is my die set correctly?

[dinnerplate]

looking at the pictures below, does it look like something is wrong with the way my die is screwed in?





the first shot is of the press when the arm is pressed down WITHOUT a shell in it. the second shot is when there IS a shell in it.

in the first photo, no shell was put in, and the die was screwed down so it touched the shellholder, and then i turned it 1/4 turn more.

in the second photo, though, you can clearly see about a millimeter of clearance between the shellholder .

is this normal? i thought the shellholder was supposed to touch the base of the die even when the shell is in it. this is a rcbs small base .223 die on a t-7 turret press. thanks guys.

[Sub95]

rcbs die/lee shell holder .223. case sits flat on the shell holder when press handel is all the way down.

oh i use a rcbs RC press

just happen to be sizing .223 lol

[rdmmdr]

WELCOME TO FLEX IN A TURRET HEAD PRESS. If you do not feel the cam over action tighten it up.
rick

[Munk]

Go deeper. Just a touch... for full length sizing you want the die to just barely be touching the shell holder when it's fully extended with a case in it.

Even metal is a bit plastic, as in malleable and squishable. This is a fairly normal occurence.

[dinnerplate]

thank heavens for your quick responses. i can now proceed with my day.

[30Cal]

I don't believe the question can be answered unless you've got a case gage.

ETA: I've owned a half dozen FL die sets at one time or another. About a 3rd of the time, following the supplied directions resulted in excessive sizing.

[badlandsbutch]

Get a Wilson case cage to adjust min/max headspace. No guesswork.

[sequoia_nomad]

If that is a carbide sizer die you do not want to go any deeper. Raise the ram as far as it goes, then screw in the die until it just almost touches the shell holder. Some recommend using a piece of paper in between, you want it almost touching, but just a tiny bit off (Assuming that is a carbide die). The carbide is hard and brittle, and from what I understand can be easily broken when under pressure against the steel of the shell holder.

[sequoia_nomad]

Sorry, didn't see the Rcbs .223 at the bottom. Pardon my haste!

[Munk]

If that is a carbide sizer die you do not want to go any deeper. Raise the ram as far as it goes, then screw in the die until it just almost touches the shell holder. Some recommend using a piece of paper in between, you want it almost touching, but just a tiny bit off (Assuming that is a carbide die). The carbide is hard and brittle, and from what I understand can be easily broken when under pressure against the steel of the shell holder.

Sorry, didn't see the Rcbs .223 at the bottom. Pardon my haste!

Don't worry about it, the carbide cautionary warning is always good to remember.

With a non-carbide die, it's soft enough you can go a little tighter to get through the cam-over with an assurance that you're maxing out your sizing. Lower carbon steel is more flexible and resilient against stresses. You can crank it into your press far enough that when you fully extend the bar, it kinda goes *ca-thuck* as it cams past the high point in the extension and lowers a fraction of an inch when the arm is completely pressed down.

With a carbide die, the cam-over can be too much pressure for the harder, more brittle metal to take. High carbon steel is very hard, but can be broken more easily and cannot withstand the repeated stresses as well as the softer steel. If your die never presses against the shell-plate with any force, it'll only be pressing against brass, and that's so soft it'll never hurt the carbide.

[dinnerplate]

this isn't a carbide die, i don't think. it's an RCBS .223 small base full length sizing die, whatever that may be.

i'm a little confused now. should i be going to get a case gage and measure chamber headspace? i'm shooting these out of an AR-15, so i don't know if that matters.

if i do measure the headspace, do i just back off the die until it matches up with my chamber headspace? wouldn't that then cause the die to not touch the shellholder? i could have sworn i heard that i should ALWAYS have the shellholder touching the base of the die when resizing.

[sequoia_nomad]

Carbide dies are almost exclusively for straight walled handgun calibers. Most bottleneck rifle calibers will take plain steel. Rcbs carbide dies come in a grey case, the standard steel in a green case, which is what you probably have. Sorry for the confusion.