What a lousy day shooting. First my Remington 700 LV-SF in .17 Remington shot terrible all day (1.5 inch groups or worse the cause of which has yet to be determined), then I come home, clean the cases in a tumbler, and when I go to size them, I can't seem to avoid denting each case on the shoulder. Let me give you the specifics:

Normally after the initial full length sizing I always keep cases to same gun and neck size only. It's the third time these particular cases have been sized. This time I decided to full length size them. Not sure why, really - sort of a "Let's start from scratch" idea, since my groups were so bad. I use Hornady One Shot as a case lube, which normally makes the process more dent-free, if anything. I cleaned the Redding full lentgth sizing die with gun scrubber, the sprayed a light coat of One Shot inside the die. I let it dry way longer than the recommended minute, then started sizing. The dents started apearing on the shoulder and wouldn't go away. Here are a few of the things I've tried.

Cleaning off all the One shot, cleaning the die again with gun scrubber, and trying Imperial Sizing Wax. Same thing. I checked the die repeatatly for a stuck piece of cleaning media. Nothing. I'm just at a lose. Any ideas?

--Mykal

Is there a vent hole in your die? Maybe the vent hole is plugged and you're trapping an air bubble? I wouldn't think that would be it, however as I think any compressed air , the small amount it would be compressed, wouldn't dent a case.

Sounds like you've cleaned up all the lube so that shouldn't be on the shoulders. Sorry, I'm at a loss.

Normally too much lubricant on the case shoulder leads to case dents when FL resizing but I don't believe this is the case (no pun intended) here. You might have a situation with a generous chamber and a tight sizer die causing the brass to be really worked when FL resizing. As an experiment, you can try backing out the sizer die about two turns and partially sizing a case. Wipe the case down and relube it. Then return the sizer die to its correct position and size the case again. If this cures your problem you will have to FL resize more often or use this method when you decide to FL resize. I used this method without denting a single case when I bought a large quantity of once fired military .308 and the brass would not FL resize with one stroke on my press. If this doesn't work, I am at a loss too! :confused:

Shawn and Marshall: Thanks for the ideas. Shawn, I don't see a vent hole ala on the RCBS dies, but I sure checked as that idea made good sense. Marshall, I think you got it. I backed the die out maybe a 1/2 and no more dents (all other things were equal). Next question: will a generous chamber, as you so nicely put it, cause any accuracy problems? I admit I'm fishing a bit for a gun that's just not shooting like it should. --Mykal

Shawn and Marshall: Thanks for the ideas. Shawn, I don't see a vent hole ala on the RCBS dies, but I sure checked as that idea made good sense. Marshall, I think you got it. I backed the die out maybe a 1/2 and no more dents (all other things were equal). Next question: will a generous chamber, as you so nicely put it, cause any accuracy problems? I admit I'm fishing a bit for a gun that's just not shooting like it should. --Mykal

Mykal,
I have a 17 Rem also, in a Rem Mod 700. The 17 is a bit more difficult to load than larger cases and I've found that even when I only neck size, and put lube only on the neck, the die will still "squeegee" it down onto the shoulder and still give me dents at times. I'm from the old school, using lube from a tube and RCBS lube pad, and have never used the spray-on stuff, so I don't know for sure, but can imagine, that it's not as thick as the tube lube, so I wouldn't think you'd have as much problem.

I do have good load for you to try though if you're interested, but I'm currently not at home and I don't want to post it from memory so reply if you'd like to hear it.

Next question: will a generous chamber, as you so nicely put it, cause any accuracy problems? I admit I'm fishing a bit for a gun that's just not shooting like it should. --MykalGlad to hear you were finally able to resize some cases without causing dents! It sounds like you found your problem and fixed it. At this point it would be good to recheck those newly FL resized cases for function. Not being able to see your rifle, I am going to guess (I guess a lot) that the chamber may not be all that generous. I might look more at the loads I am using and the number of rounds that were put through the barrel. Every barrel has a limited number of rounds that you can put through it before accuracy starts to suffer. I hope you solve this problem too and it's not the barrel! :p

Marshall: I don't think it's the barrel. I've only put about 300 rounds through it so far, and I've been babying the thing with regard to good barrel break in procedures and letting it cool if it gets too hot (I find the latter requires about all the self-control I have). As for the generous chamber, I got to thinking that it must not be too generous considering that I only had to back the sizer ouit about 1/4 to 1/2 turn to make the dents go away. I've adjusted the trigger, which was pretty gritty and heavy. Next I look at load developement. My guess (I do that a lot, too) is that the 20 inch barrel may make load developement a little tricky. No sure how much FPS or pressure is lost with that 4 to 6 inch difference than standard barrels. It seems maybe I should use faster burning powders, yes? --Mykal