Anyone have experience with these dies? I have been usint a Redding 'S' bushing die and am having problems with neck run out (about .004" vs. .0025 for their flrs die). This opens groups in my .270 from about .8 in. to about 2 in. Do Redding's comp. dies hold things in better alignment or is there something better (that is sort of affordable)?
Thanks.
C.G.B.

Across the board, Redding dies are quite good. Run out can generally be traced to the press. What press are you using? If you can borrow a friend's .270 die set, you can identify the problem quickly. I am not saying that it is �not� your dies, however, shell holders and your press generally are the cause of run out.

I do have several sets of Redding Comp dies. They are very accurate and are quite well finished. I check all my loads for runout and have yet to find anything out of tolerance. You may want to give Redding a call, they may swap dies with you. They have excellent support & service.

Thanks Zero Drift. My press is an RCBS Rockchucker. Should be getting my Neco case gage shortly; I will check some other cases/dies asap.
C.G.B.

CGB - Your Rockchucker is a very good press. Unless you have some considerable wear on it, you may want start by replacing your shell holder. Check your ram for wear signs and lubricate it. If you have not already purchased your concentricity gage, you may want to look at the new Sinclair model. Very easy to use and very versatile.

Here are some other tricks - Remove your seating die lock ring and flip it over or replace with a new one. Reset your die and measure run out. Index your case so that you know what direction the run out occurs in relation to a clock face. With 6 O�clock pointing at you and 12 O�clock pointed away from you. Then rotate your shell holder, see if the run out changes. Then turn your die out a quarter rotation, see if the run out changes. If you do all this and the run out stays consistent in one direction, your press is out of alignment. May I recommend a Redding press....

CGB, are you using the "S" die with or without the expander button? Most runout can be traced to the expander. I use my "S" neck dies without the expander button and runout is not a problem. Of course, make sure you get the correct bushing size by measuring the neck diameter of some loaded ammo then subtract .002" to .003" from that. I would not recommend sizing brand new brass without the expander, only previously fired brass.

Delta - Very good point. I turn and polish the expander button on all my dies with a ceramic file and finish with an emery cloth. A rough button can pull to one side or the other. The best way to determine if you have an expander button problem it to check the brass after resizing and before bullet seating. Use the index method to locate the problem.

Also, another trick in setting up your resizing die is to loosen the decapping rod once you have tightened the die on the press. Carefully run a fired case up into the die. Be careful that you decapping pin centers the flash hole, then tighten the decapping pin. This should help center the expander ball in the case mouth. Again, check for run out.

Let us know how things are going.......

[This message has been edited by Zero Drift (edited 07-12-2001).]

I have had the EXACT same problem with my 's' series. I have squared the dies, used them in two presses (the latter of which is a new rock-chucker), bought a neck trimmer (using Varmit Als method for cleanup only), tried rotating (3) 60's while seating, multiple bushings (what a pain) for the step down, with expander and without expander, squared the seating ram iself, polished/lapped with bullets, you name it and I still have very unacceptable run-out with these dies. No Redding Fan. My buddy is loading the same round (300RUM) with a $20 set of RCBS dies and having no problems with run-out

Ultraman~
Any chance that somehow the bushing doesn't have enough clearance in the adjustment to "float"? That will throw it off. The bushing has to be loose in there. Try loosening it a half turn, or more, and see what happens. I've never gotten more concentric necks than I do now with the S dies. Zero runout almost every time. I'm slowly converting everything to them they have worked so well for me.

[This message has been edited by Bob338 (edited 07-13-2001).]

I have done some more measurements with the NECO gage.
Fired case neck runout <=.001
flrs in Redding die .0025
neck sized in Redding neck size die .0025
neck size in 'S' die .0045-.005 (not pulled over expander).
I suspect some of the problem may be in the fired case neck o.d. of .310 (did I say this is a factory barreled M70 .270 Win?)
My bushing is a .300 and loaded cases mike .303. Even though the bushing floats I suspect that if it doesn't start in perfect alignment I get an offset neck.
Now that I have the gage I will do some experiments.
Do the Comp dies hold the body and bushing in alignment? The photos would indicate that they do.
C.G.B.

CGB~
You obviously have an offset in your chamber if you have runout in a fired case. The S dies have no way of straightening that. You'd stand a better chance of curing the runout in the regular neck die. However, if you also have runout in your press, and most presses to have runout, you could be introducing more with the die adjustment. I've been through 7 different presses over the years trying to find one that didn't have runout. Virtually impossible in a C or O type press, which is why I ended up with a Forster Coax. Check the runout on your ram and determine that the dies seat perfectly square to it and the shellholder. Adjusting the die so that it is square to the shellholder will help, but if there is runout in the ram in relation to the die boss you'll still have to adjust for that. It's not just a matter of putting the dies in any old way and expecting it to straighten things out.

Incidentally, in my search for a square press the one with the least runout was a Lyman Orange Crusher whose runout was .002". All the manufacturers only guarantee a plus or minus .005" and that's difficult to make concentric ammo with that much offset introduced by a press. There are just too many clearances and mating surfaces to do much better than that in the manufacture of the typical press. Bob T