Thread: More Learnings and Questions Using Redding Competition Shell Holders.

Greetings All,
I posted a while back about moving to Competition Shell Holders for my rifles. I have worked through my .223 and .308 rifles without any problems as reported. Now the time has come to move on to the 6.5 x 55. I had initially intended to size my 6.5 x 55 cases by setting back from the shell holder and this has worked OK but there is a bit more variation between case length to datum than I would like. This may just be me being OCD but I thought that I could get a bit more precision using the Redding Comp Shell Holders. They arrived the other day and I sat down with my dial calipers and new toys. Unfired Lapua cases measured 44.85mm ot the .375 dia datum and fired cases in my T3 just about the same. A good result. Cases from a friends Ruger 77 6.5 x 55 measured 44.95 to 45.00 mm. Finally I got out the Redding +.010" shell holder and FL sized a case with the expander removed. This measured 44.7mm WTF? To be honest I knew that the die produced cases shoter than the chambers of either of my rifles just not how much. Cases have mostly been neck sized to date.
This leaves me considering options. I could go back to setting the die back from the shell holder but this would leave my fancy new shell holders unemployed or I could buy a new FL die and hope that the yanks have learned how long 6.5 x 55 chambers are in the last 30 or so years. This does have a downside in that my Lyman dies do not oversize the case necks for my Lapua and Norma brass as would likely be the case with new dies cut for the undersize US cases. Or I could try to find some 0.2 mm thick washers to fit between the die and shell holder or get a Redding body die. First step is to borrow some more recent dies and do some measurements with them.
At the time I bought the T3 the 6.5 Creedmoor was just becoming available and I thought about waiting for one. This would have eliminated all of the above problems but I would not have learnt anywhere near as much.
Regards Grandpamac.