Thread: A New Mistake...

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @John Duxbury,
I am pretty sure I have done the same thing with a .308. Won't make any difference. The shell holders are a little sloppy to let the case self centre in the die. I too have days like that and have inserted a few extra steps to guard against the occasional brain fade. I suspect that you are like me being able to recall trivia from decades back but the whereabouts of our car keys is a perpetual mystery. Just back from a nice leisurely stroll in the bush, the first for quite some time. I seem to need to use my trekking pole more and more for balance or perhaps the topography has changed.
Regards Grandpamac.

LOL. My car keys have been missing for two weeks!

Originally Posted by Tararua Phil

With the stuck case...With the proper case holder in place, can you wind out the die a few turns then raise the ram until the stripped part of the case rim enters the proper case holder, then rotate the die until a new section of rim is grabbed then try & withdraw the shell?....otherwise the old drill & tap the primer pocket trick will need to be done.
Send it to me & I'll have a go removing it for you if there's any issue.
Phil.

I have tried this, and for whatever reason it just seemed to keep unzipping the rim. Once part of it is damaged, I suspect it's curtains for the rest. Having said that, if you can engage the correct shellholder on the rim of the case and try with that you might have luck?

Yes - already tried this. No joy yet.

Lyman makes an excellent stuck case remover; I had to buy one recently I was teaching a young fella to reload forgot to tell him the importance of case lube
on all cases got one stuck, I had one somewhere, but it's been 5 house moves since I last got a case stuck, now I can't find the bullet puller.

You guys think you are having bad days, my wife just found some receipts for some shooting stuff.

*Hypothetical situation engineered to try to make you all feel somewhat better.

I looked online several years ago at the Lyman stuck case remover and A. Turned my nose up at the price, B. couldn't find one available in N Z and couldn't wait for stock to arrive. So I bought a tap and drill bit, scrounged a bolt, a couple of heavy oversize nuts and washers for packers and made my own. Works perfectly. But cost me just as much as the Lyman lol. Blew me away tho just how much
pressure is required to unstuck a case. I've done 308, 7x57mm and 223 (twice)..so yeah, I'm a slow learner.

One thing worth knowing is that Dillon and Lee modern dies are built to use the die itself to unstuck a case. There is a set methodology yiu have to follow so its worth RTFM! If you get the steps out of order you can't go back and then it's the Lyman jobbie required.

Like Phil, I'd be happy to do the job for someone if they dropped it in or covered shipping.

hi james i have had stuck cases before i just drilled out the primer hole and wound in a self taper screw the clamped the screw in the vice and with a brass rod taped the die body screw usually hold well worked for me several times cheers

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

Thought I had made them all. Mistakes I mean. But here is a new one for me - just loaded a bunch of .243 ammo using the shellholder from a .30/30. Didn't even notice. I sized them - no issues. I primed them - all the primers went in like normal. Seated the bullet, nothing funny.
I mean there is not much slop with a .243 case in the shellholder, just a tiny bit. But I wouldnt have thought I could prime them actually.

I am annoyed. How much difference could it make. I think it would only make a difference with bullet run out I speculate. But thats not a small thing. I want them to shoot properly...


I really dont want to go all the way to the range just to test this. I would pull them and do them all over again, but I only have a kenetic puller and it doesnt work on .243, too much neck tension, not enough mass in the bullet. And there is another reason why not...


...and then, I went and jammed a .243 case inside the die because I didn't use enough lube. This is an old mistake. Quite familiar with this one. Nothing to learn here. Then I pulled the rim off the case trying to get it out, using that .30-30 shell holder.


So, upshot is now all my .243 ammo is suspect - and I can't load anymore. Some days I should just sit in a chair.

Just come hunting with me again. Then it's irrelevant how your ammunition performs - or even if you take any at all

(Just to be clear, that's nothing to do with any hunting prowess I may have. More that I seem to jinx Mr Duxbury)

"Jinx" is too light a word. The next time we go out I will just take the jammed up die with me, lie it on the ground and stare at it and meditate on my failures for a week.

Soon as I get more than an hours drive away from yourself, twelve pointers just walk up to me

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

"Jinx" is too light a word. The next time we go out I will just take the jammed up die with me, lie it on the ground and stare at it and meditate on my failures for a week.

Soon as I get more than an hours drive away from yourself, twelve pointers just walk up to me

You, on the other hand, seem to be my lucky charm. Just so long as you don't light a fire

And then you make me carry your heads out for you as well. I'm not sure how this happens.

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

And then you make me carry your heads out for you as well. I'm not sure how this happens.

I don't think Eddie Herrick carried much while Jim Muir was around either

(You're still carrying 1/8" of one of my heads to this day, somewhere in your thigh)

I have the goddam scar to this day! The only consolation is that it prevented you from reaching the 40 inch mark on another one of your trophy collection