Ok back from the day job which always gets in the way of reloading.
Cliff notes before I get to all the quotes below, I purchased from Midway and I can send everything back for a refund. I'll purchase something through them as that's great customer support and I'll support them in return.
Ya I saw the post about Hornady working. Just wondering if maybe the rougher finish on the Redding die combined with a rougher texture on the shoulder of the brass may cause the issue
I just don't know to be honest as I have no way of really measuring how rough the inside is. I really think it's a dimensional issue combined with the lack of lapping but I don't really know.
You tumble after annealing?
I do but AFTER resizing and trimming.
Generally, my process is this for the bolt gun:
-Deprime and swage if necessary. Sometimes I unify too if I'm feeling frisky.
-Wet tumble w/stainless pins and dry in the dehumidifier.
-Anneal
-Resize case
-Use a neck mandrel to resize neck ID and set tension (21st Century)
-Trim if necessary on a Giraud
-Wet tumble again with stainless media, use dehumidifier to dry.
At this point I'm ready to load and I don't have any lube causing powder to get stuck high up on the neck. I was running into that with 300 blackout and it just annoyed me for some reason even though the bullet seating probably pushed it all down.
I just pulled an annealed case and it's not sticky or tacky per se but it's "grippy" like bare metal would be if that makes sense? But it's otherwise smooth.
Excess lube is probably producing some of those lines. It will push out and form to length.
Have you sanded down the neck/shoulder junction of a sacrificial case yet?
@hafejd30
Have you checked for stickage because of a groove worn into the collet?
It will hold the tapers together causing a case to drag going in.
The collet stays stuck and partly closed down. I have to polish mine.
Yeah, I could definitely see the extra lube causing that. Just haven't seen it before. Those were 4X fired brass out of my AR so I don't necessarily polish them up or anything. I have not checked for grooves in the collet but will do so tonight.
Lets get some actual measurements here, lets see just how much the case is getting sized everywhere vs just the one single measurement.
Here is my 6.5 creed and its resultant measurements from my redding type s full length, just like you are using.
View attachment 7974281
Taking the base down 3k would make for some super tough sizing regardless of where the shoulder is getting pushed to for example. The answer is in the actual numbers somewhere.
I'll measure. Someone mentioned a hard case not sizing all the way so maybe that's the case here. I'll measure an unsized and sized here shortly.
Could be operator error. I've been using Redding Type S Match dies for years on everything from 223 to 300 win mag. I full length size with RCBS case lube, works perfect.
Absolutely could be user error! I've been reloading for a grand total of 3.5 years I think. But I do what I think is a pretty good job. Not unusual for me to have loads with SD's in the 3.0 range and occasionally less. Still, I have a ton to learn which is why I'm here!
Yes, the competition shell holder only adds length to the shoulder. If you need more bump you need to solve the hard sizing issue. A case that is hard to size will receive the least shoulder bump.
Ok there it is...I could see that. I usually raise the press and let it simmer for 3 seconds for spring back.
Maybe because you have a big chamber? How big is your chamber? How much is the die sizing? .006”? .002”? The latter is a lot easier to size than the former.
Will measure here shortly and report back.
If you can get your money back from the vendor I would do that asap. Stop fighting an issue that shouldn't exist. I gave up on Redding dies and have moved on.
If you still want to try the bushing die the Whidden has worked great for me. Of course the Hornady Match, Wilson, Short Action Customs $$$ will all work better for you than what you are experiencing with the Redding.
The Redding Imperial lube or Hornady Unique will work very good.
Done. Bought through Midway, they even send you a shipping label. Will start researching dies tonight, definitely want a neck bushing die to try and improve over what I'm doing currently with a non-bushing resizing die. I'll look at Whidden and the rest.
I have a Lee FL die whose internal finish looks absolutely horrible. It should have been rejected. But it sizes brass smoothly and without issue.
I shoot range pickup brass all the time. The only ones that are hard to resize are cases fired out of those “special” chambers. They all have the flute lines.
I took bore scope photos of the POF, I'll post those up in a bit.
The difference there is your three die lee set with shell holder cost half what a single Redding S die costs. Its at least understandable they’d have a trash finish.
I used redding for years, and own several grand worth of comp sets and various other dies. Based on the number of high effort Redding dies I ended up with, I started taking castings of them. Dimensionally theyre usually correct, and match other dies, they just take much more effort. I have eight or nine hornady match sizers up to 300 NM. Every single one of them looks like a Whidden inside, and I can fl size with shoulder bump using only my index finger on the press handle. Thats with One Shot lube. Prior to covid, a Hornady match FL die cost half what a single Redding S die costs. The price has crept up on them recently. Still $30 cheaper than a Redding though. And dont get me started on Redding bushings….
That's what really bothers me; the cost differential between the Hornady that just plain works out of the box and the Redding which doesn't. Have to say I wasn't all that impressed with their micrometer seating die either. The Hornady mic seems more precise and smoother to operate. Go figure.
If you’re set on using a bushing die, just get a whidden die. Folks either like them or hate them, but my whidden die for my 22GT is pretty damn nice, and sizes like butter. If you’re just looking for another due to try out and not bushing type, mighty armory makes a damn nice sizing die.
I would send and email to who ever you purchased the die from requesting to ship it back for a refund and have them deal with Redding.
Or you can send me that die, and I can run a handful of some 1x fired federal brass out of my AI through it
Why do some hate the Whidden? I'll look at Mighty Armory too. I know there's some really high end stuff out there but I'm just beginning my long range journey with .308 which is fairly forgiving. But willing to look at whatever.
It sounds like one of the problems you have is that the headspace on your Sig is below SAAMI spec. You might take a
look at this info. I could be mistaken but die manufactures create their dies to bring brass back to SAAMI minimum spec and you are trying to make your brass 0.004" below that.
With regard to your lube problem, it doesn't really matter what you FEEL is the correct amount of lube. If a case sticks in the die you didn't use enough lube or simply did not cover the entire case with it.
Instead of beating cases out of your die you might look into purchasing a stuck case remover kit.
The Sig's headspace is on the tight side but within SAMMI spec. Measurements are using a Hornady comparator. I've shot a few varieties of factory ammo and the bolt closes easily on all of them. No issues there. Was set up properly by a gunsmith when swapping in the new barrel.
I think the OP should separate the Sig and POF fired brass and measure the shoulder and base diameter to compare them to what the die sizes to. He should also remove the bushing from the die and just run it as a body die for now until this problem is solved.
I can do that no problem. I just pulled out the POF stuff just to see plus I have a lot of it, both PMC bronze and Lake City. For the Cross, I'm using the PMC X-Tac brass only right now which has a date stamp. Once I get more proficient/better, I'll purchase "better" brass.
I've been running it without the bushing to eliminate that as an issue.
Yes, and then share the measurements. So often people finally measure stuff and say "oh, it was obviously x" when they come to report back.
I had a 6 creed die that was bad at the start of this year, like the finish reamer didnt get past where they had predrilled it andthe shoulder was wonky. But I gave them an actual pic and some measurements and they had me send it in and had a new die out within the week. When you can point to where the issue actually is redding is extremely responsive, ime.
Will do. I mean I sent the die back to them with five fired cases. The four they sized didn't all have the same headspace measurement but maybe they weren't aiming for that, just to make sure the cases could be sized. I may not have the equipment to measure the inside of the die with that sort of precision though. I'll be mailing it back to Midway at some point this week.
