Crushing the shoulder on my brass!

[csburtch]

Just thought I would pass this on. Last night while loading up my 6.8spc's, every other one felt a little stiff as I seated the bullet. I chamber checked them and they didn't fit right. Damn another .60 down the drain! Come to figure out the bullet seating die that I had set to touch the shell holder had gotten small slivers of copper up in the die and was compressing the whole cartridge. I cleaned it out and adjusted the die about 1/8" above the shell holder, then set my depth for the bullet. Worked perfectly.
Whew! The number of things going through my head of what it could be... Just something simple.

[Ghost_Maker]

Its always the simple things that we tend to forget and over look... that's why I always KISS... Remember the simple junk first and if that doesn't work then I scratch my berries and wonder WTF!!!!

[tiller]

What kind of dies???

You should never set your seat/crimp die to touch the shell holder!!

[elx144]

I was making a couple rounds today and didnt think I needed to lube my brass. Stuck cases suck. I got it out by tapping the decap pin into the stuck case. Now I need a new decap pin. At least I figured out why my AR didn't want to dry cycle my ammo. .223 semi auto is a lot different than 30 cal bolt action.

[M27]

What kind of dies???

You should never set your seat/crimp die to touch the shell holder!!

This is what I was thinking. What dies. The only die that should touch the shell holder is the resizing die.

[csburtch]

RCBS
I assumed I was to do that with the seating die also. Funny thing is, it has worked fine for over a thousand rounds. Just got dirty.

[tiller]

You should never set your dies by touching the shell holder! Set your dies with a case gauge and adjust from there... I don't think any of my dies touch the shellholder/shellplate...

[JagerDog]

RCBS
I assumed I was to do that with the seating die also. Funny thing is, it has worked fine for over a thousand rounds. Just got dirty.

RTFM

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=rcbs%20seating%20die%20adjustment&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rcbs.com%2Fdownloads%2Finstructions%2FReloadingDieInstructions.pdf&ei=OqWNUeulCaLFigLJpIDoCg&usg=AFQjCNHR7ZZVvjTtq3QycZe54crNz2XVsg&bvm=bv.46340616,d.cGE

[nothing4u]

I have the standard 6.8 SPC RCBS die, if your seater die is going all the way and touching the shell holder I would call RCBS and see what they say. On mine i still have a .10" gap. Are you using an RCBS shell holder #19?

[csburtch]

Using a lee #12

[nothing4u]

It's possible that shell holder is taller and lets the seater die touch the top of it on shell holder. 0.12-13" is the height from where the case touches the shell holder an to the top of my RCBS #19,3,4,27 shell holder. Lee recommends #21 shell holder for the 6.8 SPC. I suspect either your shell holder was made too tall, or the seater die was cut too deep. Allowing you to have the seater die all the way down touching the shell holder. Back the bullet seater all the way up. Hand insert a sized case into the die till it touches the shoulder, then put on the shell holder. There should be atleast a 0.1" gap between the shell holder and die.

[nothing4u]

I reread post #1. The way your suppose to use the seater die is to have the sized case in the shell holder, have the ram all the way up position. I usually have the bullet stem all the way up. Then screw the die in until it touches the case. Then back it off about 2-3 turns and lock it. Adjust the bullet stem down gradually till you get the proper OAL you want. Looks like operator error. Ignore post #11.

[JagerDog]

I reread post #1. The way your suppose to use the seater die is to have the sized case in the shell holder, have the ram all the way up position. I usually have the bullet stem all the way up. Then screw the die in until it touches the case. Then back it off about 2-3 turns and lock it. Adjust the bullet stem down gradually till you get the proper OAL you want. Looks like operator error. Ignore post #11.

That's why I said RTFM....and linked the manual. RCBS is explicit that it not touch. "I assumed" means he didn't bother to RTFM.

[csburtch]

Ok, ok! I get it! How many times can we say read the manual. Lesson learned.
(Left hand up and right hand on the reloading manual)
"I pledge to read all of my die instructions from here on out." Lol