Ok, I currently have two 30-06's, and until now have always shot factory ammo out of it because its so cheap. But recently I was given almost 200 empty casings for it, coupled with the fact that I have a ton of .30 cal bullets, and plenty of 4350 powder so I might as well reload them. Now heres my question, both of my guns are Remintons, ones a 742 and the other is a 760. So if I buy a set of dies, I assume I will need the short base dies for my autoloader, if I do get the shortbase dies, can I use them to reload for the 760, and a bolt action if I get one? Or can the S/b dies only work for the autoloader?

Has this brass you've gotten been fired from a full auto gun? That's the only reason I can see to get those small base dies - I've loaded ammo for both bolt action and semi-auto's using standard dies. It always works.

A friend of mine uses my 30-06 reloads in his BAR. I full length size them with Lee Dies and they work just fine.

To answer your question, yes you can use the small base dies for any 30-06.

I have a 30-06 7600 pump and I use RCBS FL X Die and it works grate. If I was you I would look into the X-Dies.

Both my Dad and I ended up having extraction problems from our Remington pumps after around 3 reloads, we went pards on a small based die and it worked well for us. The 760 and 740 actions are the same, just the prime mover is different.

I think if you ever get the bolt action you'll want to partial resize the cases, and I never tried that in a small base die. [:-]

yes the 200 casings were from my grandfathers attic, when he used to own the same 742 that I currently own, so they are fireformed for this exact rifle. (I didnt aquire the 760 til alot later, so the brass from it never would have gotten into his stash.)

I can call RCBS and ask this question, but Ill ask here too, what is the X die? and can I use it on all types of guns? (bolt, pump, auto?)

Your dies will work on any 30-06,just be sure to trim your brass to lenght! And in reloading for an auto,pump, or lever action, all the reloading books are loads shot in a bolt action. So don,t use Max loads in these type guns! Because these type actions will not hold the same amount of pressure that a bolt actiion will. Besides that have fun. vangunsmith

I've seen this myself many times. Regular FL size dies will work with auto's, but after the brass is used a few times, the gun will start jamming. (sometimes this will even happen in bolt action rifles)

The reason why is, as the brass ages it gets "less" malleable, so it "springs back" more. To counter that, you need small base dies that will size the caseing even smaller so the "springback" will still keep the case small enough to work easily in a auto...

Drilling Man