Lee press / Redding die

[Furyan]

I have had this problem for a bit as in cases not chambering in my 47L , Talk about frustrating or what now i have loaded 17HH, 223, 243, 308. All on the same press never had this problem before ?.

Once fired case , de-primed , cleaned, run through FL Redding die . But they will not chamber back into same rifle . I have screwed the Redding type s bushing die all the way in to where the locking rind has no threads , Still can not push the shoulder back enough .

On the shoulder New case is 1.465 .

On a fired case i get 1.471.  Any ideas why i can not push the shoulder back enough

[KABOOM]

2 hours ago, Furyan said:

I have had this problem for a bit as in cases not chambering in my 47L , Talk about frustrating or what now i have loaded 17HH, 223, 243, 308. All on the same press never had this problem before ?.

Once fired case , de-primed , cleaned, run through FL Redding die . But they will not chamber back into same rifle . I have screwed the Redding type s bushing die all the way in to where the locking rind has no threads , Still can not push the shoulder back enough .

On the shoulder New case is 1.465 .

On a fired case i get 1.471.  Any ideas why i can not push the shoulder back enough

A few thoughts, have the cases been fired several times? Perhaps anneal and try again. This if a new barrel could be the chamber reamer was at minimum dimension and the die at maximum dimension. Are the case necks jammed into the lead of rifling? I have encountered brass that wont resize in the neck many firings due to spring back, I didn't anneal them as they were not mine and the owner was in doubt about the number of uses. Perhaps send a fired case to Redding along with your current die and see what they can do. I find this most interesting I do hope the problem resolves simply.

 

[srvet]

Have you used a Redding shellholder with the Redding die?  From the photo I suspect not. Could be the shellholder being poorly matched to the die? Possibly try a Redding shellholder? Have heard of folk having the bottom of the die shortened for this problem before.

[Mattnall]

Can you remove the thinner lock ring? That will give you a few mm extra travel with the die. You can always use the grub screw to lock the ring to the die.

 

[srvet]

You should be able to screw the die hard against the shellholder, can you do that? 

[Ronin]

Have messaged you 

[KABOOM]

Quote

 

The Redding web site has info on this very issue. SRVET is right on track I should have thought of this. 

[Mattnall]

57 minutes ago, Mattnall said:

Can you remove the thinner lock ring? That will give you a few mm extra travel with the die. You can always use the grub screw to lock the ring to the die.

 

Sorry, I was thinking it was a different Lee press. I don't think that's possible on this one.

 

[Catch-22]

Might sound like a funny one, but what’s the length of your brass?

If it’s too long should fit in the sizing die (unsure if there’s a shelf or inner lip in Redding dies that may contact the top of the case mouth or not?) but may not close in the action if the case mouth is contacting the end of the chamber. Trimming to the right length (if too long) might help, 

[Furyan]

Many thanks for the replys

Cases once fired , I will try with the lock ring removed i have tried to rub down the lock ring on a flat surface using emery paper see if i could get a thou or so ? Cases are all trimmed cant remembered the length at the moment , But i know they are not too long. will try Redding comp shell holders today.

New press on order shortly Forster coax about time it updated .

Thanks again Ronin  -Replied

[Popsbengo]

With regard to removing or reducing the nut on the top of the die (as Matnall identifies), it does look like the die is as far in as possible and you may not have sufficient stroke on your ram to insert the case fully (the picture seems to suggest the shell holder doesn't contact the base of the die)

You can get a tall shell holder or ram extension that will effectively bring the case further up therefore you could screw the die out whilst getting a solid contact between die and shell holder.

[Furyan]

Thank you will try as i have a extended shell holder

[Miseryguts]

Hi, I may be completely wrong, but surely if the die is adjusted to touch the shell holder at the top of the stroke, screwing the die further in only adjust the point in the stroke that the die contacts the shell holder. The shoulder set back is governed by the die. The only way to change the shoulder set back is to use a set of the redding competition shellholders? or shims on the standard shell holder? Either work with my set up, but the (expensive) shellholders are the easiest on my 223 and 308

M ducking back behind the parapet in sunny monmouthshire

[Popsbengo]

2 minutes ago, Miseryguts said:

Hi, I may be completely wrong, but surely if the die is adjusted to touch the shell holder at the top of the stroke, screwing the die further in only adjust the point in the stroke that the die contacts the shell holder. The shoulder set back is governed by the die. The only way to change the shoulder set back is to use a set of the redding competition shellholders? or shims on the standard shell holder? Either work with my set up, but the (expensive) shellholders are the easiest on my 223 and 308

M ducking back behind the parapet in sunny monmouthshire

you're correct MG.  It looks like the ram is at the top and the die is all the way down without touching the shell holder.

Redding comp holders can only make the situation worse I would think?  If I start with the .010" holder and, say, go down to the 0.008" holder the case is 0.002" less inserted - not more, so making the situation worse?   That assumes the Redding 0.010" shell holder is similar to the standard shell holder of course.

[Miseryguts]

With my dies (cheapo Lee) and shellholder(Also) Lee and the redding shellholder set, on my 223 the lee die and shellholder set the shoulder back to 1.455. The chamber is 1.461 and using the redding 0.004 shellholder I reset the shoulder to 1.458 - all measurements using MY comparator

M

[Furyan]

Ok sorted think it might have been User error on my part doh, After loading for 30yrs both shotgun and rifle this is a first .

Cant say i was using the press to its full motion, Had a chat with Big AL  5min had it sorted damn i feel stupid lol.

 

 

[Popsbengo]

34 minutes ago, Furyan said:

Ok sorted think it might have been User error on my part doh, After loading for 30yrs both shotgun and rifle this is a first .

Cant say i was using the press to its full motion, Had a chat with Big AL  5min had it sorted damn i feel stupid lol.

 

 

Glad you're sorted.

For our education, what did you do?  (the only person to make no mistakes is a person that does nothing)

[Furyan]

I was not going far enough with the ram to push the shoulder back, Strange thing is i have as said before loaded 17HH 223 243 308 and never encountered this . But this is the first semi custom rifle i have had weather that is anything to do with it not sure , Just happy with all the advice from all .

[Popsbengo]

so did the extended shell holder do the trick or was it a matter of screwing in the die further?

 

[Furyan]

No it was a case of giving the Handle/ram a bit more Standard shell holder ,Nearly spent £400 on new press too .

[Popsbengo]

cheap fix 😉👍

[Furyan]

Very 👍

[KABOOM]

22 hours ago, Furyan said:

Ok sorted think it might have been User error on my part doh, After loading for 30yrs both shotgun and rifle this is a first .

Cant say i was using the press to its full motion, Had a chat with Big AL  5min had it sorted damn i feel stupid lol.

 

 

If that is the worst thing you ever do handloading your doing fine, could have been like I did and failed to keep the powders separate and wound up mixing two types in the dispenser. At least I noticed before blowing something up and working for hours, cost me 40 bucks in powder and my dog was very ashamed of me.

[Popsbengo]

1 hour ago, KABOOM said:

If that is the worst thing you ever do handloading your doing fine, could have been like I did and failed to keep the powders separate and wound up mixing two types in the dispenser. At least I noticed before blowing something up and working for hours, cost me 40 bucks in powder and my dog was very ashamed of me.

😂  as only a dog knows how..

[Ronin]

Glad it is resolved for you