Brass not being bumped back

[LaHunter]

Before you start filing off metal from your shell holder, you need to consider:
1) after sizing the brass, does it chamber easily in your rifle? If so, no need to modify your shell holder
2) most brass will need more than 1 firing before the brass fully fills the chamber headspacing. Your brass may still be several thousands from making contact with the should area of your chamber.

 

[sedancowboy]

It seems your press may be flexing if things work correctly on your friends but not on yours. Have you looked to ensure full die contact with shell holder with a piece of brass? Shine a light behind or use a white piece of paper to look for any air gap.
You might need to screw the die down further to counter the flex

That was my thoughts as well. You will need a heavy Cast Iron "O" press for sizing mag cases.
Also by chance it is nickel plated brass it can be really hard to resize.

 

[Aloeus]

It seems your press may be flexing if things work correctly on your friends but not on yours. Have you looked to ensure full die contact with shell holder with a piece of brass? Shine a light behind or use a white piece of paper to look for any air gap.
You might need to screw the die down further to counter the flex

Well this has added a new wrinkle. Sure enough I can see brass peaking through all the way around, even with the die screwed as far down as it will go. I've re lubed everything and have been absolutely hauling on this press to see if it will close, but it won't. I have a Lee classic press, I can't imagine it isn't strong enough to size a piece of brass.

 

[Aloeus]

That was my thoughts as well. You will need a heavy Cast Iron "O" press for sizing mag cases.
Also by chance it is nickel plated brass it can be really hard to resize.

I have the Lee classic, a big cast iron O press. None of the brass I'm currently working with is nickel plated (I have some I might try at some point).

 

[QuietTexan]

once fired brass,

If it rechambers, shoot it again. Brass does not always need to be resized at the shoulders after a single firing.

WSM has what a 35* shoulder? You're on the road to oversizing your brass screwing this die down all the way - take a step back, pull your ejector, rechamber the unsized brass, and if the bolt closes set the die two full turns above the shell holder and shoot the cases a second time.

This is when my last few sets of cases needed to actually get "bumped" to chamber.
40* - 243 AI - 5 firings
40* - 223 AI - 3 firings
35* - 6.5-284 Norma - 3 firings
17.5* - 30-06 - 2 firings (but have to trim frequently, sometimes every loading in a factory chamber from body taper)

 

[doverpack12]

Well this has added a new wrinkle. Sure enough I can see brass peaking through all the way around, even with the die screwed as far down as it will go. I've re lubed everything and have been absolutely hauling on this press to see if it will close, but it won't. I have a Lee classic press, I can't imagine it isn't strong enough to size a piece of brass.

It's the mechanical advantage difference between your press and the Forster. I don't know that any shell plate adjustments will actually make a difference if you can't get that gap to close up.

 

[tim_w]

Well this has added a new wrinkle. Sure enough I can see brass peaking through all the way around, even with the die screwed as far down as it will go. I've re lubed everything and have been absolutely hauling on this press to see if it will close, but it won't. I have a Lee classic press, I can't imagine it isn't strong enough to size a piece of brass.

Try a different lube. At your friend's with the coax did you use his lube or yours. (**** that sounds so wrong!?!) Plenty of times one lube works and another doesn't. I make my own with 1:1 Hoppes #9 : STP Oil Treatment.

Also polishing the inside of the die with ISSO or JB with a chamber mop or patch covered worn brush.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

It sounds like there is enough slop in your press linkage to mess things up if it's working fine on the Coax but not on your Lee press...
As an alternative to mutilating dies/ shellholders if you don't want to throw your Lee press away -are small base dies available?

Also, dies need to be set up for an individual press. If they were set up on the Coax then shifted to the Lee press without a full re-adjustment, they will likely be quite off. Even with two presses of the same manufacturer you will likely be adjusting a bit. My Pop's Rockchucker was my press for years. When I bought my own Rockchucker the first thing I saw was my dies were all out of adjustment. I sorta expected it but it was still a bit of a disappointment.

 

[FEENIX]

Hopefully anyone who sees this thread with a similar problem will not make that $60 mistake, I nearly did.

I guess I have a different perspective; even if it did not fix your current issue, having a competition shellholder set is not a mistake but an investment for when you need it. LL!

 

[Aloeus]

Try a different lube. At your friend's with the coax did you use his lube or yours. (**** that sounds so wrong!?!) Plenty of times one lube works and another doesn't. I make my own with 1:1 Hoppes #9 : STP Oil Treatment.

Also polishing the inside of the die with ISSO or JB with a chamber mop or patch covered worn brush.

LOL. I have some different lube on the way, that's the easiest thing for me to change that appears like it might have an effect. My friend was using 2 types of lube, I remember using one that was basically a soaked pad that you rolled the case around on (forget the name). I know he had and used One Shot too (hence why I went with it to start). I ordered some of Lee's sizing lube (so I can go tell Lee I used only their brand components if I need to). When it gets here I'll clean everything off and try again.

It's the mechanical advantage difference between your press and the Forster. I don't know that any shell plate adjustments will actually make a difference if you can't get that gap to close up.

I have a hard time believing you can't size magnum brass on a Lee Classic, I would think that would be a well known complaint and it doesn't appear to be. Something must be wrong with either my specific press or how I have things set up.

It sounds like there is enough slop in your press linkage to mess things up if it's working fine on the Coax but not on your Lee press...
As an alternative to mutilating dies/ shellholders if you don't want to throw your Lee press away -are small base dies available?

Also, dies need to be set up for an individual press. If they were set up on the Coax then shifted to the Lee press without a full re-adjustment, they will likely be quite off. Even with two presses of the same manufacturer you will likely be adjusting a bit. My Pop's Rockchucker was my press for years. When I bought my own Rockchucker the first thing I saw was my dies were all out of adjustment. I sorta expected it but it was still a bit of a disappointment.

I don't see any small base available. I have been readjusting where the dies are set. I've tried with my rcbs screwed as far down as it will go to try and get better leverage with the press.

I guess I have a different perspective; even if it did not fix your current issue, having a competition shellholder set is not a mistake but an investment for when you need it. LL!

Thats fair lol. Although I know if I had purchased them with the intent to fix the current issue and then found out they went the opposite direction I'd be pretty mad. Good investment, still mad