Damaged die?

[taliv]

Sold my house and moved. Really sucks moving a reloading room.

in the process my 6.5x47 lapua micrometer seater die got dinged on the base. Not sure how but presumably dropped.

this is a hand die. Like an LE Wilson.

the result is that the die has an extremely slight wobble when standing up. Normally it’s flat to the base of the arbor press but now you can feel a tiny bit of movement.


Think this will affect anything? My initial thought is if it’s not sitting exactly flat, it may seat the bullet a thou or two less. But would it do so consistently? I don’t think it would change run out because the bullet is supported in the chamber

 

[AJC1]

A damaged precision tool is no longer a quality tool. You may try and make it right by milling, surface grinding or squaring it up in a lathe but it's no longer what it was. If you dont have the equipment yourself it would be cheaper just to get a new one...

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

My money says it's fine. Seat a few bullets using it and if run out is acceptable you're good. If run out is bad then I'd turn it in a lathe and make it perfectly square again.

 

[JFrank]

My hand dies are Wilson.. case hardened and heat treated beyond grade 8.
It would presumably take quite an impact to damage the die.

 

[Otto]

Brand?
Send it back to the factory, most will fix it for a nominal charge or possibly free.

 

[NMexJim]

Brand?
Send it back to the factory, most will fix it for a nominal charge or possibly free.

X2

 

[taliv]

i'll have to look at it and see the brand. i have some that are LE Wilson and some that are Forester

 

[FROGO207]

They are really hard and not easy to damage. I would try it and see if things are still good. Then send it back if you feel the need. At least they could fix it for less than relpacing it.

 

[Walkalong]

I'm assumig it is a seater hand die, so a machinist can square the bottom up for you, but may be near the cost of a new die.

 

[taliv]

Well it turned out the brand was LE Wilson but what made me think it was something else was that it’s the Sinclair version with Sinclair’s micrometer top instead of the normal le Wilson top.

I’ll give them a call tomorrow.

 

[NMexJim]

I have a fairly fancy o/u clays shotgun. While cleaning the barrels, I dropped them and really folded in the muzzle and a choke tube on a concrete floor. I was sure I was going to have to replace the barrels and sent it all in to have a new set fitted to the forearm, but they came back so well repaired I couldn't tell where the damage had been. Mea culpa and many thanks to that gunsmith.

Hopefully, you have as good luck. I use LE myself and think they'll get 'er fixed for you.