Is a shellholder, a shellholder, a shellholder....?

[David-K]

The fact that Redding offers a set of shellholders (depending on caliber) that vary in thickness, got me wondering if there were differences in shellholders between manufacturers. I.E. Will a Lee shellholder garner different results when used with an RCBS die set .vs having used an RCBS shellholder to begin with?

Your thoughts?

['ol shooter]

I have Lee, Lyman, Hornady, and Redding, along with various RCBS shell holders, and they all fit my old R/C. The differing height holders are so you can bump a shoulder more, without re-setting your sizing die, just in case you were not aware.

[stilly]

They pretty much are all the same except for the redding competition ridiculous shell holders. Thems be crazy, but they have their place.

[pacrat]

Shell holders were "standardized" between manufacturers back when dinos roamed the earth. But due to manufactureing tolerances and tolerance stacking they of course have some variances. You can buy the same # holder, from the same maker and one will fit the rim/extractor groove of a given cartridge better. And rim/extractor grooves on cases also vary by maker and lot #.

[h.charlie]

Yes and yes. Yes they will work in almost all presses and yes they will have small difference, when cartridge specific my 25 rem will bottom out on the angled part of the extractor groove leavin a nice dent of the shell holder so I either have town use feeler gages to shim the case off the off the the bottom of the shell holder or use redding shell holders specific for the cartridge

[PatC415]

The numbering is different on a few calibers that I have. Same caliber shellholder, different numbers by manufacturer. But they interchange between my presses.

[RandyD]

Most of the time when a sizing die is set so that it touches the shell holder when the cartridge case goes into the sizing die, the sizing die will produce the maximum amount of headspace. Redding makes competition shell holders that allow the reloader to adjust headspace by changing shellholders, instead of changing the sizing die's setting. This would be helpful when you are reloading for two different rifles chambered in the same cartridges, or when you are producing two different headspaced cartridges for the same rifle. Highpower competitors may want two different sets of cartridges headspaced differently; one for slow fire and another for rapid fire.

[VegasND]

They're totally interchangeable -- usually ... almost.

[Anemic AL]

I've been wondering about shellholders myself. The Lee holder I'm currently using is a bit loose. After de-prime, the case moves a little on its way to a new primer. So I always have to jiggle/push it back in or the new primer won't line up.

Other brands will work with the press, but will they be loose as well? Just thought I'd ask before I start playing musical shellholders.

[bohoki]

ive noticed some do not have the high primer clearance slot

[Bumslie]

Shell holders were "standardized" between manufacturers back when dinos roamed the earth. But due to manufactureing tolerances and tolerance stacking they of course have some variances. You can buy the same # holder, from the same maker and one will fit the rim/extractor groove of a given cartridge better. And rim/extractor grooves on cases also vary by maker and lot #.

Best answer.

I have some old rcbs she'll holders that for into my press, but not into my new rcbs hand primer.

I usually stick with rcbs or redding shell holders. They have given me the most uniform results.

Lee has had some sloppy ones, so I don't bother with them anymore. I don't buy hornady products anymore and I only think of lyman when it comes to casting items or reloading books.

[JMP]

With conventional shell holders, the brand is generally of little to no difference since you set your dies accordingly and you should be able to find a size that fits. The exception is for when you are reloading high precision ammo and need a shoulder bump to an exact dimension; folks like to use the Redding Competition shellholders since they allow you to alter alter the fit in small increments so you do not need to adjust your die. This is often not needed, especially in bolt rifles when you have only one chamber size in a nice tight chamber as the brass should fireform to fit your chamber. Obviously, you want a good enough shell holder that stays straight and aligns with the ram of the press.

I have some old rcbs she'll holders that for into my press, but not into my new rcbs hand primer.

Bumslie, in my opinion, the RCBS hand primer is the best of the major brands without going to a super high end speciality primer. It's a strange design, but it gets the primers nicely seated. The problem with it is that changing shell holders is catastrophic. That plastic housing gets damaged and and sometimes it's glitchy getting the cylindrical bearing back in place. I'd highly recommend using the universal hand primer so you do not need to switch shell holders. That primer is good for pretty much all cases through 30-06. Then, the nice thing is that one comes with the big square primer feeder so that you can just flip load the big Federal tray. You can actually fit a 338 Lapua in it, but it isn't a good idea since it needs to push the lips a bit too wide. Then, the primer feeders are completely universal, so you can keep a feeder for each type of primer you use and just plug it for your particular cartridge. So, except for very large or oddball cases with an unconventional rim and base, the universal yields decent results.

Then, if you have larger cartridges, you are best to get the regular shell holder type (which unfortunately comes with the small circular feeder but it is okay for non federal). This way, you are basically set with just three hand primers as you can do all your cartridges with the universal, and the other two you might need are for the shell holder for the 416 Rigby (338 Lapua/Norma mag), and the 505 Gibbs shell holder (CheyTac and SnipeTacs). Then, for 50 BMG bases, you obviously need to do that on your press. This way, I have several feeders for the various primers I use. It costs a bit more upfront, but having a dedicated hand primer for each case that you need will save you in the long run in money and time.

Just keep a shell holder in its own dedicated hand primer. For most folks, they can suffice with just the universal, then just have several feeding trays for your various primers, which are cheap. That's the most cost effective way to hand prime and provides good results.

In the case of a 505 Gibbs variant, the RCBS #47 is the only one I know of without a custom shell holder, so in that respect, you are limited to the RCBS #47.

I don't buy hornady products anymore.

It's nice that you have seen the light. The Hornady hand primer; that's a cruel joke unless you don't mind differences in primer seating depth.