I was looking at a few of my dies today, some only a year or two old and others I have inherited, and noticed the the de-capping stems in some appear to be off center. When I spin the shaft it becomes apparent that they are off center although it does appear that the stems get at least close to center when I tighten them well.

Of the newer dies that do this (Redding's) there is no more than 1000 rounds through the most heavily used.

I am just getting to the point that I am interested in measuring run-out but do not have a gauge so I don't know how bad my rounds are.

This may sound like a really dumb question, but is this normal? Could it be that the press I am using, which I also inherited, is causing this in some way? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by NewReloader:

This may sound like a really dumb question, but is this normal?

Yes, this is a common gripe against Redding. I don't believe it makes any difference.

And I don't believe the stems are getting bent from use. IME they are like that when new.

align them centered and tighten down the locking nuts...

Hey NewReloader, I've been trying to remember how far back I started placing a small Rubber(now Synthetic) "O-Ring" around the Expander Stem and lightly Snug-it-up under the Lock Nut. In my "mind" it assists in centering the Expander as it is being withdrawn from the Case, by allowing the Expander to Tilt slightly. However, I've never wasted time measuring Run Out, so that could be Full-of-Beans.

I'd asked my buddy - the esteemed(or just steamed) Mr. Woods - about it a long time ago and he thought the O-Ring didn't help a thing. He even ran a Test with one of his buddies, but since they are friends of mine, neither is to be trusted.

They decided the Lee Collet Die (Thingy) was the best thing to come along to reduce or eliminate Run Out to a useable degree. Plenty of threads on Run Out if you use the "Find" feature above.

But, I don't worry about it and my rifles still shoot just fine.

Best of luck to you.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
align them centered and tighten down the locking nuts...

That's how it should be done. If the case neck isn't true, then the bullet seated in it can't be true either. A good varmint rifle will show negative results on paper if bullet run out exceeds .0035" and a custom rifle might balk at half that.

On some of my redding dies I just let the expander/decap stem float in the threads and leave the lock nut loose.

I had the same problem, New. I ran thousands through a .223 die, then stuck one. Sent it off and bought another while waiting for the first one to come back. I bent the pin in the new die and all three new decapping spindles I bought as back-ups. The fix, as is described by others, is to run your lubed case up into the die with the decapping spindle loose. Tighten the spindle with the case all the way in. You should have no more problems. It worked for me...