243winxb
Member
Looks great. If anything, the col may be a little long? Less crimp.Thoughts
Remember, this is a steel die. It will maintain the case taper when sizing.
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Looks great. If anything, the col may be a little long? Less crimp.Thoughts
Ahh Jeeze. After my incorrect die info last night, I went red-faced into the loading room this morning. I measured an un-fired case and then took it through the FL and the Expander without trying for a bullet flare. Here are my measurements using all Winchester brass:
The "expander ball" is actually called the "case plug" and is part of the expander die. The upper part of the expander plug is where you flare out or bell the case mouth for ease of placing a bullet prior to seating.
- Fired case
- Mouth .384 OD
- Mouth .357 ID (.355 bullet should drop-in)
- Down at the web/head .391
- Through FL Sizer
- Mouth .377 OD (so your dies are right on at this point)
- Mouth .350 ID
- Web/head .390
- Expander
- Mouth .380 OD (expanded out .003)
- Mouth .354 ID (expanded out .004)
- Wed/head unchanged
So, a three-die pistol set is kinda like a two-die rifle set in that you compress down and expand back out to desired dims, but the rifle only needs two dies to get the job done. No flare required. I don't know how I got off on a rifle die last night other than it was late. Anyway.
The two dies - FL and Expander are required to take a fired case back to a reloadable condition with the case plug re-profiling the case after FL compression which also gives enough neck tension to hold the bullet.
I can't remember ever noticing the taper as in your photo, but the mic shows it's there. SAAMI calls for .391 at the web and .381 at the mouth as you've shown in the drawing.
As far as final loaded OD dims, I was taught way back to mic the bullet, then mic the thickness of the wall at the mouth x 2. So, .355 bullet + (.012 wall x 2) = .379. Note that your case and bullet may be different. This would be the dim I would shoot for. I think .373 is too much crimp. Adjust your seater die to relieve this. Some use .375 and some .379. It's what works for you. I don't like to have so much crimp that I engrave the bullet. I think it messes with accuracy.
I'm enclosing a scan of my Redding die instruction in case you don't have one.
Also a picture of a flared case.
These days, I just take out the flare at seating. In fact, I use .380. I happened to have mic'ed the taper crimp for all the factory ammo I have. Here's what I found.
1. Winchester white box - .379
2. UMC - .382
3. Federal - .380
4. Amerian Eagle - .381
and:
1. Rem Golden Sabre - .382
2. Fed HST - .381
3. Fed Hydra Shok - .381
4. Win Ranger T - .380
Hope this helps. Keep plugging away.
Jim