quote:

belaw, I think that your friends very neat shell holder trick effectively duplicates the effect of a loose or worn ram.

Not exactly. With a slightly oversize shellholder the case is free to float on a horizontal plane only, which should resolve any slight misalignment problems between the stroke of the ram and bore of the die. But the case is still going to enter the die in line with the ram. If you've squared your die to the press, all is good at this point; but you can't really square up a press with a worn ram.