Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Shims under sizing dies?

Anybody use these for flexibility when sizing cases for several different rifles? Sinclair sells a kit with a dozen different thicknesses and I may try them when they come back into stock.

I load for three different 7mm-08's right now and my die is set up to allow for easy chambering in all three rifles. It seems like a shim setup might allow me to keep a note in the die box as to what shim allows what rifle to have its brass sized the minimum amount for each particular chamber. I'm in a similar boat on the .308win, as I load for several different rifles as well. Sensible option?

Yes, do it with, of all things, my 7.65. One chambered in a 91 Mauser the other a 1909 Argi 98.
Works great, shim measures 5 thous.

Heres my experience and I have the shim kit, some redding 0-.010" shellholders, a rockchucker press and a hornady headspace checker.
I rarely use the shims OR the shellholders anymore.
The reason is that some of my dies were getting the right headspace dimension during the cam over effect of the press. When you are in this mode I found changing the shellholders OR the shims did not give me consistant changes in sizing. And when you add in brass that is getting work hardened the consistancy is even less.
Right now I pretty much use shellholders that have been shaved so none of my dies hit the shellholder during sizing. And Ive put a witness mark (sharpie marker or tiny dab of paint) on the lock ring of my die and the threads of my dies. If I need to change headspace I find if I move the witness marks about 1/4" apart either way it decreases or increases headspace about .004". I'm finding it really ez and efficient to loosen the lockring enough to just tweak the headspace by watching the marks move apart. Been doing this for about a year now and the redding shellholders and the die shims are pretty much collecting dust.

I'll probably get some howls of outrage but I don't think any such finessing a sizer that way will make any measurable differencee for you. Just the fact that you're using threaded dies in a threaded press suggests that your loading precision and your rifles and scopes aren't at competitive BR level so any potential improvement will be lost in the noise.

Keep doing what you're doing. If you want optimum accuracy from each rig work on load development for each rig and don't sweat over such precise shoulder placement.

Not a "howl of outrage" as you suggest, more a holy schitt you have no idea what you are talking about

First off most (not all) benchrest shooters use a threaded die for full length sizing, most if not all use some type of arbor press for seating.

precise shoulder placement is a good thing and worth the sweat, about the only thing you dont have your head up your azz on is load development.

I use shims on both sizing and seating dies.

If partial sizing, I'll use a .050" shim to square the die to the ram.

Raise ram, with shim on it.
Screw die down until contact.
Lower ram.
Turn die down to have firm contact.
Raise ram fully.
Tighten die.

I think what Boomtube is trying to say is that if you are using a factory gun with factory chamber, the small nuances of .001 here and .0015 there doesn't mean a whole lot. Now, if you are using a custom BR rig and competing at a level where .001 over a 5 match agg means the difference between 1st and 2nd then you absolutely need to pay attention to the .0015 here and there.

Matt

A good set of feeler gauges is all you need. Notes in the "Gun folder" if you use them.

Redding makes competition shell holder sets in .002" increments that would seem to accomplish the same thing.

http://redding-reloading.com/online-catalog/35-competition-shellholder-sets

I don't think you get it.

They do not

I guess I havn't got it for years then.

I must be doing it wrong.

OH! No I havn't!

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!

Use them in a different way in setup.

that is exactly what they do.

the Sinclair shim kit does effectively the same thing for much less, though.

The impression I am getting in using shims is that the lock ring on the die body has been tightened with the setscrew? If so I understand the use of different height shell holders or shims between the die and the press.

I choose to use a feeler gauge between the die and the shell holder for basic setting up the die. I don't tighten the setscrew on the die's locking nut as I have had too many move when tightening the nut to affix the die into its position. After using the feeler gauge I will size a case and check the fit in the chamber. In some instances some fine tuning will be done to get just the right fit.

I won't bash anyone for their approach. We all have our methods. If the end result is long brass life and accuracy then the process works.

With tongue firmly in cheek I suggest the OP sell off all but one of each caliber then he will only have to adjust for one chamber. Done!

Jim

that works too. the idea is precise control of the amount of sizing by accurately adjusting the distance from shell holder case slot to shoulder of the sizing die.

but you get it.

I thankyou for this post. That is certainly a good and useful idea. I have had guns that needed just .003" more resizing to chamber than my other gun. I do not like to change my dies once I have them where I want them.

I have used shims under my seater die when using different bullets, specifically my 223 Rem for my competiton AR-15 Service Rifle. I would set the dies for 69 gn SMK's and then actually found a proper thickness washer which set the 80 gn SMK's OAL to what it needed to be.

I don't know why it takes someone else to point out the obvious at times, especially since I did the exact same thing with my seater, and more embarrassing as well because I used the spacer that comes with 38Spec/357 Die Sets which does both, but with a longer case being the difference! That is where I came up with the idea for my 223 seater spacer!

I use them for the wildcat that me and the brother in law have.
Mine has a tighter chamber that his does.

I use machine washers.

I use them for every cartridge I load for, and I do put a note in every box for which shim to use. Set the die up with the 5 or 6 thou shim, which gives you the flexibility to go either direction for various chambers and/or brass combinations. Also, as brass gets shot and work hardened, it takes more to push the shoulder back, conversely, freshly annealed takes less.

Redding shell holders, at .002" spread, are too far apart for my liking.