Catastrophic Shell Holder Switch

[DeadEyeDeadly]

I destroyed a decapping spindle by using the incorrect shell holder with my Hornady neck sizing die.
The die had initially been set-up with a Lyman shell holder. The next time I tried to size some 204 Ruger cases, I inadvertently inserted a Hornady shell holder into the press arm, which is 0.04” thicker than the Lyman shell holder. Thus, the sizing button made contact with the bottom of the case head during the power stroke - - oops!
The Hornady die does not make contact with the shell holder during adjustment, so it's easy to make this mistake if one doesn't pay close enough attention or is Brain Dead like I am.


Here's the pics:

[gotcha]

Excellent tip Dead eye !! I circular filed all my Lyman shell holders for this same reason. Industry Standard for shell holder thickness is .250" For some reason Lyman ignores the Standard. At least the Lyman of 30 years ago did. Maybe the newer ones reflect the Industry Standard ??? ...... The most important measurement is from top of shell holder to bottom of slot, it should be .125"

[Steelhead]

I've had mix ups and resulting boo-boos with shell holders also, sucks!

[D.ID]

Hornady dies are my favorite. When you get a replacement zip spindle......do yourself a favor and get a spare.
It will happen again someday, don't ask me how I know.

[BobT]

Raise your decapping spindle so it won't contact the case, it only needs to be long enough to push the primer out. I also set my headspace to minimum on my Savage rifles and set my sizer to cam over if possible, it helps me get longer brass life. Whenever I buy a new set of dies I also order a shell holder to go with them, it stays in the box with the dies so there are no mixups.