Problems with my .223

[03A3]

My old Lee 3-hole 1983?? model turrent press does cam over.
So does my Redding Boss.
They won't if the die is screwed down too far.

 

[Farmritch]

Reloading bottle neck cartridges is a whole different chapter in reloading.
You should be using a case micrometer ( I use a RCBS one) and also have a headspace gauge.
I really like the dillon one for .223
Not to mention an empty and loaded case length measurement.
Reloading is no game and if you are not using these tools you need to break out the textbooks and learn the proper way to do it.
I just had to re learn a friend on these same topics

 

[kludge]

My old Lee 3-hole 1983?? model turrent press does cam over.
So does my Redding Boss.
They won't if the die is screwed down too far.

Hmmm... I'll have to check my 3-hole, I didn't think it was possible.

People have differing opinions, here is one person's opinion...

You say "too far", but if you cam over on a carbide die you can crack the carbide insert on a carbide die, so in that case, yes it is too far. Not to mention the huge forces elsewhere by camming over.

Conventional wisdom says that camming over can make the difference between a cartidge chambering or not, but a properly adjusted die with enough leverage and a rigid enough press will be able to resize the brass as much as the die allows without ever camming over.

To compensate for the stretch of the press (all presses stretch to some degree) Lee's intructions for their dies say to raise the ram to the top of the stroke, then screw in the die until it touches the shell holder. Then lower the ram and screw the die in 1/4 turn more (1/8 turn for pistol pies), raise the ram and tighten the lock ring. This ensures that even with press stretch that the case will go fully into the resizing die - without camming over. When the shell holder touches the die during resizing, that's all you can do. Camming over is just adding wear and tear to your press and dies.

If you can't get your cartridge to fit in the chamber following these instructions, and you are sure it's the die and not something else preventing the cartridge from chambering, then shave a thousandth of an inch off the shell holder, then another, until your cartridge chambers - or just buy the shell holders designed for that purpose. Or get small base dies (if that's the prolem, rather than a shoulder problem).

Regardless of my foregoing opinion...

The OP, unless I missed it, hasn't yet taken the advise of using a sharpie or smoking the cartridge to see where his chambering problem is coming from, until then all these pages of advise we are giving him are rather pointless.

 

[Farmritch]

While all this is fine and dandy bottoming out then backing off 1/4 turn etc. It does not take in consideration different thickness of shell holder. There is no scientific or measurable way of getting it right. If you don't have the proper gauges it's a crap shoot

 

[kludge]

You don't back it out you turn it in 1/4 turn.

 

[teddy12b]

You don't back it out you turn it in 1/4 turn.

This.