I finally had to full length my cases and low and behold the die is to long and does not push the shoulder back enough to chamber properly. Any ideas on how to shorten die, besides sending it back to die company? I thought a file but my files are not as wide as die. Maybe grind down shell holder be a better route. Maybe these methods would not be true and make things worse. I would send dies back but do not have the time to wait, hunt to close.
Decap, remove the expander from your die, put a .004" feeler gauge under the case in the shellholder and try it. If that doesn't do it, try a .006" gauge, and so on until it chambered or you can't get a gauge in. (Unlikely). Then replace the expander and do the necks.
If you've got a universal decapper, use it and remove the decapping pin from your F.L. die and do the cases in 2 passes.
Once you know how much you need to take off the die or shellholder (shellholders are cheaper if there's a goof-up), find an engine rebuilder with an old valve grinder. He can grind it back to a thousandth.
Bye Jack
Posts: 176 | Location: Saskatchewan | Registered: 14 January 2001
Frank, grind your shell holder, it's cheaper to replace than the dies if it don't give you the results your looking for. You could chuck up the shell holder in a drill press and hit it with a grinder. grind it deep enough that the die don't make contact with it at full stroke. It should not affect the die at all.
I've had 2 FL dies that were too long. One I sent back to RCBS, it came back .07 shorter. That was a 257Robt. The next was a 6.5X257AI. I chucked it in my lathe and trimmed it back .05 using a carbide tool bit. End of problem. I can understand if the case is belted or a rimmed case where you you wouldn't want to mess up the headspace at the back of the die, but a rimmless with out a belt? If one does not get carried (and take to much) away all you have to do is reset the locking ring once a few thousands are trimmed off.
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