do i need a small base die

joshmb1982

for reloading for my m1a??? ammo resized with small base dies will still work in a bolt action correct?

bpost

When reloading you want to size the brass AS LITTLE as possible to fit the chamber of the rifle in question. A SB die is seldom REQUIRED for any rifle under normal circumstances. Any time you use SB dies in a chamber not requiring it you OVERWORK and lessen case life. even in TIGHT match chambers the use of SB dies is seldom necessary.

SB dies are usually reserved for the type of gun and shooting we can best describe as blasting. The combination of rapid firing, lots of rounds between cleaning, getting the gun real hot, not planning on using the brass again, low accuracy demands and the requirement for absolute reliabilty for feeding, is where the SB dies are used.

The REQUIREMENT for SB dies is very rare FOR ANY RIFLE.

The shoulder location and case length will have a bigger effect than the rare case with a too large base.

joshmb1982

so a small base die esent even need in my ar? i take it out shooting but dont heat it up to much. run a mag through it switch to something else for a bit let it cool. same with my m1a. might puut a few hundred through it befor cleaning when i get home. but thats about it. i figure all im really doing putting a lot of lead down range very quickly is beating up the rifle. fun once in a while but not to often.

gw104

I use standard dies for my M1A,Fal,and my AR,no problems.

cpermd

I don't own any SB dies and have more full and semis than you can shake a stick at.

CP

Tailgunner1954

SB dies were developed to recover the brass used in machine guns, with their oversize chambers. With brass from "normal" chambers, their not needed at all.

armilite

quote:
SB dies are usually reserved for the type of gun and shooting we can best describe as blasting. The combination of rapid firing, lots of rounds between cleaning, getting the gun real hot, not planning on using the brass again, low accuracy demands and the requirement for absolute reliabilty for feeding, is where the SB dies are used.



I totally disagree with you on this. I never intended to actually blast any of my guns unless absolutely necessary. Small base dies are made to re size brass period. It has nothing to do with heat or getting rounds to chamber with hot barrels. They were made to re size brass to be used in auto loading rifles or firearms with tight chambers. Auto loading rifles do not have the strength like bolt action rifles do to chamber a round. You have the force applied to the bolt by the person loading the round. Not so with an autoloader what you see is what you get and thats all the assistance you get. My original AR10 chambers factory brass fine but in order to fire reloads I must use a small base die. The same problem I had with an AR15 once also. I never know which gun I will use my reloads in so I reload all my .223 & .308 with the smaller base sized brass. This eliminates the problem with a tighter chamber. Has absolutely nothing to do with hot barrels and rapid fire shooting. One other thing of note that if you decide to use a small base die do not use it on a progressive or turret press. There is an amount of play built into turret and progressive presses that negate the advantage of the small base die. And to answer yor question the samll base dies will work in your bolt action also, but you may notice it takes less force to manually close your bolt but you M1A will thank you.