Anyone else have a forster bump die??

[kraky]

After a 6 mo wait I finally got mine. I have a factory rem 308vtr and imagined this die would be lots better than my lee collet in combo with the redding body die. I thought I'd get 2 benefits....one would be my casing would grow to fit the chamber better and the other would be really ez no lube sizing.
What's happening is the die doesn't size all the way to the bottom of the neck. Being a factory chamber the case mouth opens quite a bit after firing and when the busing sizes it back it leaves a pretty good bulge at the bottom approx .060" of the neck. I thought this might be ok in that it would also help center the casing in the chamber better after sizing. What I'm finding is that it chambers pretty decent but I have to give the bolt a pretty good tug after firing to get the brass out. I'm thinking it's hanging up by that bulge.
I can see that if I had a custom chamber with tight neck this thing would be the cats meow but I'm wondering how good it will be with a factory chamber. On the good side I've actually used it with the lee collet die to just bump the shoulder and not size the neck.....still don't have to clean up lube and have a casing that better fits the chamber. I'm not sure how many firings I'll get before the body die has to come out again....maybe one or two with potent loads.
ANYHOW....IF anyone else is using one please let me know what you think of my first impressions and any tricks you've used to make it a better die for you.

 

[woods]

We've all been anxiously awaiting you getting yours and giving a report. Since the Forster die does not size the case body

Forster's "bushing bump" neck sizing die - Topic Powered by Eve Community

is it possible that you are binding somewhere on the case body?

 

[kraky]

I may have to play around smoking the case or marking it somehow and see where it comes from. Compared to my tikka's the "feel" of the rem bolt when closing doesn't give you much feedback as to whether or not there is some slight sticking of the case as you lock it down. I had forgotten that a rem bolt takes a little torque to close even on an empty chamber.
Don't know that I got my point accross above about the bulge at the bottom of the case neck caused by the bushing not going al the way down. The die came with three bushings and I pick the one that gives me about .003" grip. I've already used all three bushings because I have some win, rem, and graffs brass and all used a unique bushing.
Alot of this might also have to do with how hot I load. I'm trying to feel the gun out for hotter loads right now. The gun has a ton of freebore and speeds have been really slow compared to reload manuals and quick load. For now I think I'll go back to collet sizing the entire neck, leaving the widest bushing in the bump die so it doesn't work the colleted neck and then bump the shoulder and watch extraction. It's a 2 step deal like it used to be with the collet die and the body die but at least I don't have to monkey around with lube. Ammo is coming out real concentric this way too. My thinking was if I didn't have a tight match grade chamber maybe I could "grow the brass" to match the loose factory chamber and get somewhat of a benefit.
AGAIN...if anyone else has one please chime in on your experiences.

 

[kraky]

Woods..I just reread the big long post that you gave a link to. Forgot I was in the middle of that one. Just lately I did some finetuning on the die as to how much headspace I'm leaving. The graffs brass is really thick and seems to have more spring back. I'm using a thin shim washer now to adjust to about .0015 headspace for all brass. I think I'm on a learning curve.
I think this die is usable but not as "friendly" as I hoped.
I did read somewhere that there is a guy taking the redding bushing fl die and modifying it to match the brass that comes from your chamber. Somehow for us guys with sloppy factory chambers he custom hones the die so that it barely resizes the body of the case....just enough for a perfect fit. Not sure how he does it but you have to send him a number of brass that is fireformed to your chamber. I think he goes by the name of JLC Precision.
Maybe it would be cool to have one made up but right now that rem vtr isn't quite as accurate as my two tikka's in '06 and 300 win mag so I guess I'd be throwing good money after bad.

 

[woods]

I understand and it would be cool to have a custom made die to fool around with.

My biggest concern like I said in that thread, was that if the Forster does not size the case body then by the 3rd or 4th firing you are going to have a sticky bolt lift anyway. I have a tight chambered 280AI from Hart and the Redding Body Die does not size the case body (die too big / fired case too small). I get a sticky bolt lift by the 4th reloading. Eventually I will have to do something but right now I am on the second loading of 50 cases and working on other things, so it can wait. The case binds a little at the pressure ring when chambering and extracting. Annoying but workable.

The 308 is a low body taper kind of case anyway, and it would be prone to case body binding like the WSM's and my 280AI.

You'll figure it out but not exactly a glowing first report on the Forster. I'll wait a while

 

[kraky]

Was at the range today. Some of the brass that I had colleted with the lee and then just bumped the shoulder came out of the chamber hard. It's possible the chamber is a little rough as I see what appears to be some fine lines around the case body. I would say with medium loads you'd get sticky exrtraction on the 3rd load. With warmer loads on this gun it's gonna happen on the second load.
Not too impressed as of now...still love the body die and lee collet die combo.