Small base dies

[ARTrooper]

Hey guys, sorry I have been MIA, life has been busy and stressful.

So many of you know I have been collecting stuff to begin reloading. I am close to having everything I need besides reloading dies. I have been doing a lot of research into the many types of dies.

I understand many people use small base dies for semi-autos or for using ammo in multiple rifles so that is more likely to properly feed and seat in the chamber. But I know this dies work the brass more. I currently only have one rifle per caliber and all are ARs. .260 rem, 6mm arc, and .300 blk are the first 3 I am gonna reload, maybe some of my others in the future if my ammo stockpile runs low or ammo because more difficult to find.
 

What is everyone’s opinion? Small base FL dies or standard FL dies? Probably gonna go with hornady or rcbs until i am good enough at reloading to justify Redding or some other top of the line dies. 

 

[98Z5V]

Call me on Sunday, brother, and we'll go over all that stuff.  Right now, I'm not busy on Sunday.  

[sagebrush]

i use small base fl dies of various manufacturers on my semi-autos

[ARTrooper]

3 hours ago, 98Z5V said:

Call me on Sunday, brother, and we'll go over all that stuff.  Right now, I'm not busy on Sunday.  

Sounds good, as soon as the sun goes down and I am out of the woods I will give you a call. Thanks Tom. 
 

1 hour ago, sagebrush said:

i use small base fl dies of various manufacturers on my semi-autos

thank you for your input sagebrush

[Steve crawford]

My Hornady Custom Grade Die Set is working great for my LR-308.  I use a EGW ammo checker and the Hornady dies will pass with no trouble.  The ammo checkers are a little expensive but they save a lot of worry about ammo chambering.  The ones I have are 7 hole in 5.56 and 308.  I check twice when working on new to me once fired LC brass.  Once after sizing and then after seating and crimping the bullet.  If it does not fit after I size the first time I run it back through the the die and it fits close enough to chamber almost every time.  My 308 dies are not marked small base but they do the job.  I have Redding body dies for 5.56 and 308 if I have trouble with resizing the once fired brass.  I have to use the Redding body die on the 5.56 a lot more often than I do on the 308.  I also use Imperial Sizeing Wax.  I do not skimp on the lube.  I have stuck 5.56 cases when I fail to lube them good.  I have run into 2 or 3 308 cases that I could not get sized good enough to pass the ammo checker.  I just trashed them after 2 or 3 tries to size them.  YMMV  JMHO  😀😀😀

        Steve

[louu]

I only need to use a small base die on 308 and only for my ar10 witch is the springfield. I guess it has a tight chamber. 

I do my brass prep on a progressive just using two dies, the normal Lee FL size deacpper followed by a RCBS small bars die. I use the homemade brass lube, 1:10 lanolin and 99‰ alcohol. 

Then I tumble, primer pocket, trim and load

[98Z5V]

6 hours ago, louu said:

I only need to use a small base die on 308 and only for my ar10 witch is the springfield. I guess it has a tight chamber. 

I do my brass prep on a progressive just using two dies, the normal Lee FL size deacpper followed by a RCBS small bars die. I use the homemade brass lube, 1:10 lanolin and 99‰ alcohol. 

Then I tumble, primer pocket, trim and load

Welcome aboard, Louu.  Diggin' your profile pic, you're rippin' some sand pretty hard right there.  I love it. 

[DustBuster]

9 hours ago, louu said:

I only need to use a small base die on 308 and only for my ar10 witch is the springfield. I guess it has a tight chamber. 

I do my brass prep on a progressive just using two dies, the normal Lee FL size deacpper followed by a RCBS small bars die. I use the homemade brass lube, 1:10 lanolin and 99‰ alcohol. 

Then I tumble, primer pocket, trim and load

Hi louu, I’m just curious about your tight .308 Springfield chamber.  Do you know what it’s headspace dimension is?  I believe mine Faxon Barrel Match chamber is around 1.633 based on measurements, but in reality I still only have “relative comparator” measurements.  However, I definitely know that I do Not need a small base die for my rounds, I’m still experimenting on what the Least amount of resizing I can get away with with my RCBS full length die.  Do you know what your chamber headspace measurment is?

[98Z5V]

43 minutes ago, DustBuster said:

Hi louu, I’m just curious about your tight .308 Springfield chamber.  Do you know what it’s headspace dimension is?  I believe mine Faxon Barrel Match chamber is around 1.633 based on measurements, but in reality I still only have “relative comparator” measurements.  However, I definitely know that I do Not need a small base die for my rounds, I’m still experimenting on what the Least amount of resizing I can get away with with my RCBS full length die.  Do you know what your chamber headspace measurment is?

Load 'em and process brass.  You're thinking too much again, here.  Cart before the Horse.  Don't think too much about this, you're getting way too far out on it,

Load for your gun, and stop worrying about other peoples headspace measurements are...   They're not loading for your gun...

[ARTrooper]

Thank you to everyone who responded. 
 

Tom I got home late from the woods. I text you but wasn’t sure if you still wanted me to call you. 

[98Z5V]

11 minutes ago, ARTrooper said:

Thank you to everyone who responded. 
 

Tom I got home late from the woods. I text you but wasn’t sure if you still wanted me to call you. 

I'm up now, brother.  Call, if you're still up, or call me tomorrow night.  Of the next night, or...   

[louu]

On 11/20/2021 at 8:38 PM, 98Z5V said:

Welcome aboard, Louu.  Diggin' your profile pic, you're rippin' some sand pretty hard right there.  I love it. 

Thanks bud 

On 11/20/2021 at 11:51 PM, DustBuster said:

Hi louu, I’m just curious about your tight .308 Springfield chamber.  Do you know what it’s headspace dimension is?  I believe mine Faxon Barrel Match chamber is around 1.633 based on measurements, but in reality I still only have “relative comparator” measurements.  However, I definitely know that I do Not need a small base die for my rounds, I’m still experimenting on what the Least amount of resizing I can get away with with my RCBS full length die.  Do you know what your chamber headspace measurment is?

No idea man, this is kinda my junk gun. It's the only ar style rifle that I bought already put together. 

I had a few stuck cases when I first got it so I used dychem on the rounds and found a few that were fat on the bottom. The small base die fixed the problem. 

[Redteam98]

I have used a RCBS Small base sizer die for 40 years for my semi auto Rem 742 and Browning BAR.  Love the Hornady Bullet seater die . I also use the Lee Factory Crimp Die to apply a nice crimp.