There's absolutely NO REASON not to use handloaded ammo in a BAR!!

I rarely use factory ammo in any gun, regardless of mechanism type, except from time to time when I need some empty brass to reload.

I once owned a Remington 740 and an M1, both in .30/'06. Also a .308 BAR. I mostly used handloads in all of them all the time.

There are essentially two "secrets" toloading ammo that will perform well in a semi-auto"

One. The brass has to freely chamber and extract from your rifle AT THE VERY BEGINNING! (natch!!).

Two. The pressure has to drop enoughon firing to let the case shrink away some from its' grip on the chamber walls to let the extractor pull the whole case out for ejection, instead of just ripping the case head off and leaving the rest still in the chamber (believe me, this has/can happen!! Usually to people who know better than to believe that you need to use relatively fast powders in semi-autos.).

So here's what you do. After have you've resized, trimmed, chamfered, and reprimed your cases, test each one by chambering it, leeting the bolt lock on it, then extracting it to make sure it will go back into your chamber and extract freely. Do this BEFORE you add the powder charge and seat the bullets. Use an adequate amount but not too much sizing lube when resizing, including INSIDE the case neck, so that when the expander button is dragged back out of the case, it will not be ableto stretch the case any (this is a pretty unlikely thing, but I hear it has actually happened if the inside of the case necks were too dry or corroded....)

After you have verified that the prepared cases will in fact chamber in your rifle, then add the powder charge and seat the bullets.

Use a medium-burning powder that will give a lower muzzle and gasport pressure than the slow powders. I would NOT use anything slower than IMR 4064 in a .30/'06 caliber semi-auto. (BTW, IMR 4064 is an excellent powder for loading the .30/'06 with all bullets of 180 grains or less. Acurate and consistent.) I see big coutry has good results with IMR 4350. Good forhim!

My favoritebullet for the '06 and the .308 for all North American game is the 165-grain Nosler Partition. If you have a loading manual that gives a powder charge using IMR 4064 with a MV of around 2800 FPS, that would be the load I would use in that BAR, plus or minus several grains for best accuracy.

Be sure to seat the bullets deep enough that the cartridgeswork well through your BAR's magazine, and also deep enough that theywill NOT jam into the origin of the rifling in your barrel. This is to permit the bolt to close and lock for sure when the recoil spring slams it closed.

I think if you do the above, your rifle will work OK with reloads. Without needing "small-base dies".

Now, up to this point, I've been talking about using brass that has already been fired IN YOUR RIFLE. IF you ever use brass fired in some other rifle, FL size it first, and make sure it will chamber freely in your rifle BEFORE you do anything else to it!