I am having a problem with my new Redding weatherby 6.5 RPM FL dies. New weatherby brass, new dies and some new factory ammunition. The problem is that I have sized two rounds of new brass and stuck both cases in the sizing die. I cleaned the dies first and then shot some hornady case lube in the die and let it dry. Adjusted die to just touch the shell holder. Shot all the brass with the hornady one shot and let dry a bit. Ran the brass into the die and felt resistance about a .125 from bottoming out. Ran the ram all the way down and pulled the rim off on the up stroke. Removed the case, cleaned the die and put imperial sizing wax on the next case. Same result. So now I’m confident that it’s not a lube problem. So I did some measurements. New brass is 0.4995 at the largest part of the web. Factory loaded ammunition is 0.498 and the two pieces of sized brass are 0.498. The rifle will chamber the new brass with no resistance. The saami spec for the web is 0.500 . I haven’t fired the rifle yet so I don’t have any fired brass to measure or try to size. But I don’t think that the fired brass will get any smaller 😀. The sizing die looks to be finished with a scotch bright. I am tempted to polish out the die and see if that corrects the problem but at 100.00 a set I’m thinking I need to call Redding first. Any ideas?

Then why in the world are you sizing it?

Get some imperial sizing wax. Then back the die off.
Now shoot some off the brass and then take a measurement with a comparator from CBTO and then throw the instructions in the die box in the garbage and adjust your FL die to bump the shoulders .002-.003

I always size new brass to uniform the necks on the brass. Most are out of round.

I have some imperial sizing wax. Used it on the second piece of brass that got stuck. I don’t think that I’m going to be able to move the shoulder at all with the die the way it is now. I was only able to size the case necks to about 80% without the case starting to put up more resistance than I thought I could get away with. Essentially making it a neck sizing die. Not what I want for this rifle.

I guess I should have said that the rifle has a proof barrel and a match chamber. I don’t think that it will move that far forward after first firing. But you could be right and it might. But still something is wrong here.

You don't need to FL size brass to do this. Simply push the necks over an expander.

I understand your thoughts. Not my way of doing it and not a solution to the problem I’m having. I have loaded thousands of rounds this way without ever having this problem.

True, I haven't addressed your problem at hand.

Forgive me if we've "talked" before but I've had so many conversations on this site I have trouble remembering a lot of them. So without knowing your background/experience and your own why's and wherefores I dispensed what I thought may have been a useful tip. Old teacher's bad habit I guess.

I have run into what I consider undersized FL dies, one Hornady 223 die really sticks out in my mind.

New dies, new brass, pulled off the rim... Wondering if the shellholder fits correctly? Stranger things have happened.

Are you lubricating the brass all the way to the head with imperial?

I don’t think that we have talked before and I do appreciate your input on my situation. It is what I am here asking for. My final thoughts are the possibility of a undersized die or a unfinished die that is grabbing the sides of the case with enough tension to overcome the strength of the case head. That is why I posted the information about the case web sizing between new brass, factory weatherby ammunition and the sized brass. In addition of the pictures of the inside surface of the die. The case web isn’t going to get any smaller by firing it. But I do appreciate the fact that the case shoulder might move forward enough to properly set the shoulder back a couple thousands for a correct sizing for the chamber without sticking the case. But with the die starting to stick about.125 from full cam on the press I don’t think that it’s possible with a match chamber. The new brass will chamber now without sizing and is .4995 So I can assume that the chamber is larger than this number. I don’t know how much is too much when sizing the web of the case. The die is probably at least one or two thousands under the sized brass. I just measured it with my starrett at .496

Only putting the imperial sizing wax on the case body and a little in the case mouth.

No lube on the outside of the neck?

Very little. A little of this stuff goes a long way and we can assume the neck is correctly sized already. But everything was lubed the first case with hornady one shot.

Load and shoot several then send they and the dies back and let them see what the problem is.

And if the fired brass was not fired in this rifle's chamber the rifle that they were shot in might be on the large side.

One thing what type of press are you using?

Are you trying to push the shoulders back on new brass?

Lube the entire case making sure you are going all the way down as far as you can put lube at the head. Let's see if that helps. Use the Imperial wax to do this.

Call Redding on Monday and tell them your measurement of .496 and see if that is correct.

It’s all new weatherby brass. New rifle that I have never shot. Not trying to push back the shoulder. Just trying to uniform the brass for the first firing. Probably a little load development with some 6.5 eld-x. Like I said before. Firing the brass is not going to change the brass in any way that is going to make these dies do anything that they aren’t doing now. After firing the brass will be larger not smaller. Using a RCBS rockchucker.

Try it with the decapping rod assembly, backed way out or removed have had issues with Redding sizing buttons they sent me new ones with more taper.

