Help with brass sizing

[n10sivern]

I have a target new 6.5x55 that I built. I'm planning on building a 6.5x55 to hunt with as well. I also have a collection of Swedish military rifles that I have been shooting cheap plinker prvi ammo in. I planned to save my lapua brass for the target rifle and use the prvi brass in the new hunting rifle. I'd hate to lose lapua brass is the woods! Tonight I sized the once fired prvi brass and it won't fit in my target rifle. I can't close the bolt. I know I have my chamber set tight, but I still figured I could reuse the brass. I bottomed the die on my the press plate and using my case comparator I was still 0.004 from being sized down to the once fired lapua brass size. I guess this is due to the enlarged/worn military chambers. Is this brass useless now? Any suggestions on how to get it to size back down enough to be used? Before somebody asks, I can shoot the factory prvi ammo in my target rifle with no problems and it sizes back to where it should.

[fgw_in_fla]

I had a similar problem with a .243 sizing die a few months ago. I took the shell holder, locked it up in the vice & ground about .010" off it so the die would come down further. After a few months of needing the "special" shell holder (and losing it once in a while) I sent the die back to Lee Precision & they cut the bottom of the die.

By the way, the shell holder is some pretty hard stuff so of you decide to grind it, take your time & grind slowly. You can dress it up with a file to make it smooth if necessary...

[n10sivern]

Well I have a Forster press so no shell holder for me. Any other suggestions?

[davemuzz]

This is not a smart Ummm, posterior answer....but have you considered picking up a Lee press that does use a shell holder?

[n10sivern]

Not a smart posterior answer. No I haven't. Hate to buy a press to save a few hundred brass.

[fgw_in_fla]

No shell holder to cut down?

Hhhhmmmmmm....

How about cut down the base of the die? Know anyone with a machine shop?

Or consider a Lee Press...

[82boy]

You don't need a machine shop to shorten a die. (I had to do this with every Redding die I have ever owned.) Take the die apart, and using various weights of sand paper, you can shorten the die. Start out with some 220 , and work down to 2000. Take the sand paper, and place it on a surface you know is flat. Some will tape the paper down, some would just hold it. Flat surfaces are glass, like a cutting board, I have had great success using the coffee table. Hold the die absolutely straight on the sand paper, and work in a figure 8 motion, rotate the die to a different position every few strokes. Watch doing this as material will be removed quicker than you think. once you work down to 2000 grit, wash the die out in a good cleaner, like acetone. Reassemble and see what your set back is. May take a few times of working and cleaning and checking to get it right.

[bythebook]

You don't need a machine shop to shorten a die. (I had to do this with every Redding die I have ever owned.) Take the die apart, and using various weights of sand paper, you can shorten the die. Start out with some 220 , and work down to 2000. Take the sand paper, and place it on a surface you know is flat. Some will tape the paper down, some would just hold it. Flat surfaces are glass, like a cutting board, I have had great success using the coffee table. Hold the die absolutely straight on the sand paper, and work in a figure 8 motion, rotate the die to a different position every few strokes. Watch doing this as material will be removed quicker than you think. once you work down to 2000 grit, wash the die out in a good cleaner, like acetone. Reassemble and see what your set back is. May take a few times of working and cleaning and checking to get it right.

+1 This works!

[stangfish]

+2 you can stuff cotton in the bore to keep the dust from climbing up in the nether regions of the die.

A few more questions. What dies are using IE... full length or neck, Lee or RCBS yada yada. When you size the lapua brass does it fit you chamber? If one type of brass works then we need to consider the hardness of the other non working brass, If you are neck sizing with a lee collet we need to look at the die setup and maybe lose it all together.

[n10sivern]

I'm using Forster FL die. All brass fired and sized from my savage fits. Only the brass fired and sized in my old military swedish mausers won't fit.

[stomp442]

+1 to sanding the die. It is pretty easy and works well.

[fgw_in_fla]

You don't need a machine shop to shorten a die. (I had to do this with every Redding die I have ever owned.) Take the die apart, and using various weights of sand paper, you can shorten the die. Start out with some 220 , and work down to 2000. Take the sand paper, and place it on a surface you know is flat. Some will tape the paper down, some would just hold it. Flat surfaces are glass, like a cutting board, I have had great success using the coffee table. Hold the die absolutely straight on the sand paper, and work in a figure 8 motion, rotate the die to a different position every few strokes. Watch doing this as material will be removed quicker than you think. once you work down to 2000 grit, wash the die out in a good cleaner, like acetone. Reassemble and see what your set back is. May take a few times of working and cleaning and checking to get it right.

Coffee table, sandpaper of various grit, acetone. Sounds like a machine shop to me.

[82boy]

Coffee table, sandpaper of various grit, acetone. Sounds like a machine shop to me.

Yes, but there is not a single machine in it.

[stangfish]

Have you measured the case headspace? If the case headspace is the correct length then you may have a brass/body issue. If you case headspace is too long and you are using the exact same setup to size brass from both guns you may have a brass/hardness issue. Then again you may just be neck sizing the savage stuff without sizing the body but I doubt it. If you go sanding on your die the consequences are possibly oversizing your lapua brass the next time you resize. I think you need to know what your case headspace is.

[n10sivern]

I used my hornady case headspace gauges to measure the unforced new lapua, once fired lapua from my target rifle, and the once fired prvi brass from the military rifles. I have my FL sizing die set to resize my once fired lapua 0.002 less and 0.002 which is 0.002 more than the new lapua brass. I can not get the once fired prvi brass to size to that. The smallest I can size it is 0.003 more than the once fired lapua brass.

[jim_k]

Just one question before you start grinding; you say you screwed the die all the way down to the shell press plate. To full-length size, you must now screw the die in 1/8th of a turn,while maintaining contact with the plate to keep the die "square," to take up slack in the various hinges of the press. You may be doing that, but I don't remember reading it in your original post.

[n10sivern]

yes, i am screwing the die down correctly

[stangfish]

Since it is sizing your lapua brass correctly and not the privi brass...and I say this not knowing anything about the privi brass, but it sounds like it is springing back which leads me to believe the brass is too hard. Try anealing one piece and see what happens.

[earl39]

If the Lapua brass is sizing down correctly then the answer is to anneal the prvi brass before sizing. Try it on a few pieces and see if that fixes your problem. It really sounds like hard brass with too much springback.

Sorry for the repete Stang

[82boy]

If you go sanding on your die the consequences are possibly oversizing your lapua brass the next time you resize.

The Lapua brass is problem not being sized by the die, so worse case scenario, it will stay the same. Even with all of that, all you have to do is measure and just back the die out a bit, and everything goes back to normal.