Problems with. 308

[Old 454]

Since I use a dillon RT1500 trimmer I use a Lee universal decapping die in station 1 the trimmer is in station 4 and resized when it gets trimmed.
All brass is droped into 2 diffrent gauges before it gets loaded ro make sure that the case has been sized properly.
I did change my dies from Lee pacesetter 3 die set to Dillon 3 die steel dies.
I do believe the dillon dies are small base full length sizing

Since the cases were resized during trimming using Imperial sizing wax they get wet tumbled to clean the wax off. I then will use one shot to lube cases as I dont think they need Imperial again to go through the sizing die again when I reload them.
Sizing die is set with just a small amount of over cam.

All primer pockets have been checked for military crimps and removed. Primers are set below flush all are checked before they are boxed up.

I set my seating die according to the instructions for dillon dies.
Screw in seating die... raise the ram with a empty case in the shell plate then screw the die down till it stops on the case mouth and then back out the die a half turn. Then adjust die to the proper setting depth when setting the projectile of choice.

Crimp die is seperate from the setting die.

Now the brass I was using was clean.. no dents on shoulders from over lubing all brass that was questionable was discarded to the recycle bucket.
If I could post a picture of the rounds loaded that did not fire I would but for some reason I cant post a picture due to some security token missing....uggggg

I load my m1 garand and 5.56/223 with Dillon dies with out any problems what so ever.

Hopefully the Dillon dies with help out with this problem as I do believe they are small base full length sizing die.

[hammered54]

pick one .....and use it...

https://www.midwayusa.com/case-lengt...es/br?cid=8868


cut to min. SAAMI spec.

[Old 454]

I have and use the multi caliber ammo checker large rifle and the hornady case gage

[9MMand223only]

Originally Posted by higgite

Do fully resized cases alone (no powder, no bullet, no primer) stick in the chamber? Might be a good indicator if it a brass problem or a bullet seating problem.

Do this exactly, except take it a step farther and get commercial ammunition and insert that into chamber to see if it sticks. If the ammunition does not EASILY, with zero friction go in and out, all the way into full battery, then the chamber has an issue, or the rounds do not have properly sized necks or trim length, etc.

Also, I would not use sizing wax at all, not good. use a dry lube like hornady one shot case lube, or something that dries quick. Any wax substance or anything, simply can cause too many issues unless you are very experienced and take way more time than nec cleaning it off.

I hope this helps you.

[Old 454]

Lolol..read the whole post.... I use imperial sizing wax just for the initial sizing and triming....and that done in one step with a dillon sizing trim die with the RT1500.
Cases are then wet tumbled to remove wax
When cases are loaded I use Hornady one shot as the cases are all ready sized and trimed.
One shot just to go through the sizing die a second time

[Marco Califo]

There ia NO NEED OR REASON to lube 2nd time. It is actually a bad thing.
You ONLY SIZE ONCE before loading. What manual gave you those steps??
Oh, wait, I see, you are sizing before your progressive and then leaving your sizing die in place when you run the brass through all position and dies again.
I would not do that. Actually, I have no desire to load 308 on a progressive. And I personally won't ever shoot your reloads.
If I did use a progressive press, I would size and prime off of it. Then, I would remove dies I did not need for a progressive run with preprimed brass.

[Old 454]

That's cool... I did not ask you to shoot my reloads. As a matter of fact I would not allow you to shoot my reloads not knowing what kind of gun you have or the condition it is in.

Actually I just need advice to help me understand what I could possibly doing wrong.
Running brass through a steel die... yes I would lube no matter how many times it's been through a sizer.
That's ok that you wont load a rifle shell on a progressive.
There is not a thing wrong with loading 308 on a progressive. I load my 30-06 and 5.56 on progressive and they work flawlessly

All my hand gun is loaded on a progressive.. and absolutely no problems.

Now if I was loading some special match ammo instead of paper punchers... then yes I would use the single stage.

But to each there own I guess

Mod please lock this thread. Thank you all for your help

[ed308]

I’ve got a Timney trigger that causes light strikes on NATO 5.56 ammo. I’vd replaced the spring per Timney’s suggestions but it still does it. Regarding the stuck cases, are you using Hornady brass? If so check to confirm the brass doesn’t have a slight ring and case is not flat and will hinder extraction. I’ve read on another this is a problem with some Hornady brass and ammo. You can check by rolling the brass on a flat table. No light should show as you toll the brass.

[Old 454]

I recycled all my 308 brass and just received 500 pieces of new Starline .308 brass

[HiBC]

Good idea. Uniform brass lot is a foundation of good reloads.

There are different levels of accuracy to pursue reloading. The hard core benchrester ,concerned with .010 MOA,,,,well,they can do whatever they want!

But I've seen the Dillon progressive press put out .308 ammo worthy of a < 0.5 MOA rifle,plenty good enough for any hunting or hand held competition.


The idea that you have to single stage to get accurate or quality ammo is just not true,at least with Dillon equiptment.

[ed308]

Agree with that statement. I reload .223/5.56, 6.8 and .308 on my 650 and all of group right at .5 MOA. And I can't do any better with three single stage presses I've owned over the years.

[Old 454]

Well I dont know about this starline brass.
I did some measurements.
Case length runs any where from 2.002 to 2.008
All other measurements run 5 thousands smaller then what my Lyman 50th edition books says
Shoulder.. neck and base are all exactly 5 thousands smaller then I am reading.
Now it could be that when fired it will expand and fill out.
But I am going to have to trim them all down to 2.002

[zeke]

Most brass will not exactly conform to dimensions what a book lists. Unless it really matters you may not need to size them all down to the shortest length. Might consider just straightening/chamfering out the neck if needed, loading them and firing them before trimming any.

[Marco Califo]

I bought some Starline 7mm08. I measured a handful and they were consistently just under SAAMI specs, except at the base and were spot on. I believe they make them that size and you fire, then size down to within SAAMI spec again. That is normal. Small deviations in length are unimportant for the first loading. Sizing fired cases causes length growth. Then they will vary more than when new. For 7.62 I trim to below the trim-to-length, 2.00 or even lower. I do not want to have to trim again soon. There are dies that are supposed to stop lengthening. The first step for my RCBS X die is trim short. Then as the case stretches there is a stop to halt further growth. I don't know if that really works, but trimming short fixes more than half of that problem. I have seen) much greater length variances and longer than spec length in military brass.

Everytime you size you are working the brass. They can grow in length, and you are stressing the neck with the expander assembly inside the die. This could lead to quicker brass failure, and/or require annealing sooner than normal.

[higgite]

Originally Posted by Old 454

Case length runs any where from 2.002 to 2.008
All other measurements run 5 thousands smaller then what my Lyman 50th edition books says
Shoulder.. neck and base are all exactly 5 thousands smaller then I am reading.

I don’t have Lyman’s 50th, but Lyman’s 49th shows 308Win case diameters that are same as SAAMI maximum cartridge diameters. But, SAAMI has a minus (-).008” tolerance. So, if you are measuring .005” under the Lyman diagram, Starline is well within the industry standard. Also, SAAMI case length spec is 1.995-2.015", so your Starlines good there, too.

[Old 454]

This is good news thanks guys... I will size and load some up and see how well they do