223 Sticking Out Of Dillon Case Gauge

[HandMade]

Hi. I'm new to reloading bottleneck cases, and I'm having an issue with 223 Rem. cases. I am full length resizing my brass (using an auto progressive press) I am using new bulk Remington brass, and once fired Rem. and Federal factory loaded brass, that I fired. I have the Dillon case gauge. The new brass and the once fired brass measures fine, specs in between the hi and lo "steps" on the gauge on both ends. After I full length resize, the base or head, (Primer end) sticks out above the hi step of the Dillon gauge by about .005-.007". I adj. the sizer die to press specs, screwed it down till it contacts shellholder... the brass is growing from the shoulder to the base after sizing. The neck end stays fine. The concern I have is this ammo is going in my Savage bolt action and after chambering the round I notice there is resistance on the bolt handle when I push it down to lock it. The factory ammo I have run through the gun did not give me that resistance on locking the bolt handle. I am thinking it is due to the case is longer than it should be. C. O. L. is good, but from the shoulder to the end of the case is the problem. Also, these are just dummy rounds I am putting together so far till I find out whats up. Any input on what can correct this issue will be greatly welcome!! Thanks for reading this!

[el pres]

Welcome to the forum, sometimes with an auto press the shell holder has some slack in it

so to remedy this we either overcam the die, meaning when adjusting, the die touches the shell

plate then you turn it in a 1/2 to a turn more. You'll feel a bind but thats alright. The way I do it is

to grind or sand the face of the die ,part that touches the shell plate, just .002-.003, that's all

it takes. I use an 3m brown grinding pad on a automotive grinder but sand paper and some elbow

grease will do. It also helps to have a shell in every station as the opposite side of the shell plate

will be pushed down as well..

For this reason I resize on a single station press first !!

Edited July 25, 2009 by P.Pres

[Mike Morcillo]

I remember a similar post where the solution was to grind the base of the dies till the resizing is correct. I believe that the die maker will do that for you. Could be a bad resizing die, so call the mfg.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Mike Morcillo

[JSeavers]

I ran into a problem similar to this. I was reloading 300 Win Mag and over the years had cases that I resized sometimes not want to chamber in my rifles. I wasn't using a gauge.

I was using RCBS dies and had 2 #4 shell holders. I finally decided to see if the shell holder was the problem. I measured them and they varied by about .003". The cases that did not chamber sized with one shell holder did chamber if sized in the same dies using the other one.

If this is a new shell holder you might check it out.

[jaredr]

The way I do it is to grind or sand the face of the die ,part that touches the shell plate, just .002-.003, that's all it takes.

+1 on that. I did the same thing when setting up the brass prep toolhead for running .223 on my 1050. had to grind back a neck sizing die so I could screw it down sufficiently in order to move the shoulder back on military brass. Would first try screwing my dies all the way back as P.Pres suggests and see if that makes a difference. condition you describe (case head sticking out of gauge) is consistent with neck not being moved back far enough during full body resize, so first thing I would try is screwing the die further down.

-best regards,

jared