Custom Dies

[Toolbreaker]

For those of you using custom FL sizing dies, how much does your die size the body diameters of your case below your chamber size? Also, if you're running on the "tight" side of body sizing, have you ever had problems sizing different lots/brands of brass?

 

[Patch700]

I think the numbers are going to depend somewhat on what caliber...

But my last 6.5x47 is shooting fantastic with .001" reduction in brass size from the shoulder body junction all the way down to the base.. This is with a whidden die that was honed by hand to my fired brass dimensions.

Me personally , have found that if you size the shoulder body junction much more than .0015-.002" you wind up with a sized case that requires more trimming after sizing.

Couldn't comment on the last part as i am still on the original lot of brass that gets annealed every firing.. I would assume that indeed hardness or lot change would affect how much the die in question sizes.

 

[Joe R]

I shoot F-TR and I like my chamber on the tight side. When I was using the Redding S type dies I did find my rounds a little tight going in, so I switched to an RCBS small base die and the problem went away. I did consider custom dies and that would have been my next step if the small base die had not worked.

I have used Federal, Lapua large primer, Lake City and now the Lapua Palma brass in this chamber. I did have a little bit of learning to do with the LC to get it tuned. I had to double the dwell time when sizing the LC brass to get it to size properly. That LC is though stuff. To get consistent sizing I use a timer and give the Lapua 5 seconds and the LC 10 seconds of dwell time.

I should have measured the difference between the Redding and RCBS small base die and might one of these days when I have time.

Joe

 

[cmysix]

What I have heard FL+0.002

 

[Fast14riot]

I know this is a 7 year old thread, but I have noticed something between my old barrel and new in relation to my die. My old barrel had a 0.032" radius on the chamber mouth and I ended up needing a ring die to eliminate clickers and get things moving smoothly again. My new barrel has no such radius and is pretty much left "as machined" and even though I get the occasional hang up on the case mouth, I have not needed to use either of my ring dies. That extra little bit of unsupported case seems to have made a difference.

So, beyond matching your die to your chamber, making sure your chamber is supporting all of your brass is important, too.