Small base die or not

[deepcore]

Getting a set of RCBS X dies for my LR 308 this week.
I searched and found and old thread that dealt with this and
it basically said for certain set ups small base is the only thing that will produce feeding reliability. Others work fine with regular full sizing dies.

To reverse this then: small base will work on everything. So i will need to buy
one. My question is does small base sizing equal shorter brass life because the brass gets " exercised" more?

[Hog Buster]

I may be mistaken, but I think RCBS X dies are considered small base. I think they’re listed as 308 Winchester Small Base Dies.

[Redbullitt]

Working the brass more always cuts down life. By how much is up to debate.

It depends on what you are going to be shooting it though. I do not size any more than i have to. FWIW I do not have any small base dies. I have used standard ones for my ar15s and m1a AND bolt rifles. I have not had feed problems. Some rifles do need them for reliability though.

[Slamfire]

To reverse this then: small base will work on everything. So i will need to buy one. My question is does small base sizing equal shorter brass life because the brass gets " exercised" more?

I called RCBS, they told me that small base dies reduce the case head .002" more than their standard dies.

I use small base dies on every caliber I can find the dies.

My ammunition must fit a wide variety of identically chambered rifles, from match bolt guns to match gas guns. And then there are the service grade rifles with military barrels and chambers.

Military barrels have huge chambers. I believe some were used to park Zeppleins. Brass comes out huge and a regular sizing die won’t reduce the brass enough to fit in a standard chamber. This is not a problem for bolt gunners, they are so used to crunching cases to fit, beating down on their bolt handles and using the massive cams that bolt rifles have, to crunch their ammo to their chambers. You will read all sorts of advice about neck sizing, partial neck sizing, seating the bullets on the lands, all sloppy reloading techniques that will guarantee a jam in a semi auto rifle.

Gas guns do not have a lot of crunching power. You have to size the brass smaller than the chamber or you will have jams.

I do know that small base sizing cases fired in military chambers is difficult. I have good presses, Redding T-7, Lyman T-Mag. These will size these cases with a heave ho, and with a proper lube. You will bust your reloading bench trying to small base size a case using a spray on lube. I use RCBS water soluble or Imperial sizing wax. These work well.

Cases fired in my match rifles, which are cut with standard reamers, except for the throat profiles, are not that difficult to small base size. .223 cases are almost effortless.

I took one set of 308 LC cases 22 to 24 reloads, small base sizing most of the time. I retired those cases.

You have to set up your small base die, or any darn bottlenecked case, with a cartridge headspace gage. Set your shoulder back about .003” and no more. Old small base dies would allow you to set your shoulder back a lot more, and guess what, people got case head separations! The ignorance and hostility of the shooting community to using gages to set up their sizing dies has been incredible. So many people set up their dies, by touching the shellholder and adding a “quarter turn”. Do that with a small base die and you are going to have case head separations. I believe that this is the origin of those ideas that “small base dies overwork brass”. The "quarter turn" folks don't have a means of measuring what they are doing and they come up will all sorts of myths and legends to explain their problems.

If you can't measure it, you can't control it.

[dlb435]

If your rifle will chamber your rounds without the small base dies, don't use them. I've got one 5.56 NATO rifle that is way too picky, I use the 223 SB dies just because of that one rifle.

[wncchester]

SB dies are a cure for an uncommon problem. If you don't have the problem you don't need the solution. ??

[farmerboy]

second that, if you dont need to overwork your brass thasn dont, My dad does own a browning bar 30-06 auto and a remington 742 auto in 270 that will jam if not sized with small base dies. I only have bolts and try to neck size most of the time and full size only when I have to.

[bbqncigars]

I use my .308 X die in my Hornady AP to feed two FALs, and a Fulton Armory match Garand. I've got well over a dozen loadings on prepped LC brass with no problems. YMMV.


Wayne