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small base dies
joshmb1982
Member Posts: 8,929
Have only reloaded for bolt actions in the past, but may start doing some 284 in a winchester 100 semi auto. What are your thoughts on using small base dies. Are they needed or just stick with the regular full length sizing dies?
Thanks
Thanks
Comments
The cases sound like they are a possible problem. I have the three jaw collet on my RCBS A200 press. It, on rare occasions, will pull the rim off of a case, like once in 5,000 cases, it is ALWAYS my fault for too little lube. Are all the stuck cases the same lot or brand? Could they have been shot in a machine-gun?
Small based dies are NOT necessary unless you have some bolt closing issues. I used them in my AR-15 but all in all good ammo fed fine without being ran through a small based die.
if you have to lube every case by hand like that, how is it people load using the progressive presses where spent cases are thrown into a hopper lined up automatically and sent down a tube where as the plate turns there put in place to be resized/decapped and on their way to loaded?
Carbide sizers used with pistol calibers are not lubed, or not lube as much.
if you have to lube every case by hand like that, how is it people load using the progressive presses where spent cases are thrown into a hopper lined up automatically and sent down a tube where as the plate turns there put in place to be resized/decapped and on their way to loaded?
Bottle neck rifle cases need to be lubed, carbide sizer or not. I loaded 100's of thousands of rounds on a Dillon 1000. We used Lanolin on a towel, spreading 200 or so cases on it and rolling them around by hand. There was a very small amount of lube applied to each case. I would grab handfuls of lubed cases and use a q-tip to get some lube in the mouth of them. That handful got mixed into the batch in the case feeder, it left enough lube on the expander ball to function in the dies smoothly.
However, as for your question on progressive reloading with lubed cases, there are 2 possibilities here.
Either you do as bpost says and only get a little lube in the neck of the case- making sure NONE gets down into the case body to contaminate the lube (tricky) or you use a lube that dries. I like Lee's paste lube. You can dillute it with water or alcohol (dries faster) and it TRULY DRIES. Not only that it doesn't contaminate powder when dry.
So you dillute some lee lube, apply as you wish (for small batches I dunk each neck in the dilute lube, then stand upright and let it run down the sides, for large batches I deprime all my cases and just dunk them in a gallon container of this mix with a deep fryer basket)...and let dry. Overnight. Next day you pop them in your progressive and away you go.
Yes the resulting cases will need cleaning. Many feel tumbling loaded ammo is a no-no. I've never had issues with it. If you do a quick rub down with a rag with a few drops of alcohol on it will clean things right up.
I use a RCBS progressive press for .223, but I just have the sizer die in. You can really go through the brass this way. I then prime them with a small Lee press. After I prime them, I put in the seater die, and powder measure and go to town.
I use all the sizing, priming,powder,and seater stations when I load pistol ammo. This seams to work out for me as far as using a progressive press
Imperial Sizing Die Wax.
I have not used it yet, but I bought a lube die to use in my progressive press for .223 and .308 bulk ammo....
a lube die? it lubes the case automatically as it makes its way through the stages?
quote:Originally posted by ECC
I have not used it yet, but I bought a lube die to use in my progressive press for .223 and .308 bulk ammo....
a lube die? it lubes the case automatically as it makes its way through the stages?
Supposedly...
I have not used it yet, but I bought a lube die to use in my progressive press for .223 and .308 bulk ammo....
Eric - When you try this let us know how it works. What type lube do you have to use in this die?....Mark
quote:Originally posted by ECC
I have not used it yet, but I bought a lube die to use in my progressive press for .223 and .308 bulk ammo....
Eric - When you try this let us know how it works. What type lube do you have to use in this die?....Mark
I'm assuming something like the RCBS lube. I bought the die for mass production. I did not want to have to lube my cases individually.
i have used the old rcbs lube for anything that needed it and have not had a stuck case yet but it also is warmer here then were most of the stuck case post come from.
my .02
could be a cold thing [;)]