I'm posting this in gunsmithing since it deals with machining, but it is really a reloading equipment issue.

How simple or difficult would it be to turn down the outside circumference of a standard shellholder head for a .222-sized cartridge so that the outside portion is level with the base where the rim sits, but the portion containing the lips which hold the rim is left only about .500" in diameter? In other words, the portion holding the case head would be a semi-circular button about .500" in diameter standing about .15" (or whatever) higher than the remainder of the shellholder.

What this would accomplish would be to allow me to resize .221 Fireball with Lee Collet dies made for the .222 Remington. I successfully accomplished this by shortening the collet to .221 FB length by grinding off the bottom of the collet, but it eventually failed due to there being too little metal remaining to hold the petals in place. The constant flexing eventually caused one of the splits between the petals to run out to the end of the collet and the collet thus split into two pieces.

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What this would accomplish would be to allow me to resize .221 Fireball with Lee Collet dies made for the .222 Remington. I successfully accomplished this by shortening the collet to .221 FB length by grinding off the bottom of the collet, but it eventually failed due to there being too little metal remaining to hold the petals in place. The constant flexing eventually caused one of the splits between the petals to run out to the end of the collet and the collet thus split into two pieces

Have no clue as to the machining of the holder. I took a 375H&H collet die and shorten both the die and the internal portion to allow me to use the die on 2.6" cases. I made no changes to the collet. Would not removing amount equal to the case length difference allow you to do the same thing?

Or am I just confused and in need of a

Shellholders are fairly hard, you may need to grind it or use carbide tooling.
Regards, Joe

Ramrod: I'm assuming that you altered the .375 H&H die for use with a .375 Ruger. Correct? When you say that you shortened "both the die and the internal portion" it sounds like you took about .15" or so off of the bottom of the collet. This is exactly what I did with the .222 die to use it for .221 FB; the problem is that this weakened the "internal portion" (collet) enough that after a few hundred rounds the little bit of remaining metal at the bottom split. I was attempting to find a way to avoid this fate with my next attempt. (I suspect that on your .375 die you still have plenty of metal remaining at the bottom of the collet to provide you with a reasonable life expectancy from your die.)

Lee will "custom" make a Factory Crimp Die for you for about US $35.00 I believe (that's the price they quoted me when I spoke to them from here in England for 8x60S).

So unless your machining time is FOC I'd actually think that asking if they made by a collet die also as "custom" job would be cheaper?

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Ramrod: I'm assuming that you altered the .375 H&H die for use with a .375 Ruger. Correct?

well for some reason I was thinking there was 2 pieces inside. Yes I cut the collet and die body shorter. I assume the slits must be the same length for both dies. I have plenty of metal left on mine.

Actually it was my 380PDK. My custom die was made for 380Howell brass as the parent. I switched to Howell basic and the necks were just a touch thinner and my die wasn't giving me enough neck tension. So now I use my die to set the shoulder on virgin brass then the collet to give neck tension. Once fired normally just get the collet until I need to bump the shoulder.

I turned down the outside diameter of an RCBS 50-140 shellholder the other day so it would fit in my RCBS priming tool.

HSS wouldn't touch it, had to use carbide.

Didn't take long to do though.

Some shell holders are hard and some are not.
Over the years RCBS has made them both ways.
It is about a 5 minute job to do what you are talking about if the lathe has a 5C collet.
You can also cut off the bottom of the Lee collet.

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Originally posted by J.D.Steele:
Shellholders are fairly hard, you may need to grind it or use carbide tooling.
Regards, Joe

Surface grinding work just fine, I've fixed a couple that way.

I figured to use a Lee shellholder. Lee's products are well-engineered and sell at attractive prices, but their material is usually on the soft side, thus making modifying it easier. I have considered simply taking it to the grinding wheel, but that kind of imprecision might not cut it for the task I envision. I'm sure a machine shop could do the job, but such a small job might be cost-prohibitive.

Ramrod: I understand your program now and you have addressed it in much the same way I would.

Enfield: I'm aware of Lee's custom dies, and they are reasonably priced, too. However, a while back I sent them some 7x33 Sako cases for a custom die and they returned them saying the cartridge was "too short" to make a custom collet die. Therefore, I've been hesitant to go through that process with the .221 fearing the same result.

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However, a while back I sent them some 7x33 Sako cases for a custom die and they returned them saying the cartridge was "too short" to make a custom collet die.

Just as well you haven't got a Sturmgewehr in 7.92mm Kurz as well I guess!