Laguna Freak
Well-Known Member
Wives can be smart like that…
Redding Competition Shell holders are a great tool for precision reloading but they do not allow more sizing than a regular shell holder only less. A regular shell holder is .125 and the Redding Shell holders start at .127 and go up in height by .002 to .137. To get more sizing or a shorter headspace you would need to grind off the top of the standard shell holder. If you notice the Redding Competition shell holders are marked +.002-+.010. They are a great tool to prevent over sizing our precious brass. They are made for the most of us who have chambers that are slightly over min headspace. By selecting the correct Redding shell holder we can control the headspace within .002.Bump your shoulder back more. That almost always fixes that problem. If you can't get any more bump out of your current setup, you can either grind some material off your shell holder or get a competition shell holder set from Redding.
Your chamber is likely just headspaced a bit tighter than your gages.
You just answered a question I've been asking myself all day today. I couldn't understand how a handful of my brass (6 pieces to be exact) had their shoulders bumped by 0.020 more than the rest of the same batch. The shell holder has to be the reason why.Did you possibly change your shell holder for another you might have?
I have several .308 size shell holders, and know that if they don't stay with their proper calibrated die sets, that fun and games will happen.
My 30/06 small base set and my 7.62N set both use the same size shell holder but if I don't use the ones that I set the dies up with the cases won't chamber.
Could that have happened?.