I just got a new set of 308 Redding dies. Before using them I started to clean them and that was when I noticed that the expander ball looks not centered. When I took the expander ball out you could see the expander ball wabbling while being screwed out of the die. I think that this is a problem because all my other dies (rcbs)are centered, and do not wabble. I would like any ideas you may have on this, because this is my first set of Redding dies, and I may be thinking on the wrong track. Thanks for the help.

Don't have a set of redding dies but the expander may be the floating type. I read something about this a while bak but not sure if it was about redding dies. see if you can move it from side to side, if you can i bet it's a floater.
Kerry

The one thing I most dislike about Redding dies is that the decapping pin will end up crooked 90% of the time. This may be what you are seeing. The expander ball could be off, too, but it is easy to float it and get around that. Email Redding, and they'll tell you what to do. FWIW, Dutch.

I've seen this on lots of dies. Do you have any tool for checking runnout or can you barrow one from a buddy?? A good place to start is to get the expander ball started into a case mouth to help it get aligned then tighten it from above. Then size a few rounds and check runnout. Make very small adjustments of about 1/16 to 1/8 turns onthe spindle and you should get a really good setting with very little runnout.

I have a Hornady die that looks to be off centre as well,I think the decapping pin is slightly bent.
I measured the expander ball to the outside of the die and it seems ok,still works fine.

Thanks for the informative posts. I looked at the dies, and made sure that this is not a floating type die. I also tried the suggestion on getting the case started and this will help center the expander, this indead helped alot but it is still out of the center.

jrpilot -
If it's bothering you, send it back to Redding. Their stuff is top quality (should be for what it costs), and they take care of problems real quick.
R-WEST

Everybody please hammer me if I'm wrong on this, but I believe that by the time you're pulling that expander through the neck, the CASE is floating, being unsupported by the die body and pulled by a fairly sloppy-fitting shellholder.

I was thinking in the direction that the case would be floating by that time, but I was unsure as well. I called redding, they were really helpful, and they told me to loosen the ring and then see if the expander would center up in the case. I did this but you can still see that the expander is not centered.

Milosmate --

Hornady has a lifetime warranty on their stuff. I sent back a collection of dies that have gone bad for one reason or another (some were 15 years old!), some with stuck cases. They fixed all four, sent them back. Cost me $13 total, and they were even decent enough not to send me a tube of case lube!

jeff