I have new small primer ammo and some new brass. Neither will resize with LYMAN or LEE dies. What’s wrong?

More details please.

Are the dies not sizing the necks to hold the bullets?

If you have other brass, which do work in these dies,measure the fired neck diameter and neck thickness.

Might give you an indication where the problem is.

Press will only get to about 1/2 inch from shell holder

Are you saying your dies do not touch the shell holder?

Even if you screw them down?

They do. But not with an empty case in there

Most likely a die problem not a brass problem

quote:

Originally posted by blackeyeddueler:
They do. But not with an empty case in there

Does this mean you cannot push the empties into the sizing die?

Could it be you have necks that are too tight and refuse to go over the expander?

- Primer punch pin sticking in flash hole?
- mis adjusted expander rod?
- sizing lube not working?

quote:

Originally posted by Redstone:
- Primer punch pin sticking in flash hole?
-

This is where I would check first. The pin could be sized for Large Primer flash holes.

I had a problem with 6.5 grendel. Hornady brass wouldn't size but Wolf did. It was sort of my fault. i screwed the decapping rod down a bit more and it was fine. The decapping rod is also the expander plug. Not sure why it worked but it did.

The way to adjust the sizer dies is to screw it down until it touches the shell holder. Then back it off 1/4 turn or so...more on this later. The decapping pin should only protrude from the die about 3/8ths or more. If further it hits the bottom of the web and won't let the case go any further into the die. Okay lets say that works and you get a case sized. Try it in your rifle (empty sized case that is) and see if the bolt closes without a lot of effort. If it doesn't turn the sizer die down more. If it closes really easy back the sizer die up some. What we're doing is not sizing the shoulder back because then you will have excess headspace. What I do is black marker pen the shoulder and keep adjusting the sizer die down until it just barely kisses the shoulder.

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
I had a problem with 6.5 grendel. Hornady brass wouldn't size but Wolf did. It was sort of my fault. i screwed the decapping rod down a bit more and it was fine. The decapping rod is also the expander plug. Not sure why it worked but it did.

With short cartridge cases there is not a lot of distance between the solid web of the case and the case mouth and depending on the type of neck expander plug it can be possible to have part of the expander plug still in the neck while it is being resized. Screwing your decapping rod/expander plug down a little would have alleviated this problem.

Have you figured out your issues yet?
If not try sizing a case without the decapping/ expander rod in the die. This will eliminate the expander as an issue.
With the decapping/ expander rod out of the die try to see if it fits done inside a fired case. It should go in without much resistance.
With the rod in a fired case hold it up next to the die with the shell holder on the case. With the shell holder at the end of the die you can see how much of the rod sticks out past the die body.
Install the rod back in the die with the same amount of the rod above the die as it was when you held it next to the die.
If a case went into the die fully with out the rod, use this case to see if the case will go into the die with the rod in place.
If it does then you figured out the issue. The rod was improperly adjusted.
If you have one of the problem cases deprimed with some other than the pin in the die, try sliding the case over the pin head first. This will tell you if the flash hole is to small for the pin to fit through.
If the pin won't fit through the flash hole you might want to contact the die maker and tell them your issue. They may have a replacement rod with a smaller pin. Or you can enlarge the flash hole to match the pins you have.
Leo