There are two types of resizing and dies that we commonly use: one referred to as a bushing die and the other referred to as a non-bushing die. The bushing die uses a bushing that will be used to determine the amount of sizing in the neck of the cartridge. The advantage of the bushing dies is available in 1,000 thing comments in different sizes so you can easily control the amount of sizing that you get in the cartridge case neck. These are commonly used by competitive shooters and they’re often used to adjust the amount of neck tension which is also the force required to seat the bullet.
The second type of die is just referred to as a non-bushing die and a non-bushing die doesn’t accept these bushings the amount of sizing that it’s going to do into the case neck is fixed by the internal dimensions in the dock.
Once you’ve got the die you want to adjust the d cap assembly. This d capping pin which is used to punch the primer out extends about the correct length from the bottom of the dot. However, unscrew the d cap assembly from the dock and adjust with the lock nut right up here to get the link that we need. You also have more adjustment if it’s needed down here for this bottom lock nut. In this way, you can adjust your die where you need it as far as or check out of Reloading Manual of xxl-reloading to get a clear idea.
When you put the die into the press you’re going to want to back it up and this is the same whether you are using a coax style press or a conventional thread end press. But the dial is going to be backed up and you’re going to raise the ram on the press. The next thing we’re going to do is we’re going to turn the die down until it just does contact the shell holder. Once we’ve contacted the shell holder you can do back in the die about a quarter of a turn and this is going to be a good starting point.
Many people might be wondering how much do I need the size of the case? Well, the answer will vary somewhat depending on what kind of firearm you’re shooting. If you’re shooting a bolt-action rifle most people tend to prefer to size the case about one or two-thousandths of an inch. One or two thousand of sizing amount it’s probably not enough if you’re shooting any kind of repeating gun especially an ar-15 because any repeater they don’t have the camming power to force a too large of a case into the chamber. So in that case, we suggest that you size something like four or five-thousandths of an inch to secure an easy chamber and extraction of the case.
Another most common question is people always asked is how did the case get longer when we size it in the sizer die. The answer is if the body portion of the case was squeezed down slightly in diameter and the dye is still sitting too high into the press this is like squeezing a half-full tube of toothpaste in the middle. When you grab that to the toothpaste and you squeeze it in the middle the two-faced has to go somewhere so it comes to the top of the tube. Same deal with this cartridge case, we’ve squeezed it in the middle and because there was space for the shoulder to move forward or to a longer headspace measurement.
Now as far as how much to thread the die down it’s usually going to be trial and error but one special tip is that makes things a little bit easier. It is a suggestion that if you use the case which you’ve already resized, it’s had a lot of the case lube wiped off of it. So the smartest thing to do is to get one with a fresh coat of case lube on it and run it in this die. If you run the same case and out of the die several times you’re going to stick that case in the die.
