Thread: Full length resizing 7mm Rem Mag problem

At the end of the day though in my e perience; whereas with care a handloader may achieve 15+ reloads from a .308 case, I found 4-6 is about .y limit for belted brass. The special sleeve die grandpa mac mentioned is without doubt the ideal, depending on how much shooting you intend to do though.

Originally Posted by Woody

At the end of the day though in my e perience; whereas with care a handloader may achieve 15+ reloads from a .308 case, I found 4-6 is about .y limit for belted brass. The special sleeve die grandpa mac mentioned is without doubt the ideal, depending on how much shooting you intend to do though.

Greetings Woody,
The bulge can be removed on 7mm Rem Mag cases using a stripped .300 Win Mag die. You need to place the case on top of the shell holder and run the case into the die until the die just contacts the belt. The case needs to then be knocked out with a rod. Sounds a bit heathen but it worked fine with a friends .308 Norma Mag cases that had been fired in another rifle and refused to chamber in his.
Regards Grandpamac.

Normally only neck size belted magnums, "sighting in" cases will be retrieved for further use, ones in the field are normally not recovered. If FLR is required just down size until will chamber with slight resistance. Works for me, won't look elsewhere.

the size of your base die is ONLY RELEVANT if you screw die right down and then in a bit more....when partial length resizing you are backing it off anyway....yes if base is say 1mm shorter than another brand it will shrink case...but only if you have die touching base....I dont set up dies to do this and havent for years.... tried to get it to happen for BLR reloads in 308 and just couldnt get it shrink them enough no matter what I tried...ended up running them back through older 30/06 die with spindle removed and it seemed to shrink body slightly allowing easier chambering....
oh the joys of reloading more than one rifle.... if only ever one rifle using cases and die...you can pretty much set it and forget it....thats why they have wee allen grub screw after all.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings Woody,
The bulge can be removed on 7mm Rem Mag cases using a stripped .300 Win Mag die. You need to place the case on top of the shell holder and run the case into the die until the die just contacts the belt. The case needs to then be knocked out with a rod. Sounds a bit heathen but it worked fine with a friends .308 Norma Mag cases that had been fired in another rifle and refused to chamber in his.
Regards Grandpamac.

Yep. Fair idea.
What I also discovered with 7*61 & 308Morma magnum was that if I dropped back mv / pressure a bit the trajectories and energy dropped very little and cases deformed far less. Then light neck and shoulder bump was easy on brass and press and web stretch practically disappeared.
Just as a passing bit of info; the belted "magnums" which are standard 30-06 "long action" cartridge lengths such as 7mm rem mag, 7*61 sharp &hart and 308 Norma mag are correctly termed "short magnums".

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings Pommy,
Andyanimal31 is right. The Redding Competition shell holder sets are top of the heap for keeping on top of head space issues. I still neck size for a lot of my handloading but my son uses the Redding Competition shell holders and full length resizing for his FTR and FO rifles. This seems to be the current standard. Only the cost has prevented me taking the plunge to date. I would need 4 sets but should start with some for my 6.5x55 rifles.
Regards Grandpamac.

Don't despair as the 6.5 fit in the same as the 308 #1 shell holder.
Thats what I bought mine for and does my 308 22-250 260 30-06 as well.
Money well spent!

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Originally Posted by andyanimal31

Don't despair as the 6.5 fit in the same as the 308 #1 shell holder.
Thats what I bought mine for and does my 308 22-250 260 30-06 as well.
Money well spent!

Sent from my SM-A025F using Tapatalk

Thanks for that andyanimal31,
That is interesting and could save me quite a few bucks. I use different RCBS shell holders for .308 and 6.5x55 currently. Redding currently lists a #7 shell holder for the 6.5x55 but earlier listed a #1. My son has a Redding #1 shell holder set for his .308 rifles so I will take some 6.5x55 cases round to check next time I go.
Regards Grandpamac.

I don't really worry about shellholders anymore because i've seen zero difference between my cheap ass lee set / redding / rcbs. Cheap ones don't seem to effect concentricity and no inconsistent effect on any measurement i could take. Once set up correctly.
- I can see the comp system it would be a faster system tho.

Those execs from die companies say some strange things too, like advising people to shove dirty brass into dies just because 'they've never seen a jam' that way.... I'll stick with the 2 thou bump as that prevents the brass from growing at all. I rarely trim but make it 3 thou or more and material needs removing (from my swede). 7mmRM, yeah i know, shits coming off no matter what. Price you pay for living the dream

The rim diameter for the 308 etc cartridges is .473" while the 6.5&55 is .4803". I found that with high quality shell holders if a .308 shell holder was used that the cartridge could not properly be centred under the die. Therefore for 6.5*55 I use #7.

I have the "special die" and don't like it. sizes too much.
hornady dies, fire case, use comparator. size to the same measurement, no smaller. (a fired case fits back in your chamber right...)