New gun with new ammo and have zero headspace change after firing?

[a1712]

Not all Dies are created equal despite what brand name or claims. It's important to understand before and after sizing measurements and find a Die that fits your application

what makes their Dies custom?
Are you sending three x Fired cases ? Will they send you a Die that reduces the body only .002 at the body /shoulder junction and .0015 at the .200 mark? Also lets you headspace.000-.005 bye way of threads?
Just curious

As to Custom, I think it just sounds cool and makes ya think they're better somehow(note the sarcasm).Brian.

 

[Uncle Ed]

Warning, stuck cases and new dies. New dies have a dry film corrosion protection and must be cleaned per the dies instructions.

The last die I purchased the instructions said to use Hoppes bore cleaner to remove this dry film protection. Meaning the old ways of just wiping the oil type preservative from inside the die is long gone. And not reading the instructions and just spraying WD-40 inside the die and wiping it out with a paper towel will give you a stuck case.

 

[noobie]

Warning, stuck cases and new dies. New dies have a dry film corrosion protection and must be cleaned per the dies instructions.

The last die I purchased the instructions said to use Hoppes bore cleaner to remove this dry film protection. Meaning the old ways of just wiping the oil type preservative from inside the die is long gone. And not reading the instructions and just spraying WD-40 inside the die and wiping it out with a paper towel will give you a stuck case.

Thanks! I did clean with Hoppes bore cleaner.

 

[a1712]

No sarcasm on my end"cause I'd like to know myself.
I have a Hornday seater that believe it or not produces extremely low runout.
Go figure

My sarcasm. Like the words Tactical in any rifle related item, Lithium and Titanium in batteries. I have 5 or so sets of Hornady Custom FL Die sets and they all load ammo to true custom die tolerances. Brian.

 

[noobie]

Just got a new die in and brave enough to give it another go. Worked great now that I have it figured out. Don't go for .003 with a the new fired round that is already below headspace minimum and using a comparator to determine that. I also called Hornady. Their tech videos and most other videos show the person setting up the die with the arm of the press all the way down. That is wrong. The press has a built in cam and you need to set the die using the highest point of the ram. The is a pretty large gap difference between ram at heighest point and ram allowed to cam over. Don't use it with the arm fully dropped. I think I may have done too much reading and video watching. Read the entire manual from Hornady less each bullet spec page including the index. Just new words and concepts to learn.

 

[noobie]

Glad your figuring it out.
Let me ask you a question, with your Die now set and the ram at full extension how many thousand gap is under your shell holder?
(Feeler gauge)

Well ram at full extension (highest point) is 0. I have it just touching the case per Hornady.

Arm of press let go and at full extension a feeler gauge of .009 fully inserts. .010 will partially go in but can't make a full pass through.

 

[noobie]

So you have .009 under your shell holder. What does that tell you?

(Trust me , I'm not being a smart ass here)

Well between my arm strength and not ever doing this before. I can pretty mush smash that shell through the die if I wanted to.

 

[Webster]

I was working on reloading my first 30-06 as a learning lesson and struggled to say the least. I have watched many video's and read the reloading book from Hornady. I attempted to setup the sizing die so that I created a headspace gap of .003 on a once fired round out of my rifle. I just couldn't budge the head back at all and ended up ruining the die and shell. Well screwed that up for sure! Fortunately they aren't terribly expensive. I spent the evening thinking about what I did wrong and am still a little baffled. My assortment of once fired cases all measure very close if not exactly 2.0450 using the Hornady headspace measuring kit using the .375". The new unfired shells also measure 2.0450. Would a new gun and new shells have such tight tolerances that the cases just didn't stretch at all? After the fact researching I believe the minimum measurement on a 30-06 case from base to datum line is 2.0487. So I am already below the minimum with new shells and the once fired shells. I suppose trying to go even smaller is what killed the whole deal? Wish I had seen notes about that in the 15 some articles and video's I watched about headspace. They all just pretty much say for hunting to go .003 below the spent round case. I'm guessing that didn't work out at all since I am already below the min? Any advice? Do I just use the full sizing die to neck size them? Do I get neck sizing die? Don't want to break another die so any advice would be appreciated.

Gun is a new Tikka T3X Lite Stainless if that matters at all. Only about 150 rounds fired in it.

45 years of reloading with many types of lube, never stuck a case. You need more lube. Don't want to interpret all of your numbers but I reloaded sucessfully for decades without any type of gauge. If you can rechamber a fired case you could reload it without any resizing as long as the neck grips a bullet. I now use the method of adjusting my dies where you do just enough sizing to chamber a round with the firing pin spring removed and closing the bolt the last half way with very little pressure on the bolt handle. The case needs to be fired 2-3 times with ideally just some neck sizing to match the chamber dimensions. Back the die off about a half turn for your beginning try. You want to start not sized enough, screw the die down in small increments and keep adjusting down until the bolt hadle closes the last half way down very little effort. No gauges needed. The chamber is your gauge and not some arbitrary measurement.

 

[snert]

Now all we need is the Guffy to drop by and we can send Noob to the loony bin!

 

[JMayo]

PMI makes a great tool for adjusting die to give just the right amount of shoulder bump.
I got a comparable measurement from fired 2 times shells. I want .002 bump back. I start with PMI/die set not to bump and after 4 or 5 times of moving die down half thous I get the bump I want.
Using .002 the rim thickness doesn't hamper length/chambering.
If I bump back too much that one goes to a sighter. I'll get it right next time.

 

[Webster]

Now all we need is the Guffy to drop by and we can send Noob to the loony bin!

Guffey hasn't been on since October.

 

[stifffingers]

That shell is not ever coming out. Well not with the tools I have.

To remove a stuck case, screw the die into your press from the bottom. Now drill and tap a 1/4x 20 hole in base of case. Using a socket and a bunch of washers screw a bolt into the case with the bolt inserted thru the socket base. With a wrench, just keep turning the bolt until the case comes out. You do have to use a socket the stuck case can fit in. Sorry for repeating stuff already said. I didn't read the whole thread.

 

[Richard Coody]

To remove a stuck case, screw the die into your press from the bottom. Now drill and tap a 1/4x 24 hole in base of case. Using a socket and a bunch of washers screw a bolt into the case with the bolt inserted thru the socket base. With a wrench, just keep turning the bolt until the case comes out. You do have to use a socket the stuck case can fit in.

I call that a rube goldberg wheel puller

If you can get the decapping pin out i have put the die in a vice and taken a wooden dowel or long punch that will fit in the neck and tapped it out with a hammer.

Been decades since i stuck a case. Imperial sizing wax.