Concentricity Concerns

[SteelBanger]

What are your thoughts on the picture below? I've never really noticed how badly cases sit on my shell holder but I've been sitting at the bench quite a bit this past week as I de-primed close to 2k range pick up cases. Even if there is some float built into the press (Lee Classic Turret) it still doesn't seem like the case should be canted this far off center? I don't have a concentricity gauge but now I'm left wondering just how much run out my reloads are having. Is this normal. Is it hurting anything? I understand I should probably have a concentricity gauge on my bench but for right now would I be better served buying the gauge or upgrading my press if I had to choose between the two? I'm guessing something like the Rock Chucker Premier or the MEC Marksmen would give me much better results.

 

[rsmithsr]

the case looks straight with the steel beam behind it.
not aligning with the die could be several things
if the 223 brass( range pick up..TRASH) is from a semi auto, the rims can get a wrinkle in them on extraction, meaning they do not always sit straight.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

Have another shellholder to try? Is there a lot of movement just rocking shellholder with finger's? Something not right with that case neck to die alignment. Concentricity with seated bullet in case would be a measurement to check but runout on case neck before and after resizing would interest me more.

 

[SteelBanger]

the case looks straight with the steel beam behind it.
not aligning with the die could be several things
if the 223 brass( range pick up..TRASH) is from a semi auto, the rims can get a wrinkle in them on extraction, meaning they do not always sit straight.

It is indeed "trash" Lake City brass. However it is 100% consistent from piece to piece, manufacturer to manufacturer, they all cant in the same exact way. Yes it appears in the photo to align with the post behind it, and even if that is true then that should mean that my die or die holder is out of spec.

 

[SteelBanger]

Have another shellholder to try? Is there a lot of movement just rocking shellholder with finger's? Something not right with that case neck to die alignment. Concentricity with seated bullet in case would be a measurement to check but runout on case neck before and after resizing would interest me more.

There is definitely play in the shell holder if you rock it back and forth, and I do have a second shell holder that I tried but I get the same exact results ... both are Lee shell holders. Measuring the run out on the case neck also interests me the most, and I'm looking at the Sinclair concentricity gauge (suggestions on other brands?) but if I bought that now and confirm the run out is awful, I'll have to save up to add a new single stage press to my bench. I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet on the concentricity gauge now because it's something I should probably have on my bench anyway.

 

[Mikecr]

Roll the case across glass or a fine surface and see if the rim wobbles.
If the rim is out of square, that case can throw a shot.

 

[GLTaylor]

If you roll it on a mirror you can sometimes "see" the runout wobble

 

[milo-2]

Put the die in a different turret hole and retake the pic. Indexed of coarse.

 

[SteelBanger]

If you roll it on a mirror you can sometimes "see" the runout wobble

Thanks for the suggestion, I just rolled a few across my granite countertops and pretty sure I can see some wobble, it's difficult to see though.

 

[SteelBanger]

Put the die in a different turret hole and retake the pic. Indexed of coarse.

Forgot my phone upstairs so no pic, but I moved the die to a new hole and had the same exact result. I'm pretty sure the issue is on the shell holder end as I can wobble it around a decent amount and get it to stand up straight ... doesn't hold straight though.

 

[jdyoung]

Forgot my phone upstairs so no pic, but I moved the die to a new hole and had the same exact result. I'm pretty sure the issue is on the shell holder end as I can wobble it around a decent amount and get it to stand up straight ... doesn't hold straight though.

Is the press mounted level/plumb ??

 

[Cinchy]

I don`t know whats going on but where are the little brass chips on the top of the ram coming from??

 

[SteelBanger]

Is the press mounted level/plumb ??

That was a good question and something I hadn't considered since the press has been mounted in the same spot for a few years. It's not perfect but it's pretty dang close, best I could measure was about .02 off and it is in the direction the cases lean, but I can't imagine that small of level issue is causing that much lean in the case. I played around with the shell holder some more and it has a fairly significant about of play in it ... not sure if that's by design or not?

 

[SteelBanger]

I don`t know whats going on but where are the little brass chips on the top of the ram coming from??

It's probably from my case prep station since I use it right next to the press and after a brass prep session of trim / deburr / chamfer / chamfer primer pockets / uniform primer pockets I'm left with brass shavings all over the place. It's also possibly from an issue where I was getting some tiny brass shavings when I started loading some .357 mag a while back.