Dear all

I'm hoping there is someone out there who has the X die and knows how to use it correctly to bump the shoulder back on brass.

Never had an issue with any other type if die but when attempting to do this process with the X die I seem to end up with a crushed case. Best way to describe it is that it ends up looking like a Weatherby designated cartridge case.

Pretty sure it is doable although my understanding of the X die is that it has some kind of mandrel which mitigates against trimming the case. Is this linked to the issue I am contending with?

Any advice from the more experienced than I, very appreciated.

Many thanks

First, try backing the expander/decap rod out, that's likely to be what's collapsing your cases. AFTER you get the shoulders reloacated, THEN turn the expander rod down until it's in firm contact with the case mouth and you should be fine.

Read this thread that is fairly recent:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...=994104947#994104947

Now in my experience in actions that don't lend themselves to stretching brass I've never had to trim my 308 cases. My regular 308 dies don't seem to cause them to grow much if any in the resizing operation.

I'm sure Larry Gibson will explain your case crumpling when trying to set the shoulder back with X dies. I don't own them.

I bought a x die and the fellow I got it from told me to follow the instructions to the letter.
He was right.
Mine is for the 30-30 and if not set up right it will buckle the shoulder.

As mentioned the mandrel is not adjusted right for that lot of cases IF those cases are all the same length. If they aren't the same length +/- .005 then they need to be Sized with the mandrel backked out and trimed. If the oal those cases are close to the same then the mandrel needs to be backed out and properly adjusted as per the instructions.

Larry Gibson

Many thanks fellas very appreciated.

Unfortunately, the instructions that came with the set were for the standard FL die set.

Some very useful advice there and I will follow it and hopefully sort the problem.

Many thanks

JB