RCBS shell holder ???

K9 Stalker

K9 Stalker

New member
I just re-sized 600+ brass with my wrong shell holder. VERY stupid error on my part.
I'm just trying to figure out how big of a mistake I may have made. I have two shell holders for my 22-250. One is used in my RCBS priming tool and the other in my Lyman press. The holder for my priming tool is .008 shallower than the one I use in my press. I accidentally used the shallower one when i re-sized all my brass.

Historically, my brass fired in a HOWA 1500 never grows much more an .001 to .002...if at all.
My trim legnth is 1.902 to 1.912. All my brass have been 1.902 to 1.905 to date.

Now, all 600+ are 1.908 to 1.915. Obviously I need to trim them. But, did I stretch the shoulder/neck by using the shallower holder? If I just re-size them again with the original holder I used for my press, will it return to the original form and no-harm/no foul?
 
I can't see where you should have changed your headspace just by using a different shell holder. Unless you screwed the die down to contact the "shallower" shell holder, cases should be sized correctly, but I'm not sure where the shell holder is "shallower". Is the part that contacts head of case lower or is the face of shell holder lower?

Regards,
hm
 
I wouldn't resize them again. You'd only be unnecessarily stretching your brass. Trim them,load them up and go shoot. If you bumped the shoulder back already then there's nothing much you can do besides basically shoot them to get back to your chambers size.
 
The distance from the head of the brass to the under side to the piston of the press is shallower. Trimmed 20 down, loaded, and hit the range. Just shot 100yrds and the results sucked. Should be 5 rounds in less than half the size of a dime. Looks like I used a slingshot.

Trimmed,
 
If I understand correctly, you are saying the case was not pushed as far into the sizing die as it would have been had you used the correct shell holder. Is that correct?

If so you basically neck sized your brass only and that should not harm it in any way.

If, on the other hand, you would have used a shell holder that was "thinner" (measured between the face of the shell holder on which the case head rests and the top face of the shell holder) and had re-adjusted your die so that base of die contacts face of shell holder at top of stroke, you would be pushing your shoulder back too far and that would result in excessive headspace.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: hm1996If I understand correctly, you are saying the case was not pushed as far into the sizing die as it would have been had you used the correct shell holder. Is that correct?

If so you basically neck sized your brass only and that should not harm it in any way.

If, on the other hand, you would have used a shell holder that was "thinner" (measured between the face of the shell holder on which the case head rests and the top face of the shell holder) and had re-adjusted your die so that base of die contacts face of shell holder at top of stroke, you would be pushing your shoulder back too far and that would result in excessive headspace.

Regards,
hm

I'm thinking it's the second part where the distance is shorter between the 2 and it's causing a headspace issue.
 
Originally Posted By: wklmanOriginally Posted By: hm1996If I understand correctly, you are saying the case was not pushed as far into the sizing die as it would have been had you used the correct shell holder. Is that correct?

If so you basically neck sized your brass only and that should not harm it in any way.

If, on the other hand, you would have used a shell holder that was "thinner" (measured between the face of the shell holder on which the case head rests and the top face of the shell holder) and had re-adjusted your die so that base of die contacts face of shell holder at top of stroke, you would be pushing your shoulder back too far and that would result in excessive headspace.

Regards,
hm

I'm thinking it's the second part where the distance is shorter between the 2 and it's causing a headspace issue.

wklman, your correct. After a test on the range, I resized 30 brass, trimmed, and loaded. Shot perfect. It was the undersized holder that I screwed it up with.
 
good to hear. The one thing I was worried about was if you'd be able to get them to stretch back to where you needed them when resized again.
 
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