Little hole in sizer dies

[abunaitoo]

Most of my dies have a little hole in the sizer die.
I'm thinking the hole is a vent.
It sometimes causes gouges when forming different cases.
Is there anything that can be done to keep it from doing that????

[Reddirt62]

It is a vent however I have never had an issue with mine. I use Dillon dies if that matters.

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[David2011]

Is the problem with bottlenecked dies? Are the holes where they could be polished with a drill and 600-800 grit wet-or-dry on a slotted stick?

[abunaitoo]

I like to form shells from other calibers.
As an example, I just made a bunch of .308 out of 30.06.
Reason being I was moving the shoulder higher to take up head space.
Used 30.06 because it would be easier for me to tell them apart from other .308.
While bringing the shoulder down, the hole would dig into the neck.
Besides a case form die($), is there another that would not have the hole.
I also make 6.5 & 7.7 Arisaka, 7.65 Arg, 41 Swiss, and some others.
Most have the hole.

[BK7saum]

I have had this happen before when forming cases. A little unsightly, but the gouge was shallow and didn't affect case integrity so I didn't worry about it. Maybe the vent hole in your die is a little sharper, almost burred. I would try a polish with flitz or JB paste on a tight fitting patch over a bore mop . The flexibility of the patch may allow it to soften/blend the inside edge of the vent hole.

[runfiverun]

they can fill up with extra or old lube and leave a little dent if you don't clean them out.

[country gent]

You can try to reach in with a small ball and polish the edges of the hole ( a real pain in the bottom to do) just spinning the die on sand paper sharpens the edges usually. This is a very small hole around .030 or so in size. It is a vent and to allow lube to exit instead of ding cases. What I have done to get around this Is to rough form in the seater die first. This get the new case very close then the sizer just finishes it using much less force and pressure

[earlmck]

That dang little vent hole that you are complaining about is absolutely vital to getting that bottle-necked case back out of the sizing die. Without it you end up with a suction that leaves the case almost impossible to withdraw. I'd think yours must have a bit of a burr that could be polished out if you can get something up there to reach it. I have used a steel rod with a slot cut in the end to hold a little strip of sandpaper or emery cloth that wraps to make the desired diameter for such things...

After I posted I saw country gent's post -- he has a couple of really good thoughts.

[EDG]

In some die brands Lee and Herters that I have ran into the hole is sometimes too high in the shoulder and digs into your brass.

Sometimes they leave a burr on the hole edge and that scratches your cases too.

I have found that I can use a Popsicle stick and 400 grit wet or dry paper to polish out the hole edges. I spin the die forward for a minute or so and then reverse it to break the other side of the hole. You can spin the die in a lathe or use a threaded mandrel and a drill motor. Once you fix it, it stays fixed forever.

I did have an 8X57 Herters die that was scratching brass I was forming. I loaded a case with Brobst's bore polishing compound and sized it with the Herter's die about 20 times. That finally fixed that crummy die.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I ran into a problem with the vent/lube hole on my 7.65 Argentine die with it shaving brass. It happened to be a LEE die wich made it easier to fix. Pulled the collet and the expander ball/decapping pin and got in there with a little diamond coated ball-end Dremal bit that I stuck in a pin vise. Just did it by hand as it would be easy for it to skitter out of place in a power tool. Because LEE uses that collet system, it leaves a good size hole to get in the die with.