small base resizing dies

[ejpaul1]

Anyone here had experience with small base resizing dies? fill me in. My buddy says that If I have the loads chambering too tight after a full length resize, I need to use these. I wanna know if this sounds plausible before spending my precious dough. EJ

[Ridge Runner]

usually small based dies are only used in semi-autos and on rare occasions a very tight chambered rifle, they resize to smaller than SAAMI specs, not real conductive to accuracy but function better in semi's and tight chambered bolt actions. make sure your current die is adjusted properly to fit your chamber before you go the small base route
RR

[Scott Gags]

I notice your buddy said " if I have the loads chambering too tight". Do you have any symtoms that they are chambering too tight or is this just general discussion on his part. 99% of the time your dies will do the job just fine without further action.

[ejpaul1]

Yeah, some are so tight that the bolt wont even come down. I am gonna test some more in a few weeks and see whats the haps. It kinda confuses me a bit because his savage does just fine with the same stuff. This remington 700 is awesome sans this tight chamber. Another pal of mine that has a 700 told me his 700 has a picky chamber as well. Very tight. EJ

[Scott Gags]

I would follow Ridge Runners advise, and if you are confident the dies are adjusted properly I would try to borrow a different set of dies and try them in your press before spending $$ on the small base dies. If the different dies solve the problem I would think your dies may be the culprit. Just curious have you ever chambered factory new ammo and if so was there a problem?

[eldeguello]

ORIGINAL: ejpaul1

Anyone here had experience with small base resizing dies? fill me in. My buddy says that If I have the loads chambering too tight after a full length resize, I need to use these. I wanna know if this sounds plausible before spending my precious dough. EJ

IF you're having problems with your reloads chambering correctly (or easily) after full-length resizing, small-base dies MAY solve your problem. But this can be due to other things as well, so an investigation as to why this is happening is in order before buying a set of dies you may not need!

My first step would be to see if a couple of empty cases,full-length resized in your present sizing die, can be chambered in the gun before you add powder & bullets. If they go in as they should, then you will know that the resizing die is not the problem. IF they don't go in easily empty,the next step would be to "smoke" a case with a match or a candle and chamber it to see where it is hanging up as you chamber it.Also, make sure the cases are not too long, OR that dragging them out of the sizing die over the expander button is not stretching the shoulders forward a little, as can happen if the expander button has too much friction. You might have to remove the decapping/expanding stem from the die and size a couple of cases without expanding the necksto eliminate this as a possible cause.

Now, if you find that resized, empty cases will go back into the chamber easily and permit you to close the bolt with no problems, you will know that something is happening in the bullet seating step that is the source of the problem. For example, one guy I knew was trying to crimp his jacketed bullet loads when he was seating the bullets, and the case necks were being pushed down ever so slightly, causing the shoulders to swell up a small amount, which was hardly noticeable. But it was enough to keep his cartridges from entering the chamber all the way, and his bolt would not close. He had to screw the seating die out to the point where it was no longer trying to crimp the cases, then screw the seating stem IN so he could seat his bullets to the correct depth.

BTW, I have never heard of a case wherein a BOLT ACTION factory rifle required small-base dies. Even most semi-autos don't require them. I suppose it is POSSIBLE though!

[ejpaul1]

Very awesome advice. I am going to try just that and my pal is bringing his dies (rcbs) over to let me try them out to see if it is my dies. That smoke thing is genius! I will try that this weekend. Thanks a million, EJ

I have a set of head and shoulders gauge from stoney point. Might want to measure the shoulders on the brass you have no problem with and compare with fireformed and then see what the shoulders are when you FL them. It ain't that unusual to find dies with shoulders set too long.

[Charley]

I've got a set of RCBS dies in .243that were too long. Cartridges wouldn't chamber easily in any rifleI tried them in, a total of four.Headspace on two rifles I measured was between go and nogo, so it wasn't the rifles! I ended up stoning about .002 off the bottom of the dies and had no more problems.

[ejpaul1]

Yep, Charley had it nailed! My pal that knows way more bout reloading came over and solved it for me. I did however have to pay him in beer, but it was worth it! Problem solved! Thanks everyone! EJ