Redding 40 S&W Sizing Die Issue

[Walkalong]

I just went and checked my Redding .40 S&W sizer. I haven't found dial/digital calipers to be a good way to get inside measurements, at least not for me. I too get .414 with my digital calipers. My .415 Pin Gauge will pass inside the ring and my .416 Pin Gauge will not.

It will be interesting to see what the OPs wrong ring measures.

 

[markr6754]

It's hard to say, If his die is defective I doubt Redding will tell him exactly what the problem is anyways.
We'll see.

Actually, this is the Corrective Action for Case Number 180579 (that’s me).
“Inspected and found incorrect ring diameter for the sizing die. Replaced with new, tested and sized five cases and seated the 3 bullets with no issues.”

I sent 10 cases and 3 bullets along with the complete die set. They return the 3 dummy rounds and the 7 cases, 2 of which were resized, and the other 5 were as I sent them. These were the first cases I re-resized before pulling out a box of WIN cases I’d previously sorted and boxed for reloading. I’m going to keep the dummy rounds for comparative purposes. They seated and crimped 3 which allows me to attempt to duplicate these with primers and powder.

 

[markr6754]

I just went and checked my Redding .40 S&W sizer. I haven't found dial/digital calipers to be a good way to get inside measurements, at least not for me. I too get .414 with my digital calipers. My .415 Pin Gauge will pass inside the ring and my .416 Pin Gauge will not.

It will be interesting to see what the OPs wrong ring measures.

Well, we can only go by the measures I took previously, the inner diameter measured .4205, which resulted in brass sizing to .4225, essentially, finished round dimensions. I don’t own any pin gauges, though I tried to buy a set on eBay 2 weeks ago...I was far outbid, and the final bid was $155, which I believe to be $55 more than a new set of .250 to .500 gauges. Go figure. I’m glad that I didn’t win.

 

[Walkalong]

I have these, not real cheap, not top quality. You can always check them with your micrometer.

https://www.tormach.com/store/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=33247

You can always just buy whatever sizes you need here and there, easier to buy top quality that way. Still adds up after awhile. I did that at first but finally broke down and bought a set.

 

[markr6754]

Walkalong, at present, I do not own a micrometer. I’m skills challenged in this regard. I’ve had a chance to buy one...but had no idea what I’d do with it...so I passed. I do have multiple sets of calipers. I made a few errors reading my dial caliper, so I bought my first low cost digital...which turned out to be near useless as it only reads to 2 decimals. My new Hornady digital is capable of 3.5 decimals...ie .4205. It won’t read .4204 or .4206.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

T.T.: You owning Redding dies maybe can help. From OP's measurements and your experience I have a question. The original ring would have been made for what cartridge?

Carbide rings are only used in pistol caliber and straight walled cases.

That limits the choices as to what this ring could have been made for.

Unless Redding's carbide ring supplier for single ring dies over bored the rings from the get go the only closest thing would be the lower ring from a dual ring die.
Especially since Redding said it wasn't defective, they said it had the wrong ring in it.

My dual ring dies have better neck tension than my single ring dies have bullet for bullet. I get 35-40lbs neck tension with my RCBS single ring carbide dies with plated bullets from RMR and 50 and up with the same bullet in the same case after being resized in the dual ring die.
I use a Shimpo strain gauge to check them with. It isn't calibrated above 50 lbs so I have no NIST cert to prove that it's accurate above 50 lbs. It goes to 100lbs so I don't know why it wouldn't be really close. It was just never calibrated higher than 50.

I just checked my Redding .357mag dual ring carbide die and the lower ring mic'ed at .373, my single ring RCBS carbide die mic'ed at .370. That .003" difference means no neck tension. That is with dial calipers and like Walkalong said, the flats on the edges of the dial calipers don't give a true inside measure but I'm not taking the time to get my hole gauges out. I need Micrometers to read them and they are at work.

Edit:
I corrected my opening statement to from saying carbide dies are only used in straight walled cases. 9mm are not straight walled cases and they are carbide.

 

[LiveLife]

I don’t own any pin gauges

How about $5 for Vermont pin gauge sized .400"? - https://www.zoro.com/vermont-gage-pin-gage-4000-minus-class-zz-blox-911240000/i/G0688600/

"... found incorrect ring diameter for the sizing die. Replaced with new, tested and sized five cases and seated the 3 bullets with no issues.”

So with new sizer ring in the die, are you still having issues?

 

[markr6754]

bds, as reported in post #47, I tested and resized 100 cases, and all plunked nicely in the Lyman Ammo Check block. I re-verified that the cases sized with the previous sizing die didn't fit in the Lyman, and after sizing with the replacement die they fit perfectly. I went ahead and resized another 100 cases, plus the additional 7 returned to me from Redding. Then I pulled the bullets from the 3 that Redding seated using my die set, as they weren’t even close to spec C.O.L., measuring 1.173” and 1.174”. My load book doesn’t get above 1.135”, so clearly, keeping those dummy loads as reference rounds would be nonsense.

As to buying a .400” pin gauge, I don’t see any value in that. The purpose of the pin gauge was to verify the diameter of the sizing ring. I know that the sizing ring is larger than .400”. Even my Berry’s bullets are larger, measuring .401”, according to both the box, and my calipers.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

This goof on the 40 S&W dies sure runs contrary to reports on specialized rifle dies. These products includes bump dies, body dies, and adjustable shell holders etc. One would almost think that the handgun dies were an annoyance or distant sideline for the company. On the other hand, Redding CS did well. Some of us are still interested in exactly what cartridge the original sizing ring was intended.

 

[LiveLife]

Thank you for the update (I thought post #52 was the update post).

Read post #47 - I love happy endings.

 

[Steve in NC]

Shell holder: I'd be willing to bet, based on the way TC dies are made, that's not the case (terrible pun...).

Terry and all,
I owe everyone an apology. You shouldn't work for 50 hrs straight and hit a couple message boards to try and wind down to go to sleep. I was responding thinking this was steel dies, but obviously not. Agree with the complete assessment of the carbide ring sizing in a cylinder.
Anyway I see Redding fixed the OPs issue but wanted to apologize for the mis-information. I'm an attention to detail type person, but I guess after long hours of stress I need to refrain from commenting until I get some sleep. Back to work now, but wanted to make sure we are all square.

Steve

 

[Mowgli Terry]

I may have come across too strong. If so, I apologize. My excuse is old age and dilapidation. Everybody, take care and be safe.