Reamers from die casts

T

tricrown

Guest
I have 22BR & 30BR PTG reamers. I’d like to have them reground to match the Redding Full Body S bushing dies. I’ve asked Redding for their die dimensions and got no reply. Dave at PTG told me he has ground reamers to match the dimensions taken from a cast.

My questions are:
Has anyone had a reamer ground to match the Redding 22BR & 30BR dies?
Could I have your dimensions?
How much over the die’s size did you have the reamer ground to & how’s it working for you?
Any tips on taking and reading a cast of the dies if it comes to that?

Thank you,
Bill
 
I've had good luck using pin gages to determine the shoulder diameter and the base diameter inside Redding dies. Also used the neck diameter on the FL WSM die to determine my reamer neck diameter (it is a turned neck). But I also have FL "S" dies if I want to adjust neck tension.
I've also made Cerro metal casts and I trust the dimensions found that way.
But, I also consider the size of the new brass, especially at a point about .200 ahead of the base of the case.
I'd order a few hundred cases AND dies and do some measuring before spec'ing the reamer.
Opinions vary.
 
tricrown said:
I have 22BR & 30BR PTG reamers. I’d like to have them reground to match the Redding Full Body S bushing dies. I’ve asked Redding for their die dimensions and got no reply. Dave at PTG told me he has ground reamers to match the dimensions taken from a cast.

My questions are:
Has anyone had a reamer ground to match the Redding 22BR & 30BR dies?
Could I have your dimensions?
How much over the die’s size did you have the reamer ground to & how’s it working for you?
Any tips on taking and reading a cast of the dies if it comes to that?

Thank you,
Bill
Click to expand...

Bill,

questions:

I do not have reamers ground to redding spec's, can't help you there. Also, mass produced dies vary in size, I'd not trust a die built to match a ceetain mfgrs spec.

I size my resizers at .002 smaller than the chamber at shoulder and base and have had good luck with this. Others recommend another thou of squish at the base, .002 @ shoulder and .003 @ base.

As far as tips..... I've just sent dies straight to Dave @ PTG and had him measure from them.

al
 
Because of work hardening and spring back issues, I feel that the best approach to this situation is to measure brass that has been sized using the die in quesion. For this, if you are going to use a close case to chamber fit, you should use old work hardened brass, so that the die will be able to sufficiently size a well used cases (that have more spring back than new ones). Using actual cases sized with the die, saves guessing about spring back, and allows excelent control of sized case to chamber fit. I have ordered several reamers using this method, all with good results. As a matter of fact we have produced excellent cases by using standard one piece dies, sans expander ball, for tight neck chambers whose neck dimensions were carefully specified so that the desired fit was achieved with proper neck tension, a real savings over a custom die, and the brass and finished rounds are very straight.
 
I just went through a project of building a full length die for a 1000 yard wildcat and Dave Kiff recommended .004" under the finish reamer at the shoulder and .002" at the bottom of the die. We built in a neck resize on the reamer. It worked out very well using a Newlon 416 stainless die blank and going with a nitriding case hardening.
 
Thank you all for your advice.

Jay, what do you mean by considering the size of new brass? Why?

Al, I’m surprised Dave didn’t suggest sending him my dies when we were talking.

Sort of in line with Boyd’s suggestion, the idea of sending in fully resized fired cases with the reamers sounds appealing. Tight closing 22BR cases I have. But unfortunately I’d need to bum the 30BR cases from a friend as the two 30BR barrels I have now are made from a different reground reamer that’s a little too tight for a Redding 30BR body die. I know that because I bulged out the body shoulder junction on some of my cases by having an S die set too low in a Co-Ax. So while a Forster 6BR FL die will push in the body shoulder junction on my fired 30BR cases comfortably, a Redding 30BR body die leaves them very hard to close.

Contemplated going with Forster FL dies that would first be sent in to have the neck ground to spec to size the reamers off of. But don’t like losing the S Die’s option of changing the neck tension and besides Forster doesn’t make a 30BR die and told me they can not open up their 7BR FL die’s neck enough to work for a 30BR. The Forster Bushing Bump die doesn’t hit the case body at all. So that’s out too.

Glad I posted.
Thanks again,
Bill
 
I think that Lynwood Harell could fix you up with a bushing die, and for purposes of design, you could size fired 6BR cases, from a generous chamber that were well used. The main thing is to get the body diameters of the sized case. The shoulder angle will always be the same, and the neck not an issue for a bushing die. Problem solved. (The problem with honing out the neck of a one piece die is that the setup for doing so is rarely precise enough to keep the neck in perfect alignment with the body.)
 
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tricrown said:
Thank you all for your advice.

Jay, what do you mean by considering the size of new brass? Why?

Glad I posted.
Thanks again,
Bill
Click to expand...
If your Redding die closely matches the base diameter of new brass, you have a good situation. You can have a chamber that is .002-.003 larger and the brass will not be deformed when fired. If the die is something like .002-.004 LARGER than the new brass, you would have to spec the chamber to be even larger than that if you expect the die/chamber relationship to be acceptable. I don't like to have a chamber very much larger than virgin brass at the base. Shoulder is less important, of course and neck diameter is unimportant if using bushings.
This whole thing may not be really important to most reloaders but it is to me.

Jay, Idaho
 
Order.....

Order a single finishing reamer .010" undersized diameter in the body area only from cartridge spec., all other specs. are full chamber size.

Use this reamer to cut all dies and chambers, then single point finish-taper- bore the body area only to given requirement . Minimum full length sizer body bore usually .003" less than chamber body diameter bore..................Don
 
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