Forster FLS die leaving shiny ring around bottom of case?

Are you sure that the ring is from the die. Are the cases new? If not, how many times have they been used? Does it make the same ring on new cases? Sorry for all the questions, but that's a fairly classic sign of case head separation.

I'm thinking the brass swelled at the base and the die was fighting to correct it. If it's not digging its not a problem.

If your worried cut or sand one down enough to inspect. A die that worked well now acting weird with a new gun make me suspicious. I measure the cases with the best device you have to see if the die is trying to correct expanded brass. The ones with the rings being bigger than those without explains everything

p5200 said:

The only rounds fired from the new gun are fine. The other rounds were fired from a like new Remington 700 SPS AAC model which I gave to my daughter in New York. I'll try sanding one down and see what it looks like. I always load mid way between min and max load data.

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I don't intend to imply it was a load issue, but a die chamber match issue. The extreme example would be my arasaka. The chamber is large at the base and the die works hard to restore it.

Heck cut it with your Dremel and inspect. Generous chamber as mentioned above is the best answer with little information. Mic your fired cases

p5200 said:

I've only got calipers. It won't take me long to fire a few more rounds and then resize them and check for ring. I'm still going to cut one open though.

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Testing is fun. Calipers work just fine for this

These are some cases I culled over the weekend. They are 308 Winchester cases. I shot these through a DPMS AR platform that is fairly hard on brass. These have been shot 5 times. They started out in an original lot of 500 cases of which I have about 250 left that do not look like these (mostly I lose a lot of them in the grass during 3 gun competitions). These were clearly (IMO) showing the signs of case head separation. I did not do an internal check as I thought it wasn't necessary since I'd already decided to cull them. You can also see where the Dillon dies stopped working the brass. I only saw these lines after resizing and an exam while I was cleaning the lube off. I've no idea if the lines were there before resizing simply because I never check the cases at that point in the process. I have too many (several thousand) once fired range pick ups in various size lots, and 2 new lots of 500 each of Lapua and Starline cases. The moral of the story is that I don't need or want to take the risk of a case separation. So, these hit the trash can.

When I see that, this is the next thing I reach for.



Measures wall thickness without the need to destroy the case. No guessing or feeling, just reading. If the dial goes down and back up, the case is ready for recycling. If its normal, I continue on with the process.

My 30.06 brass does that too.

p5200 said:

would the down spot be where the ring is?

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Yes, it is the spot where the case is stretching apart. Looks like this, shove the case all the way on and thats the thickest part of the web.



Now the case is tapered so you should expect it to go down as you move towards the neck.



But if it goes down and then comes back up, you just passed the problem area.



I can measure if they are thinning out before I can feel anything, using the bent paper clip method and its faster.

My 30.06 is a Remington. Must be a Remington thing.