shootist87122 said:
Sidney,
What part of the resized case is .005" less than the fire formed case?
What Joe asks, Sidney...
I'm assuming that you mean pushing the shoulder back 0.005" from where it is located on your fire-formed case.
Let me attempt an answer from a different direction, if we are talking about dangerous or not.
Reloading die manufacturers have to be concerned about all the ways that their reloading equipment might be misused. First, there's the simple ethical concern about maximizing the probability that no one will get hurt with your stuff. Second, there's the very real concern that someone will spill some hot coffee on themself while they're trying to adjust your die and then sue you for contributing to their clumsiness/stupidity.
Reloading manufacturers in this country have, for the most part, standardized certain items, including shellholders. All manufacturers producing the RCBS type clip-in shellholders design for, and attempt to put into steel, a certain depth from the bottom of where the cartridge case sits to the surface that contacts the bottom of the die when resizing. This, supposedly, insures interchangeability of clip-in shell holders across manufacturers. By and large, this has worked out pretty well.
Secondly, manufacturers have designed dies with the 7/8x14 thread to mate with these shellholders in such a way that, when maximum contact is made between the shellholder and the die, the cartridge cannot be undersized enough to be dangerous in a chamber meeting the SAAMI specifications for that cartridge. To do otherwise would be moronic.
If you produced the cases that you're talking about being 0.005" 'shorter' in a standard die/shellholder setup and the chamber of your rifle meets SAAMI specs, your ammo should be safe to shoot. You may be overworking the brass and shorten case life somewhat, but it should be safe.
If you, as a manufacturer, were going to design a reloading setup that worked quite differently than what has become the standard, you'd need to make sure that your dies didn't just screw into any old press out there. In other words, you'd need to change the hole/thread in the press.
I have a friend of mine who has a rifle chambered in a magnum cartridge that is slightly shortchambered. Rather than lengthening the chamber a little, he just shaved a little off the top of the shellholder (which, of course, allows the case to slide a little farther into the die and sets back the shoulder slightly more). That solution works for that gun with that shellholder. But then using that 'shortened' shellholder for a different rifle could well present problems. He just keeps track of it all and that works for him.
So, my point is that, if you FL sized the cases in a standard RCBS FL sizing die/shellholder setup, the ammo you load should be safe as long as the chamber in your M1A is OK.
And, by the way, my comments above in this thread about maximum sizing assume standard die/shellholder setups. Personally, I use shellholders from RCBS, Lee and Lyman pretty interchangeably. I originally started with Herter's dies, then restocked with all RCBS die sets, and then, again, restocked with Lee die sets. For rifle cartridges, I usually use RCBS dies, except that, for autoloaders, I also use the Lee factory crimp dies. For pistols, I use the Lee Carbide die sets...
I have had very good luck with RCBS and Lee die sets. They're inexpensive and they work well. However, having said that, my next die purchase will be a Redding 7.5x55mm K31 sizing die, since they make one especially for the K31 chamber (which is slightly different than the M11/K11 chamber). The RCBS die set that I have oversizes the base of the case compared to what needs to be done.
Damn, talk about making long stories longer, and all...
I'll go now...
Forrest