[F. Guffey]

“Took a lock ring with one pasted on to the RCBS table at an NRA convention some years ago and the rep said that was a great idea. I suggested they stamp all their 7/8-14 thread lock rings with the .002" scale on one side and the .004" scale on the other. 'Twould be easy for most folks to just twist one relative to a given point on the die threads (mark the index point with a black marker) to make the adjustment. To date, they've not done this. Nor has anyone else as far as I know” “ the rep said that was a great idea” What else could he say?

Then someone would come along and ask, “WHY?” I do not believe most reloaders are that ‘shop skill challenged’, all the skilled individuals I know would make an adjustment ‘THEN! verify.

VERIFY: An unknown word without a definition in reloading circles. I am familiar with Skip’s shims. Yes, there was a manufacturer that installed an index on their press, it did not work. there is something about an index on an incline devise the the reloader has trouble with. When securing the die to the press the die must not be allowed to turn, the die must be held in place while the lock nut secures the die to the press, secure the die to the press? For too many years reloaders have filled the forums with “I adjust my die then secure the lock ring to the die so I do not have to adjust the die again” I adjust my die to, below or off the shell holder every time, I secure the die to the press with the lock ring, I do not allow the die to turn while securing the die, then I verify.

A reloader that understands the concept of verifying does not need shims and index/draw to lines, after making their adjustment. It also helps when receiving help from any source the perfect case to size is a new case, after new is once fired, after once fired it is down hill, again the cases ability to resist sizing increases with the number of times the case is fired, then there is the load factor, I have fired cases once, some of my once firings used up all the ‘case life’ it had to offer.

Back to verify, why make all the motions of adjusting the die with all the gadgets then verify, make the adjustment with a verifying tool first then skip the shims, fractional turns in degree converted to thousandths. The die height above the press can be measured, reloaders skilled in the use of a height gage or a dial caliper can measure the height of the die above the press, to raise the die rotate the die counter clock wise, to lower rotate the die clock wise, again, measure before and again after, I am the fan of verifying, rather than make wild guestimate turns of the die, I go straight to the verifying tool for adjustments, from the bottom or top.

F. Guffey