thou is as easy as going between the 1 thou hash marks... Doesn't get much easier but i understand where you're coming from.
Then there must be a way to calibrate and or zero first, I make adjustment and do not assume 'that is all there is'. Occasionally I check the distance the die is off the shell holder when the ram is raised. If there is no gap between the bottom of the die and top of the shell holder when the ram is raised and the die is adjusted with the proverbial adjustment below contact the case has been full length sized and or return to minimum length.
F. Guffey
here is the reason I use the redding comp shellholders . I have the die make hard contact with the shellholder . every case I resize will have the die touching the shellholder , stressing the press the same every time . when the shellholder makes contact with the die the brass case can not be sized any more . I also anneal my brass every other time , to control spring back. I get very consistent shoulder bump .
my way of thinking is this. with a gap between the die and shellholder softer brass will not stress the press the same as a harder piece of brass . this will cause a variance in the sizing and shoulder bump .
my way of thinking is this. with a gap between the die and shellholder softer brass will not stress the press the same as a harder piece of brass . this will cause a variance in the sizing and shoulder bump .
This isn't an ideal solution compared to a dedicated adjustable die ring but worked for me to make a one time adjustment.
My starting point was a die that was already giving me about .0035 bump.
I wanted to reduce that so it was closer to .002.
I tried several ways to get a measurement on the die so I could make a lock ring adjustment based on that info but couldn't get a repeatable measurement.
When thinking about using a shim it occurred to me that I might be able to use feeler gauges instead of buying any type of shims.
Here is what I did that worked for my situation.
I installed the die as usual while placing the desired 'feeler' between the lock ring and the press to account for the change I wanted, raised the ram so the die was held in place, then loosened the lock ring so I could remove the shim. Once the shim was removed I tightened the ring against the press so it took up the new space and locked it in place.
This worked great for me since I do not make frequent adjustments since the die is only used for one barrel.
My starting point was a die that was already giving me about .0035 bump.
I wanted to reduce that so it was closer to .002.
I tried several ways to get a measurement on the die so I could make a lock ring adjustment based on that info but couldn't get a repeatable measurement.
When thinking about using a shim it occurred to me that I might be able to use feeler gauges instead of buying any type of shims.
Here is what I did that worked for my situation.
I installed the die as usual while placing the desired 'feeler' between the lock ring and the press to account for the change I wanted, raised the ram so the die was held in place, then loosened the lock ring so I could remove the shim. Once the shim was removed I tightened the ring against the press so it took up the new space and locked it in place.
This worked great for me since I do not make frequent adjustments since the die is only used for one barrel.
Wow guys - I posted that almost 6 years ago. A lot has happen since then. 
Anyway, I settled on the Skip Shims and they have worked perfectly for me for almost 6 years now. The key for me was to set the FL die with the .010 shim with a firm die contact to the shell holder. I simply increase sizing by replacing that shim with a thinner shim. In all cases, the ram cams over. My press in almost 50 years old and it has a lot of play in it so maybe that's why this set up works best for me.
When I started using the Whidden Gun works single piece bump gauge, I started obtaining more consistent bump readings. For me it's easier and more repeatable than using the Wilson gauge and dial gauge.
Since I reload for ten different 223 Rem bolt rifles, and 4 different 243 bolt rifles, the shim system works best for me. Each rifle's dedicated cases have a designed shim number written on the cartridge box. As cases age, I sometimes have to change the shim size to obtain the desire set back.
I tried a friend's set of Redding Competition Shell holders but they didn't work for me. Two were off from the inscribed value on the shell holder. In addition, I found it difficult to obtain the desire set back with them on some rifles.
Interesting enough, I found that the old German Salazar "O" ring method works quite well too. If you have only one or two rifles in the same caliber, it works amazingly well. However if you have as many rifles as I have in the same caliber, that method can become complicated trying to determine the correct 'sharpie' line on the press to move the FL die to for that rifle.
And guess what, the old method of using the rifle chamber to set the FL die also works quite well for a single rifle.
Anyway, I settled on the Skip Shims and they have worked perfectly for me for almost 6 years now. The key for me was to set the FL die with the .010 shim with a firm die contact to the shell holder. I simply increase sizing by replacing that shim with a thinner shim. In all cases, the ram cams over. My press in almost 50 years old and it has a lot of play in it so maybe that's why this set up works best for me.
When I started using the Whidden Gun works single piece bump gauge, I started obtaining more consistent bump readings. For me it's easier and more repeatable than using the Wilson gauge and dial gauge.
Since I reload for ten different 223 Rem bolt rifles, and 4 different 243 bolt rifles, the shim system works best for me. Each rifle's dedicated cases have a designed shim number written on the cartridge box. As cases age, I sometimes have to change the shim size to obtain the desire set back.
I tried a friend's set of Redding Competition Shell holders but they didn't work for me. Two were off from the inscribed value on the shell holder. In addition, I found it difficult to obtain the desire set back with them on some rifles.
Interesting enough, I found that the old German Salazar "O" ring method works quite well too. If you have only one or two rifles in the same caliber, it works amazingly well. However if you have as many rifles as I have in the same caliber, that method can become complicated trying to determine the correct 'sharpie' line on the press to move the FL die to for that rifle.
And guess what, the old method of using the rifle chamber to set the FL die also works quite well for a single rifle.
I just do it the old timey way. Measure adjust measure adjust.until I get the die like I want it. Then I lock the ring down and don't mess with it again. I anneal and find the shoulder bump stays consistent for.the life of the brass. Each rifle gets its.own die. I don't go switching around.
Resurrection lol
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