What a difference a shell holder makes

[6pakzak]

So I went to Cabela's today to get 2 shell holders for 223 since I only had one and 3 presses set up for 223, one to body size, next to neck size and last to seat, I used the lee 223 shell holder to body size and a lee #19 for 9mm to neck size which is for a 9mm and then take out shell holder from body set up to seat, got sick of switching it. Bought Hornady holders which hold the case really nice and much tighter than lee, put it on body and neck set up, right away my runout increased from around .001 to .002 or more, scratching my head I put the old shell holders back in, runout went down again so the slop of the lee holders let the case move to center itself, then I figured I'll try a really loose holder on the seater, in fact I used a 38 shell holder, didn't even hold the case so I held it in place till it entered the Forster seating die, seated the bullet and wow, runout under .001 and many under .0005, I also found that if I used the Hornady holders while seating my run out really increased, got like .003, so I spun the shell holder around to put the case in from the opposite side and to my surprise got .0005 runout, tried it again with pretty close results so evidently I let the case move to where it wanted so I'm thinking experimenting on the other presses as to the open position on the shell holder is pointing but keeping it sloppy seems to be working, made about 30 bullets and they are around .001 and many much less. I think that MEC press may be on to something, from what I'm seeing that floating shell holder seems like the ticket.

 

[cape cove]

Just remember that what one can call slop in one press can be cleverly disguised as " float" in another press. Sounds so much better.

 

[26Reload]

Haha..."slop and float".....sounds like a bad dive......
But I'm very happy with my Mec vs old Rcbs

 

[RUFFIAN R - NY]

all shellholders are not the same some tighter than others and the batch they came from, have several for the same number depending on the brass make .

 

[Wachsmann]

Here is m take. I bought a Hornady shell holder and was doing some sizing with it and my loads starting opening up. I did have to reset the die due to the difference in the holders but the load was the same charges and bullets and bump. Was not measuring any run-out. So driving me nuts I could not figure out what changed, Then I decided to measure my shell holders. The Hornady measure between ,001 to .004 thou from one side to the other. I was shocked with the tolerance. I put it in the press and ran it up to touch the dies and using a bright light behind it I could see a physical air gap on one side. Measured my RCBS. They all measured flat or true from all points from where the shell holder contacts the press to the top that would contact the die. It was an eye opener and lets just say I don't have any more of the red ( Hornady) shell holders. That and another case trimmer setup I bought new in the box had so much slop that they are in the trash now. I don't buy any Hornady reloading components anymore except for brass. As for reloading I stick with the 2 green brands ( Redding, and RCBS). Both of these brands have served me very well over the last 25 years without issues.

 

[RUFFIAN R - NY]

learned that lesson over 40 years ago- HANDLOADING or reloading !

 

[Seabeeken]

Ive always used RCBS with good results. A few years ago I switched from Redding to RCBS bushings due to variations in the redding bushings. Huge improvement for me.

 

[QuietTexan]

I pin gauge my bushings and mic my mandrels.... isn't that normal?

21st Century has sent me exactly one mandrel that was out of spec out of "I've bought almost every one they sell", they get top marks for precision from me. In their defense it was perfectly in spec for the next size down, so more likely mis-marked rather than ground wrong. Best thing was it was the perfect size for this batch of brass I'm using, they sent a replacement for the missing one and I have a complete set Good people.

 

[.30-06]

Pete from 21st Century said he removes the ram spring and it does better.