sizing question

[284driver]

I've got a bunch of once fired 6.5x284 brass. My full length size won't size the brass down far enough to fit my new xp's chamber. Seems like the shoulder of the brass is bottoming out against the shoulder of the chamber. Any thoughts as to how I can get the brass sized to fit. New brass chambers fine. Thanks

 

[Preacher]

Grind a little off the shell holder, that should allow the die to size down a little further...

 

[ridgeway]

Sounds like you aren't bumping the shoulder. First off, get yourself a stub or a bump gauge to measure shoulder bump to see where you are at and to measure how much.

If you can't get enough with the die fully bottomed out, you remedy it three ways. Either turn a couple thousands off the bottom of the die, shave a couple thousands off the top of your shelholder or buy the Redding comp shellholders that vary in height every .002".

If it was mine, I'd remove material from the bottom of the die since I use same shellholder for other calibers. Or if you have a Forster coax press....

 

[LHSmith]

I just don't see how using Redding Comp. S/H's would help......they are all = to or on the plus side of .125 thickness......the OP needs to get into (-) territory.
FWIW- Dies are hardened, most S/H's are not.

 

[bsumoba]

Re-check your setup and like others mentioned, get a gauge to verify whether or not you're really sizing the brass to begin with. Otherwise, get a 6.5x284 Small Base Die. If that doesnt work, then you might have other problems and I would bring it to a smith to check it out.

 

[ridgeway]

My bad, was under the impression the Redding comp shellholders were thick and thin. I never used them.

As for the dies hardened, they indeed are, but not that hard. Carbide tooling has NO trouble cutting a die. I just made a ring die last week for my Dasher. I used a Forster FL die as a donor....not one bit of problem cutting it.

 

[M-61]

Do you have a few shell holders?

 

[LHSmith]

Ridgeway- I don't own any either, preferring to use Skip's die shims. I'd be willing to bet most who buy them falsely believe them to be a cure-all.

 

[284driver]

I took some off of the top of the she'll holders. The bolt would close with a lot of resistance on a sized case. I started taking off of the shell holder and the got to the point that the bolt wouldn't even start to close. So I should be getting close to the point where the shoulder will be pushed back enough but I got over zealous and took too much off the Shell holder with my grinder and ruined it. I will get another shell holder and measure the amount my die is actually sizing the brass. I think it's sizing just enough of the body to lengthen the case and not bumping the shoulder. Thanks for the replies.

 

[M-61]

If you have some shellholder for that I would start with measuring them. Since it's a common holder I had a few from over the years. I was quite surprised to see the difference in thickness. (height?)

 

[ridgeway]

I took some off of the top of the she'll holders. The bolt would close with a lot of resistance on a sized case. I started taking off of the shell holder and the got to the point that the bolt wouldn't even start to close. So I should be getting close to the point where the shoulder will be pushed back enough but I got over zealous and took too much off the Shell holder with my grinder and ruined it. I will get another shell holder and measure the amount my die is actually sizing the brass. I think it's sizing just enough of the body to lengthen the case and not bumping the shoulder. Thanks for the replies.

Do yourself a favor and get a stub made to measure your bump or get the sinclair headspace gauge for your shoulder. This will give you concrete measurements to go by. Otherwise, you are just treading water...

 

[Old Navy]

I took some off of the top of the she'll holders. The bolt would close with a lot of resistance on a sized case. I started taking off of the shell holder and the got to the point that the bolt wouldn't even start to close. So I should be getting close to the point where the shoulder will be pushed back enough but I got over zealous and took too much off the Shell holder with my grinder and ruined it. I will get another shell holder and measure the amount my die is actually sizing the brass. I think it's sizing just enough of the body to lengthen the case and not bumping the shoulder. Thanks for the replies.

Do yourself a favor and get a stub made to measure your bump or get the sinclair headspace gauge for your shoulder. This will give you concrete measurements to go by. Otherwise, you are just treading water...

+1 Later! Frank

 

[232]

Do yourself a favor and buy a go or case gage to compare your fired cases with. Most new brass is "shorter" than a go gauge.

If a barrel/chamber is set up right, Redding comp shellholders should work .

 

[BoydAllen]

If you set your die to touch the shell holder, and then lube and size a case, and check for a gap batween die and shell holder at the top of the sizing stroke, there will usually be one.

Years back, when I did that, the gap, measured with a feeler gauge, was .006, sizing a .220 Swift case, from a factory chamber, with a one piece RCBS FL die. My point is that you may have some room to adjust that you are not aware of.

In any case, get some sort of gauge so that you can precisely measure shoulder bump. Do this first. Otherwise you are guessing and flying blind.

The other things that you should check is the diameter of the shoulder and above the extractor groove, before and after sizing. For the shoulder, lock your calipers at the unsized diameter, and after sizing they should slide some distance down from the shoulder before the fit stops them.