So, I've finally progressed onto rifle cases. I have some neck dies for a couple of calibers, because my reloads will go in specific guns, and it's my understanding that that's the way to go.
However, I have multiple guns, including auto-loaders, in 308 and 300BLK, so having done some reading - I understand that the best compatibility across all guns in a given caliber is if I use small-base dies for these.
So I picked up a set of RCBS for both.
I set up the 300BLK with very little problem, resized some range brass I'd picked up. Checked all the important dimensions before and after resizing, everything seems good. Even to the point of remembering to use case lube. I could plunk the brass before and after resizing in all my 300BLK guns.
So far, so good.
Try and do the same with 308. This was some of my pickup brass from an earlier range trip. All the brass looked fine. Decapped and cleaned, I thought I was ready to go.
So, I'm confused. I have to believe that the amount of force I'm applying is excessive, and I would expect that kind of force to deform the brass in some way to take it out of spec. There is no sign of scoring or scratching on the cases. I had cleared the vent hole in the die.
What I planned to do next was put some cold blue on the cases and see if I could figure out where the interference points were. When I insert one of the pieces of brass into the die, it gets this far before there's any resistance (although that tells us nothing about where the actual contact point is)
The die is marked "RCBS 308 WIN SB .. 22" so I think they sent me the right thing.
In frustration, I pulled the bullet from a round of my unused Lake City brass, and tried the same test for an interference fit - and it did the same thing. I'm thinking of depriming the round and seeing if unfired brass behaves the same.
Any of you guys have other thoughts?
However, I have multiple guns, including auto-loaders, in 308 and 300BLK, so having done some reading - I understand that the best compatibility across all guns in a given caliber is if I use small-base dies for these.
So I picked up a set of RCBS for both.
I set up the 300BLK with very little problem, resized some range brass I'd picked up. Checked all the important dimensions before and after resizing, everything seems good. Even to the point of remembering to use case lube. I could plunk the brass before and after resizing in all my 300BLK guns.
So far, so good.
Try and do the same with 308. This was some of my pickup brass from an earlier range trip. All the brass looked fine. Decapped and cleaned, I thought I was ready to go.
- Read the setup instructions twice before cleaning and setting up the dies
- All of it plunked in all of my 308 rifles before resizing
- Lubed the cases (not just neck)
- Pushed 'em up into the resizing die. Lots of resistance (something like 50 lb on the press arm)
- Pulled 'em back out (maybe 70lb on the press arm - I was levering the press up off of the table)
- Plunked the brass in my 308 rifles and they all went in fine.
So, I'm confused. I have to believe that the amount of force I'm applying is excessive, and I would expect that kind of force to deform the brass in some way to take it out of spec. There is no sign of scoring or scratching on the cases. I had cleared the vent hole in the die.
What I planned to do next was put some cold blue on the cases and see if I could figure out where the interference points were. When I insert one of the pieces of brass into the die, it gets this far before there's any resistance (although that tells us nothing about where the actual contact point is)
The die is marked "RCBS 308 WIN SB .. 22" so I think they sent me the right thing.
In frustration, I pulled the bullet from a round of my unused Lake City brass, and tried the same test for an interference fit - and it did the same thing. I'm thinking of depriming the round and seeing if unfired brass behaves the same.
Any of you guys have other thoughts?