21st Century Expander Die

[Johnny Boy]

Over the weekend I was able to pick up a 21st Century Expander Die locally from a yard sale. The die body does not have a window cut-out where I can easily see. My question is how to set this up without crushing brass? I checked the 21st Century website, but I couldn't find a "how to". Does it come with instructions when purchased directly from manufacturer?

 

[Phil Rizzo]

you can feel it hit the hard top/limit easily.

 

[DoneNOut]

I imagine you could put a piece of brass in the shell holder, lower the ram until the case mouth is in contact with the mandrel stop, then back it off a 4-5 full turns.

 

[DoneNOut]

Start with it backed out/unscrewed.
lower it until you make contact with a case on top of the raised ram.
back it off a safe distance and get to work

PPFFFTtt, what do you know?

 

[Phil Rizzo]

PPFFFTtt, what do you know?

Forgot to add taking the top off after he had expanded a lubed neck.
hand pressure will bottom mine out after I've run them one time. His could be different though

 

[QuietTexan]

There is a vey generous range to work with, after you've done it once it'll just "make sense". There's a feel to it, you can tell when the mandrel clears the neck and you'll still have a good bit of ram to work it.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

There is a vey generous range to work with, after you've done it once it'll just "make sense". There's a feel to it, you can tell when the mandrel clears the neck and you'll still have a good bit of ram to work it.

It's one operation in handloading with a lot of forgiveness.
Like QT said

 

[DoneNOut]

There is a vey generous range to work with, after you've done it once it'll just "make sense". There's a feel to it, you can tell when the mandrel clears the neck and you'll still have a good bit of ram to work it.

Oh thank god you arrived...we just wouldn't know what to do

 

[44-40]

There should be a slightly smaller diameter after the taper up to size for full diameter, then a slight step down ...stop...after the slight step down clears the neck and enters the case ...easy to see with the window cutout...mark it with a black marking pen..should feel it on the press handle.