I set up to make the first 338-06 cases and do some dummies for action cycle proving. New set of Redding dies.

Ran a few cases through the sizing process, but when I tried to seat a bullet ... it crushed the case. So I tried again after carefully chamfering the case mouth ... crushed the case again.

Looked at things. Could not see a problem.

Seated a bullet in a sized and chamfered case with a 338 Win Mag seating die. Worked fine.

Then it dawned on me ... maybe the new Redding die set was screwed up. I looked carefully at the thing. You know what ... the decapping rod had been assembled into the seating die, and the seating plug had been assembled into the sizing die AT THE FACTORY.

Put the right parts of the die with the proper die body ... and everything works just fine! What a silly goof to have to troubleshoot and correct.

Another sneak attack by Mr. Murphy.

Hi mstarling,

I always take new dies apart and thoroughly clean the factory preservative out before their first use. Maybe it's a good thing I do for more than one reason now!

Regards
Bob