Thread: Borrow 338 Federal or 358 Win FL die in Chch please?

Hi, just wondering if anyone in Chch has a 338 Federal or 358 Win die I can borrow? I've recently reloaded 20x 308 Win, just went to use them at the range and they won't chamber. From some careful measurements it looks like I didn't have the die quite set right (sorry, still a bit of a rookie), and looks like the shoulder needs to be bumped about 0.2mm down to be within spec (they were previously fired in a different rifle, I'm guessing that's partly why I've had this issue). I'm hoping that I can use the larger calibre die to bump the shoulder down without having to pull all the projectiles.

I'm making the assumption its a bad idea to try and resize a loaded cartridge in the original die, as don't want the neck to be resized with a projectile in place...

Greetings,
You are right, it is a bad idea to resize loaded rounds and I would suggest not doing it even with a die as you suggest. A better idea might be to pull the projectiles and remove the powder so you can then resize the cases in your current die with the decapping pin removed. It is only 20 rounds so it should not take too long. Make sure that you check the cases in the rifle before reloading the powder and projectiles. Made the same mistake myself back in the 1970's.
Regards Grandpamac.

Ok, so they work fine in my break open Bergara (where the cases have previously been fired), so I'll put them aside labelled only for that rifle, and start again for the bolt action! I feel a bit better about that, at least I'm not having a bunch of "wasted" work.

Have now sized and double checked the empty cases. I was getting a "false stop" on the press, obviously where the shoulder was, just needed another wee push to set it back and bottom out on the die properly. I guess that's the downside of the lighter weight alloy Lee press compared to something a bit beefier. I noticed using the much heavier press (RCBS I think) at the clubrooms (longer lever arm for a start) is much stronger, less of a workout when resizing brass.

Don't feel bad.ive been reloading for thirty. Years and got caught out the same when doing cases for RUMPY recently. Easy fix once suss out what issue is.