Well, that's a frustrating failure

[Fast14riot]

Also suggested thickness for setting valve clearance on a lot of small engines.

As far as I know, I don't have any true Okie blood in my veins -- although there are a lot of folks who THINK that, and are wrong. I've certainly got the tendencies, and a lot of the skills. jd

As a representative of the Okie tribe of western America, I grant you honorary status. Lol!

Getting over my cold and finally sitting down to get through sizing my brass now. Everything is coming out spot on, just a slightly different feel on the press handle with a little more cam over than before. Glad I decided to measure base height as well, a lot of dimensions are left to each manufacturer and industry standard is more of a suggestion than a rule.

At least this is finally forcing me to get my die modified after this since I'm going to need to start over after this fiasco.

 

[ELR LVR]

Base sizing my 260AI brass with a 45acp die and had the lip of my shell holder rip off! Yes, I did lap it lower, but took off only .008". Using plenty of imperial, didn't feel any more force on sizing that the thousands of other times I've done this. Never had a shell holder fail before!

View attachment 1705292View attachment 1705293

Strange failure
In cases like this, I dont grind shellholders since other dies index off it
Instead I tune the sizing die to what it should be doing
, take a grinder with a thin cutoff wheel
Since a cut off wheel takes less material off than a grinding wheel and offers more control
with a smoother cut, almost a polished cut....
and take a little bit off the bottom of die in question, same result, but it is the die itself you want to correct.
That way, the shellholder itself can still be used to bottom other dies against as usual
You might try that
.010" off the bottom of a die don't hurt nuthin
---
The way I see this is
That way you are tuning the Die in to bump the shoulder as it should
(If it wasn't doing so before)

 

[muleystalker]

My tinfoil hat theory, Redding likes to sell comp shell holder sets so their dies are just a bit too long to work perfectly with other brands...

If I remember correctly the Redding S series dies were designed to be used with the comp shell holders, that was the whole point of the S- Series dies.... it's no secret. Glad to see you got it sorted out, this wasn't the best time to have this happen with next weekend so close

 

[divingin]

Born and raised! I will state that there are at least one rifle in my safe with beer can shims under a scope base, too, lol! Its a cheap source of .005" shim stock!

Didn't realize you were in Stockton. My maternal grandparents settled there after incarceration (they were off Charter Way someplace until their home was taken under eminent domain. Not really too much of a bad thing as they were getting too old to be on their own anyway.) Lots of memories (some good, some bad) of visiting them there.

I've done the aluminum can shim in or under scope rings several times, but not on any of my rifles. Usually at the range trying to help someone else out.

 

[Fast14riot]

Quick update on this. Ordered several Lee shell holders for $9 each. Took a couple measurements of deck height and base thickness. Had one measure 0.123" deck height (standard is 0.125") and base thickness was 0.130". Threw it in the press unmodified and grabbed a few fired cases. Checked the cases in my rifle and they closed with drag and light pressure. Sized them and checked again, they closed effortlessly. Measured datum length of sized and its good to go! So the beer can shim stack isn't needed and that shell holder is going to the decapping press.