My 25-06AI case would not go into the FL sizer die far enough to set the shoulder back enough to chamber easily .. so I did a butcher job on a grinding wheel on the bottom of the die so (the case) would go up into the die enough and it seems to have worked.. THE Question: The bottom fo the die is no where near square(eyeball test) will this affect cases or does this lowest most part of the die size anyway?? Please advise .. Doc Stone (dentist ,no Machanist) thanx

Unless you really removed a lot of metal the bottom being out of square shouldn't hurt anything. Adjust it so the shell holder just bumps the die at it's longest point.

Next time consider trying anouther shell holder or grinding the top of the holder. Cheaper than a FL die.

Difficult to answer your question without being able to picture exactly how much of the die you ground off; but it will probably size the case OK.

What I am wondering is: why weren't you able to solve the problem by simply adjusting the die and lock ring, screwing it downward in the press? Is it the case that the die was adjusted down as much as it could be, and bottomed out by contacting the shell holder without allowing the case to be fully inserted in the die? If that is so, it sounds as if the die itself was in some way defective.

I believe what he's saying is that the shoulder inside the die was machined a little high so he couldn't get the die down far enough against the shell holder to set back the shoulder on the cases.

I agree with the other gentlemen on setting it to the lowest point on the die. If you wanted to squar the bottom of the die, the easiest thing to do would probably be to work the die over some wet-or-dry sandpaper until the bottom is flush. If the bottom of the die is really jagged, you need to get it semi-square with a file first, then use the sand paper, and slowly work up to a finer and finer grit.

Big Brass. I have a die by Redding for the 7x57 Mauser that will not fully size the die. I ground down a shell holder to such a degree, that if I ever get a stuck case, it'll be the shell holder that lets go, not the case rim. I contacted Redding and they'll be getting the die as soon as I can get time to get to the post office. I'll be sending in the die, and several cases from my rifle.
FWIW, I screwed the die down to the point that the press would not "bump up" anymore, and still the case would not reenter the chamber of the rifle it was fired in. The rifle has an absolute minumum chamber and is extremely accurate for a sporter.
Paul B.

Paul B and all others: thanks for the answers. I did first grind off the shell holder and sure enough was sizing for another gun and the shell holder rim was so thinned out that the rim pulled off the shell holder so I had to get a new shell holder.. that why my reasoning went to grind off the bottom of the die.. It seems to work ok but was just concerned with whether or not the die actually sizes the cases in that last little amount down at the bottom.. thanks, much Doc Stone

You have over �" at the bottom of the die, from about the web on down, that doesn't size or touch anything. You should be more concerned with being able to maintain the die square to everything than sizing the last half inch of the head of the case. The reason you bump the die against the shell holder is to square everything. Now you can't do that, but if everything is working fine, it may be the die sits in the boss square without having to do the other. Many do. Sounds like everything works fine. Don't worry about it.

As the first 1/16-1/8" of the die mouth is tapered, as long as you didn't go past that (the taper) your OK. Eyeball square is good enough.
Worst case is that, if you grind to much off (past where you needed to go, but not past the taper), your die will no longer hit the shell holder when the shoulder is at the correct length.

anneal it and spin it in a lathe if you are concerned.. Shuold be fine
jeffe

Thank you-all (a southern thing) for all the responses . I went to my reloading room and checked out the case- die relationship just now and found. #1- The die as it is now turns out perfect cases sized to crush fit the chamber with less than .002" runout. #2- The top of the shell holder still bumps the bottom of the die even w/ the hack job I did on the grinding wheel with no reference point.. So looks like the good lord is watching out for -------(me), Doc Stone

Sounds like one of the consequences possible of a rifle chamber cut by one person and a die made by another.

Or were they the same person?

Yes, the chamber was done by a very good smith and the dies are Redding but the problem is not w/ the rifle or the dies but the problem was me, got carried away w/ a bench grinder.. Good shooting , Doc Stone

Whaddaya mean the problem was with you - your first post clearly stated you had a problem with either the die from Redding or your chamber - now which is it?

Doesn't seem to be a clear conclusion to this thread!?

Am I missing something?

I will try to explain this to you Sir:#1- The Fl die would not set the shoulder back enough to allow easy chambering of a fireformed and twice reloaded case (25-06AI).#2 - So I had to either take some off the bottom of the die or top of the shell holder so I could bump the shoulder just enough for a good crush fit..#3- I decided to grind off the top of the shell holder but soon pulled the rim holding lip off as I probably ground off too much#4- I then decided to grid some off the bottom of the die and this worked but I left the bottom out of square.#5- My question to the board was is this very bottom portion of the die necessary for good sizing of the case.. thanks for the interest, Doc Stone

Hey Hot Core, Good post, The die as is still bumps the shell holder on the longest crooked side but the effect is that it still acts as a stop and gives a slight bump that gives you that bottomed out end of stroke feeling ( you know that's always a good thing) thanks Doc Stone

Only thing I can see is that you can't square the die to the shell holder, might cause run-out with the necks. Thats a whole new can of worms to open up

Actually just the opposite. the necks are coming out with less than .002 runout .. Guess I,m just lucky?? Doc Stone