I got one of those hand held trimmer, guage things by lee for the 45-70 Gov. When I try to guage a case, it seems the thing wont enter all the way. The cases are 2.10 long which is correct, but the guage still is out about 1/8" or so from the case mouth. it won't touch the mouth. the little pin that goes through the flash hole, does not enter the primer pocket. The Brass is once fire, and Full length sized. as per the instructions. any ideas?

You might need to debur the flash hole or there is something out of spec. with the guage . I have never had this problem .

quote:

Originally posted by al5:
I got one of those hand held trimmer, guage things by lee for the 45-70 Gov. When I try to guage a case, it seems the thing wont enter all the way. The cases are 2.10 long which is correct, but the guage still is out about 1/8" or so from the case mouth. it won't touch the mouth. the little pin that goes through the flash hole, does not enter the primer pocket. The Brass is once fire, and Full length sized. as per the instructions. any ideas?

The pin that goes through the flash hole is supposed to enter the primer pocket; that's how it determines final depth, when the pin contacts the shell holder. The suggestion that you de-burr your flashhole might not be a bad idea.

I would also double check to make sure you have the pilot/guage screwed into the cutter properly.

I had some Remington pistol ammo which had the flash hole off center, and I couldn't even remove the spent primers!!! I just threw them out.... I couldn't believe how bad they were!!

al5,

All very good advice above.

You also mentioned that the brass has been sized, so obviously the primer has been removed?

I always polish the expanded button on my Dies; ususally with some cutting oil on a used piece of 1000 grade wet/dry paper - just makes the drag on the cae neck smooter when resizing IME.

I have noticed when I do this (because I've reduced the expander diameter minutely) that I also have to polish the stud on the Lee Gauges as the case neck fit can be pretty close, especially since the 45/70 is a pretty straight-walled case.

Try some metal polish on the stud with it held in a electric screwdriver (carefully - don't reduce it's diameter - just polish) and see if that helps.

Hey al5, Without putting the Case in the Shell Holder, stick the Trimmer(with Length Gauge attached) into the Case.

1. Does the end of the Tip extend through the Primer Pocket?

2. What is the overall length of the Length Gauge - from the end of the Tip to the point where it makes contact with the Cutter?

3. What is the overall length of your "Resized and Deprimed" Case?

al5
You must remove the primer first.