06-24-2022, 10:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-24-2022, 10:44 PM by r.tenorio671.
Edit Reason: clarification
)
...when attempting to convert 6.5G brass to 6ARC, the 6ARC expander ball won't touch the walls of the case mouth when entering the casing, it will only touch the walls AFTER the shoulder has been bumped and case neck sized down to 6mm and the casing is being extracted from the die. A couple of suggestions (1) Remove your decapping rod. (2) Back off your sizing die so that only the neck is sized from 6.5 to 6mm, measure the shoulder bump dimension. (3) Adjust die down until the desired shoulder bump is achieved. If at any point the case crushes/collapses during this process, then you will be able to identify if the casing is too long & hitting the internal step at the top of the die, requiring trimming before sizing.
If no crushing occurs during the above, you can now use a fresh casing with the decapping rod inserted back into the die. What needs to be done is to ensure you have the rod adjusted down enough to pass thru the neck BEFORE the neck is resized, as well as deep enough to push the primer out. IF the expander ball is too high up, it will be attempting to enter the neck as it is being squeezed down to 6mm and could cause the buckling/crushing you are experiencing. You want to adjust that decapping rod/expander to pass thru the case mouth/neck BEFORE the neck is squeezed down and pass thru the neck on the upward stroke as it EXITS the now sized casing.
I too use the Hornady 6ARC dies and have successfully converted 300 virgin STARLINE 6.5G brass without crushing. The only crushing I have encountered was during seating of bullets, specifically Hornady 108 ELDM's. My expedient solution was to rub just a bit of Imperial wax on the bullet bases before seating.
I did anneal the virgin brass before sizing in order to get a better defined shoulder bump during the sizing, less "rounded" looking edges at the junction of case body and shoulder. It wasn't really necessary, I also sized unannealed brass and it performed identically when actually fired.
Despite having the same brand of dies, differences between individual dies can be encountered....and compounded by the brand of press, shell plate, etc. being used. FWIW, taking the time to ensure adjustment of your die and maybe a couple of sacrificial cases is worth it before going into batch processing of the brass.
FWIW, my process for conversion was (1) anneal brass (2) size/convert (3) trim, debur (4) quick wet tumble to clean lube, brass shavings (4) prime, load & shoot.
If no crushing occurs during the above, you can now use a fresh casing with the decapping rod inserted back into the die. What needs to be done is to ensure you have the rod adjusted down enough to pass thru the neck BEFORE the neck is resized, as well as deep enough to push the primer out. IF the expander ball is too high up, it will be attempting to enter the neck as it is being squeezed down to 6mm and could cause the buckling/crushing you are experiencing. You want to adjust that decapping rod/expander to pass thru the case mouth/neck BEFORE the neck is squeezed down and pass thru the neck on the upward stroke as it EXITS the now sized casing.
I too use the Hornady 6ARC dies and have successfully converted 300 virgin STARLINE 6.5G brass without crushing. The only crushing I have encountered was during seating of bullets, specifically Hornady 108 ELDM's. My expedient solution was to rub just a bit of Imperial wax on the bullet bases before seating.
I did anneal the virgin brass before sizing in order to get a better defined shoulder bump during the sizing, less "rounded" looking edges at the junction of case body and shoulder. It wasn't really necessary, I also sized unannealed brass and it performed identically when actually fired.
Despite having the same brand of dies, differences between individual dies can be encountered....and compounded by the brand of press, shell plate, etc. being used. FWIW, taking the time to ensure adjustment of your die and maybe a couple of sacrificial cases is worth it before going into batch processing of the brass.
FWIW, my process for conversion was (1) anneal brass (2) size/convert (3) trim, debur (4) quick wet tumble to clean lube, brass shavings (4) prime, load & shoot.