I need to have a custom F/L sizing die made up for a project that is in the completion stage. I heard from my gunsmith yesterday that he is done with the rifle except for waiting on scope bases to come in, which he will install on the rifle and send everything back to me. He was able to cut down an existing seating die that will work fine, but the sizing die he attempted to also cut down is sizing the rear area of the case near the rim too much, which we were concerned might happen because of the slope of the case.
This is essentially a .221 Fireball Ackley Improved on a .357 Maxi case (for it's rim.) Cases were formed simply by running through a .221 FB form die designed to form from .223 cases, only using the .357 Maxi case in a proper rimmed shell holder. Chamber was cut by running in a .223 Ackley Improved reamer to the proper headspace depth to create the .221 FB Improved cartridge on the rimmed Maxi case. This was put together on a nice Martini 12/15. I sent him a set of Redding .223 Ackley Improved dies which match the reamer used to cut the chamber, which he attampted to shorten in his lathe to work with the shorter cartridge. Seater works, sizer doesn't.
He says the fired cases form out nicely, but he lost a few from neck splits. The formed cases I sent him were not annealed, the others will be annealed after initial forming.
So, I need to send a few of the fired cases to a die maker and have a sizing die made. I know that a few companies say they do this, I am looking for experiences and suggestions. I know that Redding does, as do others. I would like to have it done pretty quickly, naturally, and want good work the first time.
Your experiences with similar work done and your suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks very much.
