To turn or to ream, that is the question . . .

[vzerone]

Being that I do not own a lathe, I'm definitely not going to trim down the die - especially after talking with my local gunsmith. Shop rates were kinda "prohibitive". For what they wanted to trim my die, I could buy a RCBS die set, a RCBS Trim and Form die and still have enough left over for a box of J-Words. I do not shoot this gun very often - it's more of a "closet queen" / novelty gun that me and my sons take to the range occasionally. (As a matter of fact, I'm loading these new cases with the 150 gr. bullets that I pulled from the remaining Berdain primed Mil-Surp ammo I bought from Sears about 40 years ago.) A $5 feeler gauge did the trick as far as setting back the shoulder, and I have now prepped another 40 cases which should last me quite a while with the way this gun gets used. I do have a couple of spare shell holders and I think I will try your suggestion as far as shaving the shell holder in stead of trimming the die.

Left to right:
Donor 30-06 case / "decapitated" neck / 1st trim / reformed case / 7.65 Arg. Cart. / Parent 30-06 Cart.

Attachment 157050

As I mentioned I'm against taking down the bottom of the die. The shell holder is the easier and cheaper way. You can do that with a file or a grinder. Saves having to stick a feeler gauge in there all the time.

[EDG]

I guess your smith is concerned about how much metal to take off because if you know that number it is a 10 minute job at most in a engine lathe.

With a threaded spud in a drill press you could probably hold 120 grit silicon carbide paper on the drill press table and do it in 15 minutes.
I made a living for 5 years running a lathe and have probably ran one more than most gunsmiths will in a life time. I say this because there is no reason for a competent gun smith to charge much for such simple work.

Being that I do not own a lathe, I'm definitely not going to trim down the die - especially after talking with my local gunsmith. Shop rates were kinda "prohibitive". For what they wanted to trim my die, I could buy a RCBS die set, a RCBS Trim and Form die and still have enough left over for a box of J-Words. I do not shoot this gun very often - it's more of a "closet queen" / novelty gun that me and my sons take to the range occasionally. (As a matter of fact, I'm loading these new cases with the 150 gr. bullets that I pulled from the remaining Berdain primed Mil-Surp ammo I bought from Sears about 40 years ago.) A $5 feeler gauge did the trick as far as setting back the shoulder, and I have now prepped another 40 cases which should last me quite a while with the way this gun gets used. I do have a couple of spare shell holders and I think I will try your suggestion as far as shaving the shell holder in stead of trimming the die.

Left to right:
Donor 30-06 case / "decapitated" neck / 1st trim / reformed case / 7.65 Arg. Cart. / Parent 30-06 Cart.

Attachment 157050

[country gent]

I perfer to remove the metal from the dies bottom allowing any shell holder to work with it. In an engine lathe its quick and easy. I chuck the die in the lathe and spin a lock ring or jam nut on threads tight against the jaws. Take a depth reading to this nut and write it down. You can now face the die down what you need measuring to the ring/jam nut. I finish with a 3 blade burr srapper recutting the radious and a polish with very fine sand paper. It can be done by hand on a flat surface and sand paper working in a figure 8 pattern slowly. with the ring on you have a step to track progress also. A 7/8 14 nut and lock ring above can be set to leave just the amount to be removed and work until nut shows scratches with the coarser grits then finish with finer grits to desired finish. The big thing is to recut the mouth radious back to form so die dosnt grab or scratch the brass.

[Larry Gibson]

You hit the nail right on the head with the shoulder length. I took a fresh 30-06 case and trimmed it down to the "trim to" length of the 7.65's, ran it through my sizer die, trimmed it one more time, then put it back in the sizer but this time slipped a feeler gauge between the shell holder and case head, gradually working up to where the empty case would chamber and my bolt would close. The magic number, 0.010"! I followed this up by seating a bullet in the empty case and chambering it again. The bolt cammed over with no problem. Thanks to all who helped expand my education!

Guess it's time to start loading now.

Are you sure those Lee dies don't say "Belgian Mauser" on them? This is a common problem with Lee Belgian dies used in Argentine Mausers. The headspace of the sized/formed cartridge is usually about .010 to long. It can be easily solved by turning .015 off the bottom of the sizing dies and then adjust the die in the press so the sized cases fit the headspace of your rifles chamber.

Larry Gibson