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[PGW Steve]

Charlie, Steve,

Why do you jam the case in to the die and then fit the whole die in the jaws of the lathe? Wouldn't it be easier to just grip the case by itself if all you want to do it drill a hole in the base and thread it? What am I missing here?

Putting the case in the die holds the whole case in compression with even pressure. With a 3 or 4 jaw chuck, you are contacting on 3-4 small points on a thin wall so it's easy to distort the wall with minimal pressure. Long ago prior to doing the die trick, having the drill or tap grab will cause the case to spin and chew up the outside. As Charlie mentioned, it holds the case square. You know how much force it takes to FLS a case when you jam it up there, and it makes a pretty good tug getting it out, thus the case is held secure.