As you guys probably know, the Redding dies don't have a hole for the excess lube to come out when FL sizing. The solution is to use the absolute minimum lube, but after a few cases, it builds up and you end up with wrinkles on the case. You can keep cleaning the die after so many rounds, but that's a pain also.

I was wondering if anyone has tried drilling a small hole where the shoulder of the die is located? How did it work out? What size hole did you drill? How did you deburr the hole from the inside?

Regards,
Kory

reloading dies are made from 12L14 screwstock and case hardened to 87.5 15N minimum.....that's equivalent to about 60 Rc.....even a carbide drill will have a difficult time of that task.

RCBS puts an airvent hole below the shoulder/body junction on their FL dies. I don't think a vent hole will relieve excess lubricant in a FL die.

Wipe your die out with a paper towel over a pencil and then lube the cases on just the bodies and a tiny bit on each neck. I use my fingers for this.

If the body of the case requires a lot of sizing then rub some lube near the bottom-inside of the die with a q-tip before getting the first case stuck in there.

I did get air dents using a Redding FL die on 270 WSM case. I prefer RCBS for standard FL dies.

A small EDM burner will burn a burr free hole through that die without any warpage or distortion. Should not cost more than a few ($10-15) bucks at a good machine shop.
Rustystud

Vapodog -



This is not intended as a disagreement with or repudiation of your note on the material and heat treatment of sizing dies..,.please do not take it that way.



I frequently alter currently available dies for myself and others. Although I have often read that they are harder than the hinges of Hell, that has NOT been my experience when re-machining them. (At least not to date...) Have yet to find one that is not easy to drill, and easy to cut cleanly and smoothly on the lathe.



Don't recall if that includes Reddings or not, but usually I don't even bother to note the make of die. I DO know that it includes RCBS, Lyman, and Lee, as I have done all of those quite recently using standard high-speed tooling.



That suggests to me that at least SOME makers do not harden their dies much, if at all.



Alberta Canuck

Alberta - That has been my experience as well...although I do use carbide tooling I have made many alterations in size dies and found that....other than a surface hardening of less than .002" most are quite easy to machine either by drilling or turning in a lathe.

Alberta:

Quote:

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Vapodog -

This is not intended as a disagreement with or repudiation of your note on the material and heat treatment of sizing dies..,.please do not take it that way.

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Ok...fair enough.....I'll retract that.....and just say that of the two major mfr's of reloading dies I've worked for and designed dies for.....and I assure you you've heard of them....this has been the case.
It's truly unfair of me to then say they all do it this way.....but I suppose some might try to hard chrome them.....don't know.....

I doubt seriously that anyone isn't hardening (at least the resizing die) them as they just wouldn't work at all in the soft state. The seating die can be left "as is" because there's no real work done by the die body itself.....only the seating stem and in fact that too can be left soft.

I have machined the resizing dies in the lathe but one must get under the case.....and it's not that hard to do. Carbide cutters will handle a 60Rc case.....but to try to drill a (for example).06 dia hole in a case hardened 60Rc steel is not going to be an easy task..... Hi speed steel runs about Rc 65

I haven't heard a cobalt drill bit mentioned. I have a set and heard that they'll drill thru armor. Will they go through a sizing die? I don't think I would attempt it, because I'd be afraid of a burr on the inside..

A cobalt drill is simply a hi-speed steel drill with (IIRC 5%) cobalt added and it helps to increase the surface feet at which it can be turned.....They also last longer in the cut in production machines. Hardness isn't much (if any) better than a normal Hi-Speed steel and it probably won't be of significant help in drilling hardened steels.

Drill thru armor maybe......armor isn't normally hard.....

It must be remembered that thinly case hardened steels can be broken easily.....at least the "crust" and once the crust is broken the material under it is very soft. Large diameter drills can break this crust not by cutting them.....but by shear brute force of pressure and abrasion and when it's brokeb thru it will appear to cut ok.....

These drills will need sharpening since the chisel edge is badly "smeared" doing this.

