LEE full length sizing die

[anotherted]

Ive got a problem. I sized 50 cases of LC 05 .308 and completed the rest of the steps. I seated a bullet to the proper depth, etc. The bolt would not close on the round. I checked the round i loaded against a factory .308 and it was clear that that on the round i reloaded, the shoulder was not resized correctly. I could eyeball that the shoulder was still stretched out way too far. WTH. I adjusted the sizing die according to the instructions and it wont size the fired case correctly. Im pretty pissed as i spent a few hours loading cases that are useless now. Im really wondering what the heck is going on. Any ideas?

Also, obviously im going to have to resize all 50 cases. Can i decap a live primer?

Thanks,

Ted

[grammaton76]

Can i decap a live primer?

NO!!!!

You can, however, take out the decapper so that it doesn't attempt to decap it.

[anotherted]

Yeah, thats what i figured. I just thought id ask. I dont want to resize with a live primer though, do I?

[762cavalier]

resizing with a live primer is not much of an issue as long as the decapper has been removed. You can remove live primers although it is a risky proposition and could detonate the primer.

[50ae]

Like was said above, take the decapper off to resize them. You might just have a tight chamber on your rifle which is causing your problems. One thing to remember is that now that you have a live primer in there you don't want to get lube inside the case so be very careful when you are lubing them up.

[Fjold]

Check your die adjustment. Take an empty case and run it through the sizer die without the expander/decapping rod installed. If it doesn't chamber easily you need to screw the die in further and try again.

If it does chamber easily, check that the inside of the necks are lubed enough and the expander ball is not dragging in the necks and pulling the shoulder forward as the case comes out of the die.

[tankerman]

I will take a guess that this was brass that had been fired in different gun and you just resized the neck? Did you check the case length after resizing? Was this brass fired in a Garand? Or some other gun with a chamber on the large size? If the webbing is stretched to much they may not resize all the way and would only chamber in that gun or one with similar chamber dimensions.

[anotherted]

yeah, its military practice ammo as far as i can tell. I resized the cases to 2.007".

[Whitesmoke]

I've decapped live primers and never had one go off....not saying you should do that though....

When I do it...I remove all powder and primers from the machine and the bench....just in case.

[50ae]

If you are going to decap live primers and I'm not recommending it, but if you are going to, put some penetrating oil in the primer hole first to kill it as best as you can.

[anotherted]

Im not going to decap the live primers. However, if i decided to go ahead and resize the primed cases, I would have to 1) clean them in soap and water -- i dont have a dry media cleaner. 2) trim the primed cases. Im worried about the primers getting wet, and Im worried about putting primed cases in the case trimmer.

Ill prob chalk this up to the learning curve and just start with new cases.

Thanks,

Ted

[Fjold]

Lube the outside of the cases lightly and remove the decapping assembly from your die.
Screw the die down one thread and run the primed cases through your die. Check one for fit in your rifle chamber.

If it chambers then you can reload the case or take it to a safe place and cycle the primed cases through the gun and fire off the primers.

If it doesn't chamber screw the die a little further in and try again, sooner or later they will chamber.

After you get all the primers fired you can trim, etc. safely.

[Whitesmoke]

Do as Fjold suggests....

I don't think you need to rewash them after sizing....just lightly lube the outside and size...then wipe the lube off with a clean cloth.

And you don't have to retrim every time you resize...some people do, but you don't HAVE to. Just remeasure the overall case length....I'll bet it's ok.

[wutzu]

I asked Lee about this a month or so back, when I loaded up some .308 and didn't resize the necks down far enough to hold bullets. Lee said that I could pop out the decapper pin, or that I could just apply slow, even pressure to pop the primers out, and that i could even reuse the primers.

And they were right...

[anotherted]

So did you adjust the dies and did they work properly?