The practice of grinding dies and or shell holders was never necessary. there is nothing that can be accomplished by grinding that can not be accomplished with a feeler gage, I form/size cases for short chambers from .016 shorter than a go-gage length chamber to infinity (or a more practical .016 thousands longer than a minimum length, commercial, store bought, full length size case) with an RCBS shell holder, add a few when using a Lee shell holder, and forget it if a Herters shell holder is used, but that is another story.
As explained and is accepted by most the deck height of a shell holder is .125, the +.010 Redding shell holder has a deck height of .135 meaning the deck of the shell holder is .010 thousands further from the shoulder of the die , the added .010 adds to the length of the sized case from the head of the case to it's shoulder (when measuring the length of the case is the .010 added to the length of the case from the shoulder forward to the mouth of the case?).
Grinding the die and or shell holder has nothing to do with the Redding Competition shell holder, just the opposite, grinding would reduce the length of the case from the head of the case to it's shoulder, the Redding + shell holders add to the length of the case from the head of the case to it's shoulder.
If a reloader believes he/she can benefit from grinding a shell holder to size cases for a short chamber they should be able to determine 'by this much' before grinding, BY simply placing a feeler gage between the deck of the shell holder and head of the case when sizing, this method does not work or produces mixed results when the head of the reloader is as hard as the case being sized, in the prefect world nothing worked better than a new, never fired case, after that the results gets progressively worst, then we get into jump back, memory, recovery or spring back, I have 243, 6mm, 257 Roberts etc that have absolutely no memory of what they were before being formed from 30/06, the only way I can keep up with it is the head stamp. a 257 Roberts with a military head stamp and no mention of 30/06.
to accomplish the same results as the Redding + shell holder I use the feeler gage, the companion tool to the press, I adjust the die off the shell holder with a leaf that has no limit in thousands as in .001, .002 etc all the way to infinity, but we all know that is not practical for most so I use .016 thousands to adjust the die to the shell holder for a chamber that is .002 thousands over a field reject length 30/06 chamber.
Field reject length chamber for the 30/06 is .014 thousands over a minimum length, full length sized case, or about .009 longer than a go-gage length chamber. Things I have no control over, the rifle was built that way and has been that way for the last 100 years, it is an Eddiestone M1917. I determine head space first, then form then fire this method leaves me with firing the rifle with .002 head space,for the Eddystone, this is not an exception.
When I purchase fired brass at the range I hope the brass I purchase has been fired in a tranche old chamber, again, I am not a fan OF fire to form, i am a fan of form first then fire, and the difference between fire to form and form then fire is time, and that is impossible for the reloader to understand.
When trimming cases for the Eddystone with .016 thousands added length to the chamber from the face of the bolt to the shoulder of the chamber, I add .014 thousands to the length of the case body, to determine where the extra length is added, use a L. E. Wilson case length gage, it measure from the shoulder back and from the shoulder forward, the neck of the case does not protrude from the top of the case gage but protrudes on the case head end .014 thousands, and in all fairness because I do not get benefit from the commercial side of reloading, the Wilson case gage can be used to measure a case from the shoulder to the head of the case in thousands with a straight edge and the companion tool to the press the feeler gage, those that are on the commercial side of reloading omit the precision of the Wilson case gage.
F. Guffey
