of dies. how much smaller do you make or have your sizing dies made? If a person were to have a reamer made that was .005 larger the entire length of the case and had planned on using say a Reading Full length die, would the die crunch the .005 back to the origional case size or does one need send fired brass off to a custom maker OR have one's own die making reamer which will shrink the cases back to their origional or "normal" size?
I appreciate your sharing this information in depth. Others have shared similar info without the details; to give them all the credit they deserve.
Pete,
For a long time my Go-To method was to get two reamers .002 apart in diameter. One reamer is the "rougher" and the other the "finisher"...... in reality my chambers are mostly drilled and bored and the finish reamer is used to final out while the "rougher" is used only for what it was really made for, the die reamer.
This works well. Except for one wee liddle detail....... finding a way to have the die hardened. This has become problematic.
Then I talked to Jim Carstensen and he introduced me to the idea of tapering the die differently than the chamber.
My latest situation is a "6X47Lapua" chamber in which the chamber is cut .002 over at the shoulder and .009 over at the base of the brass. I ordered my Neil Jones reamer at .0015 crunch at the shoulder and .0035 crunch at the base and Neil didn't want to do it. He called me and talked me out of this taper. He set the base dimension at .0025 smaller than the chamber.
I haven't really ran it through it's paces yet cuz I haven't had time. I hate to make excuses but my daughter's getting married in a couple hours and this last few weeks has been a little hectical
I'm hoping that this is the perfect die fit.
But I don't know yet.
The 6X47L I'm currently shooting uses a die which is cut .002 smaller, same taper all-round. Problem is that the die is UNHARDENED....... look in the "Al's 6X47L" thread to see that it scratches cases. And it'll wear out. The die will last long enough, the barrel's already getting close to a thousand rounds......
BTW For all those reading this and considering it for the first time, lissen up.
Don't believe that "your gunsmith can just easily whip out a fitted die" by slamming a reamer into a hunk of Newlon stock. A die needs to be properly supported as its reamed. But of course a GOOD BR Gunsmith knows this....
ennyhooo's...... I hope this all gives you something to think about Pete.
al