In need of some resizing help

Estes640

Estes640

Sergeant of the Hide
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Feb 13, 2017
1,626
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Birmingham, AL
#1
All,

Ive finally got the the point of resizing and loading brass. I've got some 3-4 times fired lapua brass in 243, and I'm trying to FL size the brass and its extremely difficult/ on the verge of sticking cases in my die.

I ran the die down to the ram while the ram was fully extended and started there. Any idea of what I'm doing wrong would be awesome.

I lubed both the brass and the inside of the die. I also cleaned the inside of the die

Ryan
 
#3
I vote better lube. I like home made 99% alcohol/lanolin mix in a 10:1 ratio. A few sprays of that on a batch of cases works best out of all the things I've tried.

Totally bare/clean dies take a couple cases to get properly lubricated too. First couple cases I run the ram up, then back, then up/back slowly working the case in. After a few cases it runs more smoothly.
 
#4
I say
1) what lube are you using exactly and how much are you using. My first time I thought was adequate and it most def wasn’t. I say soak them for the first time. If you notice the shoulders bubble in you have to much, a quick roll on a towel fixes it up easily. Sticking brass is much or of a pain in the ass and not worth being conservative. Work your way back down as the shoulder will fire back out just fine. They should glide nicely.
2) back the die out and work your way down. Do you have a caliper and comparator tools to properly measure your cases or a case gauge at least? Measure where the shoulders are at with your gauges and adjust your die down wit the expander stem removed until your shoulders just move. You will be in the ballpark, insert the expander and then adjust your dies so that you have a .002-.003 shoerter measurement. If you don’t have tools take the stem stem out and adjust them downwards until the bolt just gets tight when you chamber the resized brass. A tiny 1/16th turn of the die lower could be as much as ~.002” so Work your way slowly and incrementally. You’ll have to wing it this way until you can empirically measure something with the tools. You just don’t want to screw it down all the way and go as you could potentially be way over sizing and leading to premature case failures. Measurement tools will help your confidence which is just as important as anything. Plus ruining a set of lapua cases at half the life makes a 60 dollar brass expense cover the cost of the tools quickly. Though you’ve resized them 4 times already so I feel you can’t be doing too much incorrectly. I’ll put my money on lacking in the lube.
 
#5
Sheldon N said:
I vote better lube. I like home made 99% alcohol/lanolin mix in a 10:1 ratio. A few sprays of that on a batch of cases works best out of all the things I've tried.

Totally bare/clean dies take a couple cases to get properly lubricated too. First couple cases I run the ram up, then back, then up/back slowly working the case in. After a few cases it runs more smoothly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. Any idea where I can find lanolin mix? Also, it is weird in that when I run the fl die the id of the neck measures .265" vs when I run the neck sizer at .270"

i am using hornady one shot and running Redding dies
 
#7
spife7980 said:
Lanolin guide. http://www.65guys.com/brass-case-resizing-lube/

Oneshots good stuff though. Dump them in a gallon ziploc, spray four seconds until you see the lube running on the bodies and then give the bag a tumble to fully coat. They should be slick as snot. Eight seconds will probably be too much but maybe not on the first pass coating the bare bag as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help! I didn't think of the ziploc idea. I had them in my tray and spraying them. Any idea on the discrepancy between NK and FL measurements?
 
#13
I used One Shot for years reloading pistol, but for full length sizing rifle I changed to Imperial wax. Huge difference. No more troubles.
 
#15
If you have a micrometer, take some careful case measurements of some fired and sized cases, and compare the numbers. Dies vary just like chambers do. Im guessing your chamber in on the large side and the die is on the small side or just out of spec small. Poor surface finish (a gripe I have with redding in general) will just increase the effort.

Id send it back to redding. They’ll remove the stuck case and check the die out.

There’s nothing special about sizing a .243 case. It shouldnt take that much effort.
 
#16
Estes640 said:
Thank you sir! I'll see if I can find some at bass pro today
Click to expand...

If by chance you get the case out of the die, while at BPS, buy a couple 410 shotgun mops, some Flitz, comes in packet size plus tubes, clean your die, then put some Flitz on a mop and polish it out some, then clean again, may do wonders.
 
