FL size below .200” line?

[nv_breton]

Thanks all for the replies. @Mike D Texas , what are your SAUM brass measurements before and after sizing?

Here’s a quick rundown on what I’m seeing for an average measurements just below the pressure ring, around .250 up from the bottom. Measured with a blade mic:

New brass: .5453
1x Fired: .5479-.5492, depending on the charge.
2x Fired: .5498-.5500

The 2x loads were 57.0 gr of H4350 & 145gr Hammer Hunter Tipped, shot on a hot day, 20” barrel, avg Vel of 3025. With the heat, they may have been a little on the hot side, but other than the clickers, no obvious signs of high pressure.

My Redding FL Sizing die isn’t sizing the .200-.400 area much, if at all. It must be sizing a little (.0005ish) because the fired brass is a tight fit at the top end of the bolt throw, but sized (empty) brass chambers and extracts easily.

I colored up a 2x piece with a Sharpie that is stiff on extraction, and it seems to be contacting the chamber because the color is scraped off around .350-.400 from the base.

Does this track with your experience on clickers? Any thoughts on if I’m going down the right path? Thanks all for the help!

Photo of brass..

 

[HighUintas]

Thanks all for the replies. @Mike D Texas , what are your SAUM brass measurements before and after sizing?

Here’s a quick rundown on what I’m seeing for an average measurements just below the pressure ring, around .250 up from the bottom. Measured with a blade mic:

New brass: .5453
1x Fired: .5479-.5492, depending on the charge.
2x Fired: .5498-.5500

The 2x loads were 57.0 gr of H4350 & 145gr Hammer Hunter Tipped, shot on a hot day, 20” barrel, avg Vel of 3025. With the heat, they may have been a little on the hot side, but other than the clickers, no obvious signs of high pressure.

My Redding FL Sizing die isn’t sizing the .200-.400 area much, if at all. It must be sizing a little (.0005ish) because the fired brass is a tight fit at the top end of the bolt throw, but sized (empty) brass chambers and extracts easily.

I colored up a 2x piece with a Sharpie that is stiff on extraction, and it seems to be contacting the chamber because the color is scraped off around .350-.400 from the base.

Does this track with your experience on clickers? Any thoughts on if I’m going down the right path? Thanks all for the help!

Photo of brass..

Yes in that ballpark, but I think my worst contact is a bit lower, around 0.270... but that's with a 284 case.

 

[nv_breton]

Sounds like I have a new mandrel or die in my future. Appreciate the help

 

[Mike D Texas]

Thanks all for the replies. @Mike D Texas , what are your SAUM brass measurements before and after sizing?

Here’s a quick rundown on what I’m seeing for an average measurements just below the pressure ring, around .250 up from the bottom. Measured with a blade mic:

New brass: .5453
1x Fired: .5479-.5492, depending on the charge.
2x Fired: .5498-.5500

The 2x loads were 57.0 gr of H4350 & 145gr Hammer Hunter Tipped, shot on a hot day, 20” barrel, avg Vel of 3025. With the heat, they may have been a little on the hot side, but other than the clickers, no obvious signs of high pressure.

My Redding FL Sizing die isn’t sizing the .200-.400 area much, if at all. It must be sizing a little (.0005ish) because the fired brass is a tight fit at the top end of the bolt throw, but sized (empty) brass chambers and extracts easily.

I colored up a 2x piece with a Sharpie that is stiff on extraction, and it seems to be contacting the chamber because the color is scraped off around .350-.400 from the base.

Does this track with your experience on clickers? Any thoughts on if I’m going down the right path? Thanks all for the help!

Photo of brass..

I’m not sure I have a piece of fired brass handy right now. But generally speaking the clickers I have experienced seem to come from a similar location as your brass or slightly closer to the case head.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[nv_breton]

Well I wanted to update this with my results thus far in case it helps others.

I went with the Cortina FL Bushing Die. It’s well made - took a little bit to get the shoulder bump set correctly, but overall pretty standard and simple stuff. It definitely takes a bit more force and it’s easy to tell the die sizes further down the case than my Redding FL S. Based on his video, I used Imperial wax instead of my standard OneShot. I’d hesitate to use OneShot for fear of sticking a case, but that may just be me.

With the Redding die, after sizing I still had a web dia of .550ish. With Cortina’s, the web dia is a consistent .5475.

Hopefully I’ll hit the range soon and will update if this fixes the clickers. As for the sizing, it was as advertised. I’ll add that I use many Redding dies and like them, but they didn’t work in this particular case. As always, YMMV.

 

[FLShooter293]

Well, I got my first clickers today. OP, did you specifically buy these dies because of this issue? I’m now trying to figure out my best course of action. Don’t want to trash the brass, and I don’t want to bump shoulders down more than necessary. I wish there was a body die that only sized this area, leaving the shoulder untouched. Or is there?

I too just had my first clickers with a 300 WSM. did some research and ended up going with an Eric Cortina micrometer sizing die. From my research either his or the Micron size down to the .200 line a little tighter than factory dies. Went with EC because of the micrometer headspace adjustment.

 

[HighUintas]

Well I wanted to update this with my results thus far in case it helps others.

I went with the Cortina FL Bushing Die. It’s well made - took a little bit to get the shoulder bump set correctly, but overall pretty standard and simple stuff. It definitely takes a bit more force and it’s easy to tell the die sizes further down the case than my Redding FL S. Based on his video, I used Imperial wax instead of my standard OneShot. I’d hesitate to use OneShot for fear of sticking a case, but that may just be me.

With the Redding die, after sizing I still had a web dia of .550ish. With Cortina’s, the web dia is a consistent .5475.

Hopefully I’ll hit the range soon and will update if this fixes the clickers. As for the sizing, it was as advertised. I’ll add that I use many Redding dies and like them, but they didn’t work in this particular case. As always, YMMV.

What brand brass are you using? It's a saum case, right?

 

[nv_breton]

Brass is AGD in 7SAUM. Brand new brass is .546

 

[ropeup79]

I haven’t tried yet but I think I saw someone using a custom Lee push through bullet swage die to resize case base/head. Order it a thousandth smaller than new case diameter to account for spring back, lube it up, and push case through due. Won’t work on rimmed/belted cases.

Custom Classic Size Kit

Custom Lube and Sizing Kit. Please allow 8-12 weeks for delivery. Maximum bullet diameter is .575.

leeprecision.com

 

[HighUintas]

Just for reference, Lapua 284 is about 0.4985 virgin. The 0.200 line in Cortinas 284 die is 0.496.

 

[nv_breton]

Thanks - I should add a little clarification on my measurements above. When measured with a blade mic at .250 (where my pressure ring forms) new brass is .5450-.5454, not the .546 I stated above.

I get .546 when measuring lengthwise along the case with calipers. Maybe down in weeds a bit for the purposes of this conversation… lol.