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The body die

macv

Private
Minuteman
Sep 16, 2004
57
0
87
no. wisconsin. USA
Upon shooting the other day, I found that it was very hard to extract the fired case. Well I new what I had to do when I got back home. The cal. is 223 Rem, the brass is Lapua, and I use the Redding Comp. neck size die set. So I used the body die to bump the shldr. back. Loaded a dummy round in the chamber and found that it still would not come out without running the bolt up and down several times. OK, reajust the body die. Several times. Same thing. Now Im at the point where I do not want to lower the die anymore. I tried another die that I have which is a FL die. It worked liked a charm. Case in, case out. No problems. My question is this. Isn't a body die to FL size the case as my FL die does? Talked with a tech at Sinclair who said it should. What's going on. I do like my 6BR Type S FL die, so I thought that would be the easy way to keep my cases in good shape. Got one coming in a couple of days. Has anyone had the same experience with a BODY DIE?
 
Re: The body die

Use a micrometer, measure the body before being sized, and then after. If the measurement is the same, then the chamber is tighter than the body die. The body die will never work.. unless the chamber is polished modified!

The the other FL die another brand of die?

Could be one possible answer.

Cheers
 
Re: The body die

The other FL die is of the same brand. Redding. I did measure the base of the fired case first. After sizeing with the FL case, it measures a little over 1 thou. more than the body die. All measurents of the case were taken first before I ever started to size. The only measurement that was different was at the base, which the FL die took cars of. It seems like the body die was just a little larger at that area. The area that it was needed the most.
 
Re: The body die

I started out with redding body die, and a lee collet for the necks, but I could never get the body die adjusted properly to bump the shoulder back without it full sizing the case body.

I gave up and bought the Forster bump neck bushing die, and have never looked back.

Giles.
 
Re: The body die

macv,

How far are you bringing your die down?
Mine touches the shell holder, then i have to bring it down some more till there is some tension against the ram. This will bring my shouder back 4 thou.
I'm using Redding dies, sizing Lap brass (308) in a RCBS single stage press. I thought i may have bought the die down to far, but it looks ok, havn't damaged anything. I havn't put that many cases through the body die, 500 cases approx.


Regards, Albert.
 
Re: The body die

Hi, I have brought my die down to where it is more than just touching the shell holder and it still will not size the base of the case as much as I need it to. As far as bumping the shldr. back, I was able to bump it back 1 thou. I called Redding and talked to a tech. and he told me that all dies were reemed with the same reemer. Told me to send it in and they would check it out for me. My body die did everything it was supposed to do except size the very base. It needed to be about 1 to 1 1/2 thou. more. I just recieved a new Redding type S fl die yesterday and am going to try it out today. I have very good luck with one for my 6BR. Will report back later. Hopefully I will resize some cases that were giving me a problem the other day, then load some and shoot. I will know right away if all is good.
 
Re: The body die

I recently bought a Redding 223 SB body die from a nice guy here for a song and I was having a bit of trouble with the shoulder bumps using my Dillon 550b. Most would size, but some would not and I was at the limit of travel with my shellplate.

I took a Dremel tool and their 1+" wide, fine grinding wheel and took .003"-.004" off the bottom of the die in a clean manner.

Problem solved.

I figured it was easier going this route, than it was to take metal off the 4 'U' shaped cutouts on my shellplate.

Sometimes, things just aren't shallow enough, to get a particular sizing die to work with that brand of equipment.

Chris
 
Re: The body die

Good going Chris. Well yesterday I had the chance to work with the new 'S' die. I used a fired case that was very hard to extract from my chamber and used it to set up the new die. Bumped the shldr. back 1 thou. and loaded 6 rounds. Took a ride to the range, and fired them. The bolt closed easily on a loaded round and came out the same way. Works the way it should. Very happy. guess I can always go back to my comp. nk die if I still want to. But the way that I am looking at it now, is why. Before I used to size just the necks, and then I had to bump them and or fl size them from time to time. Now that was making use of 3 different dies. Now I"m only useing one. It sizes the nk. to the dia. that I want, and it is sizeing the body at the very minimum. A case that now fits very well in my chamber and is not overworked. I can live with that very easily. I think this is the way to go. But that's only my opinion. Now, back to more reloading.