Kory, maybe this is going around the barn to get to the horse, but do you think Redding would put that hole in for you if you sent the die back to them. If you have issues like you stated in the die causing buckling etc. maybe Redding would be willing to help.
Just a thought....

Regards--Don

Kory.....are you using a spray lube?????

PM sent

Carbide drills aren't all that expensive and will easily get through the case, BUT...it pays to be careful to use the carbide bit ONLY to get through the case. When they "pop" through into a soft interior, you can snap them on occasion.

With all my hundreds of loading dies, I do not suffer the problem described here (case denting) anyway. I'd try either using less lubricant, or not lubing every case that goes into the die, until I found an approach that worked satisfactorily. In particular, I'm surprised by it happening with Imperial Sizing Die Wax, which gives no significant build-up in my dies, for whatever reason(s).

Alberta Canuck

KORY - another thought...



Try lubing only that portion of the case below the shoulder on all of the cases, and on the exterior of the neck about every third case. I did have to do that when using the old Herter's lube in the late 1950's. There was rumour at the time that it was little more than 30-weight motor oil,, but I don't really believe that. Anyway, it was exceeding "runny".



If you lube the exterior of the neck of the case, the oil is pushed down the neck to the shoulder when you shove the neck into the die. This naturally causes the oil to be trapped there IF you are setting the shoulder back at the same time and there is no space for it to escape around the shoulder and down the body of the case. In most dies I have tried, the surface area of the neck is small enough that the press has plenty of leverage to size just the neck of most any case with or without lube, so long as the amount it is sized is not grossly excessive.



If you lube only the part of the case below the shoulder, then pushing the case into the die should just move any excess lube back along the case body as the case progressively makes contact with the die interior.



It may still be necessary to lube the INSIDE of every case neck very lightly, depending on the shape/length/diameter of the expander ball.



Good luck,



Alberta Canuck

The vent hole might let air out but most lubes can't escape fast enough through the usual vent holes. You didn't metion what case you are having trouble with. The worst denter I ever had was a 7-08 Remington in a set of RCBS dies. It took quite a bit of practice to get the minimum amount of lube on this case without producing dents.
Other related problems include dies that size the case excessively. This requires a lot of lube to prevent the case from sticking and tearing the rim off. Once you get enough lube to prevent sticking you also get denting. The worst offenders for me have been 7X57 cases in a Lyman sizer which is also vented.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. In 45 years of reloading, I've never had a stuck case or lube crunched shoulder. I think this is probably due to the teacher I had who taught me to use a lube pad where, if you press a finger to it and rub the finger with a thumb, you can feel the lube, but you cannot see the lube on the pad. (about 1 teaspoon of lube spread over the pad and thoroughly rubbed in.) When I lube cases, I simply roll them firmly on the pad. That puts enough lube on the case that I can feel it, but not see it. The neck gets whatever lube comes from pressing a finger on the pad and rubbing the neck with it; again, enough to feel but not see. I never get lube on the shoulder. This is probably a backwoods way of doing things, but W.T.H. I do live in the backwoods and it works. I usually size 100 cases at a time and seldom think to clean out a die between uses. Why make a very simple task complicated?

Kory, frustrating dilema. You obviously know enough to have figured out a minimum amount of lube to use, and from reading your posts I think this isn't the only cartridge you reload for and your issues are unique to this die/caliber. Having said that, I think I would be apt to change the die at this point. Having to get more specific about lubing your cases than you have already is bull. You didn't mention the caliber, but I had a friend who had a similar issue with a 300 win mag die from LEE. He replaced his with a Redding (ironic I know) and never had a single issue. I just wonder if this particular die was made near the end of tolerance on the tooling and it is slightly undersize, exacerbating your problem. Maybe try a new redding if they'll make it good?
Regards-Don

I use a little Hornady "Unique" on my fingers to lube cases and I have never had a problem. I also dip the neck of the case in powdered mica and the run a nylon bore brush in the case mouth then resize. Haven't crunched or dented a case yet. All of my reloading dies are Redding or RCBS, sans one set of Lee dies.