Ha ha.. Some people huh? I'd just buy a run of the mill RCBS die and throw the redding shidt away... Also, generally you don't have to even putz around with new brass. Sometimes I'll run it through a sizing die to round out the case mouth, but that is the only reason to run it through a die when it is new. After case mouths are round, I'll chamfer the inside and outside of the neck. Also, when you run new brass thorough a die, there is usually no resistance because its already been sized down so it fits the chamber without having to size it. The OP is obviously new to hand loading. Hopefully your insight can help him mathman.. Reading through the posts makes me laugh even more.. Damn, its a bad die. Send it back, for fuggs sake..

Thanks to those who have tried to help me. I obviously have posted this in the wrong forum. I am more of a precision shooter and reloader. I have a few RCBS dies for loading bulk 223 and 308 for feeding ARs. But all the dies I have for precision shooting are Redding, forester, whidden, and some custom Hornady. Bullet runout with standard RCBS dies is unacceptable in my rifles for precision shooting. I shoot my hunting rifles and play rifles out to and over 1K with accuracy. The reason for my original post was that it was Saturday and Redding isn’t open until Monday. Sitting here board cleaning rifles and thought that someone might have some insight into the situation. My reloading level is at a very acceptable understanding of procedure and application. My original thoughts were/are that there is a problem with this sizing die. It’s just that I have never bought a die that was defective. Maybe just good luck or that I usually only buy higher end dies. The fact that I even had some imperial sizing wax in my reloading room should have been a clue to something. I form cases for a few wildcats and AI calibers. I posted the size at the web for everything that I am seeing including the sizing die, hopefully thinking that someone more experienced than myself would know if the numbers were acceptable or if the die was under dimension. This RPM round has a rebate rim and the combination of this and a die that needs polishing is most likely the problem. Redding will have the answer to what numbers I should expect for new sized brass. I understand the concept of the die is broken send it back. But I am more interested in the why. Reloading at a higher level is a puzzle with lots of pieces. Understanding problems that you experience in the continuing learning process is what is important for me. I thought that my original post question was clear. With the measurements I have taken, is my die undersized. Will the level of finish, or lack of, in combination with the rebate rim of the RPM be the problem. I’m leaning towards the finish in the die with the weaker rebate rim. I think that a good polish with flitz will solve this problem. But I’m not going to do it until I talk to Redding tomorrow.

I also run all new brass through my FL die every time,

I always find dented necks from shipping or manufacturing, including yesterdays .223 brass from RP.

The few answers here that I saw were basically calling him a dumb-ass, without really answering the question,

Guess I'm a dumb-ass too.

bsa, Redding is crap? GMAFB

You haven't mentioned yet if you measure your fired brass vrs FL sized with a comparator to see the difference its the only way to tell how much the die is actually bumping the shoulders if at all

I'm not calling anybody a dumbass, but I do think you're unnecessarily wasting a cold working cycle on the case necks by FL sizing when a simple pass over an expander will round them out nicely. (Assuming they're not terribly bad of course.)

try shooting the new brass with a lighter handload before you resize it ? i prefer to shoot my brass 1st always then use wax and resize / rework the fired brass .

Something is definitely not right.

If anything new brass is usually undersized, and the only part of new brass being worked should be the neck.

Try removing the expander ball and sizing the case using Imperial. If the effort becomes too much back out so's not to stick another case. But if the brass won't go fully into the die there's a die or brass problem. Without bothering to size I'd fire a few rounds and see if one of those cases will size. If not, send the dies back with a new case and a fired case.

The last two Redding body dies I have bought this past year were scratching my brass and took a fair bit of polishing to correct the problem. My brand new Forster seater die wouldn't work until I polished the outside of the seater plug and the inside of the insert where the plug passes through.

I'm thinking that the Wuhan Virus has infected even well regarded companies like Redding, Forster, and maybe even Weatherby..........

It sure sounds like a die problem. Die problems are rare but possible.

Talked with Don from Redding first thing this morning. Very nice guy and had answers at his fingertips for every question that I had. He said to send the dies back for a exchange no questions asked. I asked him if he thought that I would get anywhere with polishing the inside of the sizing die. My concern of the weaker rebate rim with the rough die interior. He said that I could give it a try and that it would not void any warranty if it didn’t work. So I got out the mothers polish and polished the inside to a mirror. I polished the expander button also. Grabbed 4 cases applied a little imperial sizing wax on the neck and a liberal amount on the case mostly on the web. The 4 cases ran perfectly with a sized web of 0.498. The end.

A good outcome!

As I mentioned, my recent dies have not been the best of examples...........

I would back off the die till it just touches the shoulder. If it still has issues send the die and three fired cases from your rifle to Redding. I would also double check the shell holder are make sure to use a Redding as the height can vary by maker.

You did 2 different things. Which one fixed the problem?

Why do you think it was the polish that fixed the problem and not the lube? A polish would not have removed any significant metal. Mothers polish is just that. I am still thinking you did not lube the web enough at first.

Did you remeasure the die with your starret?

You didn't mention what the Redding tech thought of your .496 initial measurement.

Because Hornady one shot lube gave me the same results as the imperial sizing wax. After polishing both lubes work just as well.

Why do you think Redding dies are better than RCBS? I sure don't. I have had way more trouble with Redding and I have been at this for 50 years.