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Posted: 9/10/2011 3:29:55 PM EDT
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On my LNL AP, I can't seem to set up a sizing die to properly size without having to cam over the press lever. If I have the sizing dies set up to touch the shell plate on the top of the upstroke, the cases never fall within the edges of my Dillon headspace check. I've heard that having the press cam over repeatedly can be bad for it. Is it normal to have the press cam over during sizing? Or am I doing something wrong? Thanks. |
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I've set up a fair number of Dillon 550's so it happens with that press too. I avoid the issue altogether just size all my rifle brass on a single stage press. This has a couple of advantages: - no need to cam over - frees up the progressive press to be setup with another caliber - requires one less dedicated toolhead that would just be used for sizing die - avoids a caliber change which can be a PITA on a progressive just to size a small lot for example |
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Quoted: I ground .05 off the end of my .223 die that I use on my Hornady AP press....after I ground down the die I added a nice lead in chamfer as well. Hmmm, now that my Hornady FL sizing die is sitting alone, I might just give that a shot and see if it works well... What'd you use to grind it off btw? Sand paper? |
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It's easy to sand (emery cloth) single stage shell holders. It's not so easy to sand hardened and polished resizing dies. I would suggest contacting Hornady, they will do it right for a small fee. A machine shop equipped with a surface grinder could do it too.
.003" to .005" seems like plenty and you may be able to do it at home but I doubt you'll get it perfectly square. Most dies have a relief cut that does not touch the shell casing at the entrance. Removing material up to that point should not damage your die irreversably. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I ground .05 off the end of my .223 die that I use on my Hornady AP press....after I ground down the die I added a nice lead in chamfer as well. Hmmm, now that my Hornady FL sizing die is sitting alone, I might just give that a shot and see if it works well... What'd you use to grind it off btw? Sand paper? I work in a machine shop, I used a Cutter Master grinder. I think you'd be forever with a piece of sandpaper doing it. If you have a local machine shop or tool grinding shop you could likely get it done very cheaply. It only took me a few minutes with the right tool |
| I haven't had the chance to really go over this with calipers, but I've been wanting to mic a few shellplates from various manufacturers to inspect them for dimensional differences. My suspicion is that a lot of these circumstances of cases not being sized completely could be due to die/shellplate combinations from different manufacturers. I have no way of testing this unless I buy a lot of shellplates, or maybe some of you guys could mic your shellplate, state the mfg and plate no. and then a measurement from the bottom to the top of the plate. I'd like to hear from you guys that run into these sizing issues, what mfg die you are using, press, and shellplates. Also, not all shellplates are created equal, there could be some play in tolerances even in 1 manufacturer's product line. |
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Quoted:
I haven't had the chance to really go over this with calipers, but I've been wanting to mic a few shellplates from various manufacturers to inspect them for dimensional differences. My suspicion is that a lot of these circumstances of cases not being sized completely could be due to die/shellplate combinations from different manufacturers. I have no way of testing this unless I buy a lot of shellplates, or maybe some of you guys could mic your shellplate, state the mfg and plate no. and then a measurement from the bottom to the top of the plate. I'd like to hear from you guys that run into these sizing issues, what mfg die you are using, press, and shellplates. Also, not all shellplates are created equal, there could be some play in tolerances even in 1 manufacturer's product line. You are exactly right, I just happen to have about 5+ shell holders in every caliber I reload for and they are all different. My two LnL AP classic presses have about .003" difference in them using the same shell holder and same die/bushing combo but I was able to find two shell holder with .003" difference in them and put them in the correct press so that now I can swap a sizing die from one press to the next and they set the shoulder back the exact same amount. It was easier to test this with a seating die, I seated a bullet in press #1 and then swapped the shell holder and die to press #2 and it didn't seat the bullet any deeper. So I did the test starting with press #2, I seated the bullet and swapped to press #1 and ran the case into the seating die again and this time the bullet seated .003" deeper, so press #1 has .003" more ram travel than press #2. I took and seated another bullet in press #2 using the shell holder from press #1 and took a measurement, then I went through my shell holders and seated a bullet with each one until I found one that seated .003" deeper than the shell holder being used in press #1. Then I seated a bullet with both presses and verified that the seating depth was the same on both, which it was checking the base to ogive length on two seated match bullets and many cases and bullets between then and now. While I was doing that I found shell holders that were all different heights, some were +.001" and some -.005" and most are the same brand shell holders from Hornady but some RCBS shell holders varied just as much if not more. Now I have a shell holder in each caliber marked #1 & #2 so I know which press they go in. The main reason I did this was so I could swap my Dillon trimmers between presses and not have to adjust the sizing die after noticing a difference the first time I did it, now the trimmers are only used in my progressive press which sizes just as consistently after setting it correctly. |
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