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Posted: 4/15/2010 7:26:01 AM EDT
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Interesting discovery concerning my Dillon .223 resizing / decapping die on my 650. Adjusted all the way down, it's been bumping the shoulder on my .223 cases barely on the long side (when checked in a Dillon case gauge). When I'd run them in my Wylde chambered A4, I notice that any unfired rounds were a bit tight to extract. I admit I have been lazy and as I rarely extract unfired rounds, I've ignored it. After I installed that thrust bearing upgrade, I found that my die was adjusted too low and now bound up a bit at the end of the stroke. This is because before the bearing upgrade, my shellplate was tipping a bit as the die end contacted it and now the bearing was preventing that. So, I needed to readjust my die. That is where I made my discovery. While adjusting it, I found that even adjusted to interference with the shellplate, the shoulder wasn't bumped back enough and I was out of spec. Realizing that my die body was too long, I sliced off .020", broke the inside edge, and rounded the outside edge on the die. I reinstalled it and now am able to adjust it so the shoulder is in the middle of the spec range. I made up 10rds for a chambering test and they all worked slick as snot. Just an FYI. |
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COSteve
I hope my questions are not considered a thread hijack. When I read your post it brought a few questions to mind. I think I have read before that you have a RT1200. If so, are you sizing/trimming or just trimming with it? The reason I ask is that I just purchased the RT1200 and I am trying to get my brass processing toolhead all set up. Should I be sizing brass in a separate step or just let the Rapid Trim do it? All the 223 I have loaded has been with commercially processed brass and now I am trying to get set up to process my own. Thanks for the help. jonblack |
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Quoted:
Interesting discovery concerning my Dillon .223 resizing / decapping die on my 650. Adjusted all the way down, it's been bumping the shoulder on my .223 cases barely on the long side (when checked in a Dillon case gauge). When I'd run them in my Wylde chambered A4, I notice that any unfired rounds were a bit tight to extract. I admit I have been lazy and as I rarely extract unfired rounds, I've ignored it. After I installed that thrust bearing upgrade, I found that my die was adjusted too low and now bound up a bit at the end of the stroke. This is because before the bearing upgrade, my shellplate was tipping a bit as the die end contacted it and now the bearing was preventing that. So, I needed to readjust my die. That is where I made my discovery. While adjusting it, I found that even adjusted to interference with the shellplate, the shoulder wasn't bumped back enough and I was out of spec. Realizing that my die body was too long, I sliced off .020", broke the inside edge, and rounded the outside edge on the die. I reinstalled it and now am able to adjust it so the shoulder is in the middle of the spec range. I made up 10rds for a chambering test and they all worked slick as snot. Just an FYI. Sir, I assume you are speaking specifically of a sizing/decapping die seperate and apart from the trim die you prep the brass with your Dillon trimmer. Therefore what I understand from your comments is that you are resizing your brass after you trim it, the reverse of the accepted norm? Back in the day I was shooting .308 Winchester in competition with my M1As I bought a Forester NM resizing/decapping die which is actually a small base die according to Forester. When I began resizing my brass with it I too found that I had to cam over the shell in the die and the die bottomed out on the case holder/shell plate. With my case gage I found that I was not getting enough shoulder set back so I shaved .010" from the base of the die and broke the inside edge just like you did. This allowed me to set the case shoulder back enough so the case fit in the case gage about half way between the min. and the max. Functioning in the rifle was flawless and I never gave it a second thought until you mentioned it. When I started reloading .223 Remington for competition I bought a Redding FL die and adjusted it to set back the case shoulder .003" as measured with an RCBS case mic. I never had any incidence of the die contacting the shell holder. I guess what I'm trying to illustrate is that perhaps the manufacturing tolerances of some of the die makers are different which reinforces the notion that the rudimentary instructions the die makers give for die set up are truly inadequate for the purpose. The point being for those starting out is that you really need some means to measure case shoulder set back such as a case gage or RCBS case mic. FWIW, in high power competition it is not uncommon to have to extract a loaded cartridge. There are a few ranges, including Camp Perry, that occasionally have boats in the impact area and a cease fire/unload will be announced until they can chase the boat away. HTH, 7zero1. |
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7zero1's got it right, I decap/resize in station #1 and then trim in station #4 (on my 650, #3 in a 550), however, I have the trim die set so it doesn't really resize the case, just crimps the neck back down a bit. While some don't like the smaller dia neck, I find that my 55grn, 62grn, and 68 Hornady bullets do just fine so I'm happy. |
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