I have a hornady 6br full length bushing die set. I have been using it for several month and been reloading for around to years. This is my first experience with bushing dies honestly I ordered them by accident. Here is the problem I can grab a fired piece of brass and chamber it in either one of our rifles me and my son have the action barrel and setup the brass goes in easy and bolt goes down with little to no resistance. When I size the brass and put it in the rifle I get resistance like what you wouldn’t get when neck sizing brass and being on the verge of needing to body size. I am using hornady spray lube I have cleaned the die and my next step is stainless steel tumbling the brass and retrying. I don’t think this resistance would be enough for me that I would even notice it in a match situation but my son is only 13 and 80lbs soaking wet. I’ve tried the die at all different levels thinking maybe could just catch the neck. This was new brass that I sized and then loaded so it’s on its 2nd loading. I’ve loaded over 500 rounds withs these dies and lapua brass and haven’t had this problem. I’ve ordered a Redding full length sizer but I’m afraid it will change neck tension and throw off my dope for the match I have this weekend. Any suggestions.
Bushing die question
- Thread starter bschneiderheinze
- Start date
Start taking comparative measurements of every dimension you can between the fired and sized case. You can also sharpie up a case, try chambering it, and see where the interference is. Are you pushing the shoulders back during sizing? I don’t think it’s the neck.
It’s not the neck I have even tried trimming back the neck. I think its apparent either the shoulders or bases are getting pushed out I just don’t understand why. They do look like there leaving slight marks in the shoulder area after chambering
How much are you pushing the shoulder back during sizing? How did you set up the die? If the body is being sized down, but the die shoulder isn’t contacting the shoulder of the case, the case shoulder will move forward slightly. Do you have a Hornady comparator. If not, get one. If you do, take some measurements.
If the dies screwed all the way down how could the shoulder not be getting bumped back unless the die is broke
Dies vary just like chambers do, since they are manufactured in the exact same way. You’re die could be out of spec (long), or your shell holder could be out of spec as well, or a combination of both. Is the die set deep enough so it’s in fairly hard contact with the shell holder (camming over slightly) at full press stroke? If not, press deflection may cause you to not get the case all the way Into the died which can result in too little sizing. You can usually see this if you size a case, hold the press handle down, and look for light between the die bottom and shell holder.
Fwiw, for many die/cartridge combos, screwing the die down so it’s contacting a standard shell holder can massively OVER size cases, which causes excessive headspace. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be, but like I said, stuff varies or is out of spec. I’ll say it again. Get a tool to measure case headspace. Get the Hornady headspace comparator! Don’t buy a wilson case gauge either.
Fwiw, for many die/cartridge combos, screwing the die down so it’s contacting a standard shell holder can massively OVER size cases, which causes excessive headspace. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be, but like I said, stuff varies or is out of spec. I’ll say it again. Get a tool to measure case headspace. Get the Hornady headspace comparator! Don’t buy a wilson case gauge either.
Perhaps try backing the sizing die out and only partially size the neck, am guessing that it may be screwed in too far, and causing dimensions elsewhere, at the base just ahead of the web perhaps, to expand, which may be causing your difficulty. The idea of coloring the case with a sharpie and seeing where the rub marks are, will help diagnosing the issue too.
This die actually worked fine for 500-600 rounds I’m thinking its either dirty or I switched shell holders. I never thought about the shell holder but I have a couple different I use and this one just didn’t seeem right.
I backed it way out. Far enough that it wouldn’t not kicked out the spent primer anymore. I tried sizing just the neck but couldn’t get it backed it far enough. I’ll clean it again tomorrow and and try a different shell holder I’m sure the problem lies somewhere in there
Cleaned it and changed the shell holder from a 3 to a 4 and it’s working fine now. Don’t know which fixed it but I have a bunch of brass to size tomorrow. Thanks for the help
