Now that I have my first set of rifle dies, I noticed that the brass case is not in perfect alighnment with the seating die. The die has a chamfered alignment sleeve that guides the bullet and case into the die, so it still works as designed.
Without the bullet in the case, I can see that the case mouth is misaligned by about 1mm, perhaps slightly less, from the center of the seating sleeve. If I tilt the top of the case with my finger, it goes in perfectly. If I don't, the empty case mouth contacts the chamfered surface of the alignment sleeve and usually slips into the sleeve. About 20% of the time, it does not slip in, and keeps pushing the sleeve into the die. I found this out when the die crushed the neck of an empty case I ran up into the die without a bullet.
I turned the shell holder 180 degrees and sure enough, the case mouth contacts the alignment sleeve on that side now. Thinking that I have a defective shell holder, I tried two different RCBS #2 shell holders with the same results.
My equipment is RCBS Rockchucker Supreme with the Hornady L-N-L bushing conversion, RCBS shell holder, Hornady 7.5 Swiss dies, Norma brass, GP-11 brass.
I am wondering what effect this has on the quality of the finished cartridge and its accuracy potential.
Without the bullet in the case, I can see that the case mouth is misaligned by about 1mm, perhaps slightly less, from the center of the seating sleeve. If I tilt the top of the case with my finger, it goes in perfectly. If I don't, the empty case mouth contacts the chamfered surface of the alignment sleeve and usually slips into the sleeve. About 20% of the time, it does not slip in, and keeps pushing the sleeve into the die. I found this out when the die crushed the neck of an empty case I ran up into the die without a bullet.
I turned the shell holder 180 degrees and sure enough, the case mouth contacts the alignment sleeve on that side now. Thinking that I have a defective shell holder, I tried two different RCBS #2 shell holders with the same results.
My equipment is RCBS Rockchucker Supreme with the Hornady L-N-L bushing conversion, RCBS shell holder, Hornady 7.5 Swiss dies, Norma brass, GP-11 brass.
I am wondering what effect this has on the quality of the finished cartridge and its accuracy potential.