Case Gauge and different die

[Bowfishrp]

OK, got a weird problem...at least weird to me since I have never heard of it.

Been loading some 308 brass and had some of loaded rounds would not feed into the rifle. Put them through a Lumans case gauge and they were off. Seems the Lee FL die was not doing it's job! Switched to a Redding FL die and it corrected the problem!

Well now I see the same problem with my 223 except that I am using a Hornady FL die. I got a RCBS FL X-die and while it fixed 3/4 of the cases the other 1/4 will not go through the Lyman case gauge. I have a hard time believing that two reputable companies can have these kind of problems with their die?!?!?

We have noticed a few feed problems in my brothers AR but they feed fine in my Weatherby.

 

[USSR]

Bowfishrp,

Whenever you FL resize brass and it don't fit your chamber, 99 out of 100 times, it is because the shoulder hasn't been bumped back far enough. There is nothing wrong with the die; you simply have not seated the die deep enough in your press to bump the shoulder back enough.

Don

 

[Bowfishrp]

Well, that was the first thing I checked. I screwed the die down to where it was touching the shell holder, then lowered the ram, and screwed the die in another 1/4 turn and lock it all down. I noticed that Hornady's instructions do not call for the 1/4 turn but I had problems when I did not do this.

I load the RCBS FL die the same way and you can feel the die hitting the shell holder when raising the ram with no case.

Now I am using a Hornady LNL AP press....think i will try some of them on my single stage just to see if it makes any difference but I doubt it.
Robert

 

[Slamfire]

It may be that you need to grind off material on the bottom of your die.

This lower the die until you touch the shellholder, and add a quarter turn, is based on several false premises.

One is that the press flex is equal to a quarter turn.

Another is that the distance from shell holder to die shoulder provides the proper amount of sizing.

I suspect that one of your dies is too long. This has happened to me, I have had to remove material from the bottom of sizing dies to get the die short enough to bump the shoulder back.

And, what you are doing is right. Use a gage to set up your sizing die. Toss out the sizing die instructions and trust the gage.

 

[Bowfishrp]

Called Hornady and just got to say that they are the BEST company to call for support. I wish the computer industry (which I work in) was as nice as these guys!

They basically said the same thing as Slamfire1. I think my spindle is bent slightly and they are sending out a couple replacements and expanders. He thought the expander could be pulling the shoulder back out and since it is bent that could be doing it. He also mentioned taking some off the bottom of the die and will try that if all else fails.

Doesn't explain the RCBS die BUT I think I will pull out the spindle on them and try a few that are giving me problems. At least I will have a better idea about the shoulders.