Shoulder bumping. Cartridge headspace gauges.

[Alpha1]

I bought a Cartridge head space gauge bushing for my Hornady over all length gauge thingy. When it arrived I looked at it and thought what the heck that can not be right how much for that its a piece of Aluminium bar stock with a hole drilled through it.
I scrounged some aluminium bar stock out of the scrap bin at work. When I got home I retired to my work shop and spent a pleasant evening churning out cartridge headspace gauges for all the rifle calibres I own. Excellent evenings work.

[Christel]

Do you mean bump gauges?

[Alpha1]

I am referring to the Hornady cartridge head space gauges.

The one on the right with the two rings around it is a 6.55x55 the one on the left is .308 that I made the small item at the front is for measuring to the ogive for 6.5x55 I made this one as well.
I do not fully understand shoulder bumping any info would be appreciated.

[Maggot]

I am referring to the Hornady cartridge head space gauges.

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The one on the right with the two rings around it is a 6.55x55 the one on the left is .308 that I made the small item at the front is for measuring to the ogive for 6.5x55 I made this one as well.
I do not fully understand shoulder bumping any info would be appreciated.

Shoulder bumping is where you just re set the shoulder of the case back by a thou or so.

I do it by default because I bush bump my F/TR brass. It hardly moves much, so I do about 75% of the neck and just re-set the shoulders.

Never get a difficult chambering/extraction and minimum brass working.

[Alpha1]

Shoulder bumping is where you just re set the shoulder of the case back by a thou or so.

I do it by default because I bush bump my F/TR brass. It hardly moves much, so I do about 75% of the neck and just re-set the shoulders.

Never get a difficult chambering/extraction and minimum brass working.

What die do you use. Is it a dedicated bump die I can not see how it would work with a ordinary full length die.
I modified a Lee full length die but it does not work to my satisfaction not enough control. What sort of kit should I be looking at.

[Maggot]

Shoulder bumping is where you just re set the shoulder of the case back by a thou or so.

I do it by default because I bush bump my F/TR brass. It hardly moves much, so I do about 75% of the neck and just re-set the shoulders.

Never get a difficult chambering/extraction and minimum brass working.

What die do you use. Is it a dedicated bump die I can not see how it would work with a ordinary full length die.

Yes bud.

Its the forster .308 Bush bump die.

It has 3 separate or combinable actions.

Neck tension (change the bushes and/or change the amount of neck you re size)

Length of neck re-sizing (I don't go right down to the shoulders, it seems to do a better job making things more consistent, I tried doing just 50% and the verticals went to ratshit!!!).

Shoulder bump (simply adjust the die in the holder). Quite subtle and without a shoulder gauge you would probably not realise.

I thought the die was too long until I checked it, it was just over camming.

I think they do full length re sizers with bushes as well.

The way I see it, once the case is fire formed to the chamber, at 70p a pop, the less it gets messed about with the better

[Alpha1]

Forster eh do any one else do them.
I think the shed stocks Forster. I will have to check it out on the web before I commit. I think they are expensive to buy.

[Steve E]

If you set up a full length die correctly you can use it to bump the shoulder or not. Screw the die down until it touches the shell plate and then back it off half a turn. Size a case and see if the shoulder is touched or not by the die, adjust the die either in or out to touch the shoulder or not. It really is very simple and is a basic skill that you should have. To check this you can either smoke the shoulder of the case or measure it with a caliber specific case micrometer. RCBS make what they call a precision case micrometer(caliber specific) which you can use to measure the case head to centre of shoulder position. If you use a full length die adjusted so that it bumps the shoulder only 1 or 2 thou you may find that the neck is only partially sized and actually this is how neck sizing was carried out before neck die became available.
You can also bump the shoulder with a body die.

[Alpha1]

I don't really want to full size the case I intend to neck size using a bushing die. I have a LeWilson neck sizing die but its proving trouble some with this particular rifle. I normally re load for military rifles except for my Steyr .308 but that eats anything I throw at it and still shoots tight groups. So bumping etc. is some thing new to me. I want to set the shoulder back slightly for a recent purchase and what the heck it gives me some thing to play with on these dark nights. I had a discussion on the range to day and the guy said he used a shoulder die with shell holders that sit at different heights in the press. Not some thing I had heard of before. I may invest in a Forster but not till I am sure it will do what I want. More research required so I will have a trawl of the web and read up then we will see.

[Alpha1]

Has this post been moved I don't remember posting this in the reloading section or am I loosing the plot.

Any way I have been getting mixed up with body dies and bumping dies. I get it now I have a had study and checked out the Forster web site and I think their shoulder bumping neck die is the way to go.