#17
As for the difference in neck dia from the different dies used, are you using the expander ball? Because a reg fl die will take the neck down quite a ways, the expander ball sets the tension or dia.
 
#18
Estes640 said:
I had them in my tray and spraying them.
Click to expand...


That ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is your sizing problem right there. Don't spray the cases in a loading tray. Try the zip loc bag method or put the cases in a box, spray, mix them around and spray again and wait a few minutes for the cases to dry. See if that helps. Most all sizing issues are caused by not using the case lube properly.


 
#20
Downtown said:
I used One Shot for years reloading pistol, but for full length sizing rifle I changed to Imperial wax. Huge difference. No more troubles.
Click to expand...

I also switched to Imperial years ago. Very easy to lube, just put a little on your first two fingers and thumb every once in awhile and rub the case between them. It doesn't require a lot of lube. I also use a q-tip as mentioned in another response on the inside of the neck if I am using an expander ball. I've tried other lubes (but not the lanolin) and this has been by far the best lube for me.
 
#26
I had the same problem with some .270 cases. They were fired about 3 times. Had to size each case about 3 Times just to get the shoulders bumped. Got close to sticking on 2 cases. Sent them into a guy here on the hide. He annealed them, sent them back, I lubed them and they sized just fine. I used one shot both times and tried imperial sizing when they were sticking. Might be because of the long neck on 270 brass.
 
#27
I use a sizing wax on any of my rifle cases. Never have any sticking problems. Some are harder than others to get through the press but you can feel the difference between a sticky case, and one that's just moving a lot of brass.
 
#28
I hated One Shot, my buddy loves it. Nothing better than Imperial Sizing Wax or Hornady Unique Case Lube. Light swipe of your finger on the lube, rub the case between your two fingers and you wont have any stuck cases thats for sure.
 
#29
I have no intention of trying to change reloading procedures for long time successful users of One Shot but when it comes to new reloaders, I would guess that 75% of those who complain of having a problem with stuck cases, are using One Shot and obviously using it incorrectly. I’ve never used it so I don’t know the correct procedure but I do know that I can’t remember the last time I read of an Imperial user, novice or experienced, sticking a case.
 
#31
A lot of people seem to scoff at the idea of using the lube pad and rolling each piece of brass on it before FL resizing because it's not worth the time and effort. I've found that it makes FL resizing much smoother and produces much more consistent head spacing than when I used to spray lube into a ziplock bag and spread it around with my fingers.
 
#32
I just finished prepping 3000 223 cases some 1 fire some a couple fires. and out of the 3000 I got a few of these that did the same thing. I actually tried running it all the way and started scraping brass off the sides of the case. I didnt bother questioning it as it was 223 and cheap
 
#33
I use Hornady One Shot on all of my smaller cases, .223, 9mm, .45, etc. with no problem, but I use only Imperial Sizing Wax on larger cases, .308, 30-06, and soon to be 6.5 Creedmoor. I too got tired of sticking my large cases. I tried several different lubes on my 30-06, and nothing worked worth a damn, until I tried Imperial. I even tried Stihl Premium Chain Lube, and it worked better than all the other case lubes. It’s just messy. But now, it’s Imperial.

When using Hornady One Shot, I used to spay the cases in the loading tray. I’d spray at a downward angle from all four sides. I realized that it was using way too much spray, so I went to the Ziplock bag method with no problem, and it uses less spray. (That stuff is getting expensive.)

Just as a a side note, after I got my Dillon, I went to carbide dies for my pistol brass and no longer lube them, so now the One Shot is used on just the .223.
 
#34
Marksman10x said:
Also, let One Shot dry for 15-20 minutes. I know the directions say you can use it immediately after spraying, but you really can't. Wait the 15.
Click to expand...

No they don't, the directions say "After waiting for one minute start sizing operation" It is instruction number 5.

I use one shot for everything 223, 22-250, 243AI, 308, 6.5 Creedmoor, 300WM, even sizing budge above the belt. If you are having chronic stuck cases with it, you are probably using it incorrectly.

I have never used lube on a straight walled pistol case.
 
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