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Reaming a Wilson F/L die

I have a 6BRA resize reamer which I currently use to make my own 6BRA F/L bushing dies.

Ive been thinking about buying a Wilson 6BR F/L bushing die and reaming it to my 6BRA spec, it could save a lot of time making dies. They say they are hardened to more than a grade 8 bolt but that doesnt really mean anything to me.

https://lewilson.com/dies/wilson-full-length-sizing-die-bushing-type/

Does anyone have any experience of using HSS tooling on these type of dies or are they too hard?
 
Harder than a grade 8 and you don't know what that means yet you want to ream . Sorry but , I just don't get the ,
Never mind

Why waste my time with a reply like this?

You either know, to whom I directed my question or you dont, thats you who just felt the need to exercise your keyboard aimlessly!

If you dont have anything useful to contribute then move along quietly and leave it to those who do.
 
Dies are very hard. I hone die necks and material removal is very slow. The hardness is a surface hardening, so IF you were successful in reaming, how do you plan to re-harden? When Forster hones die necks, they limit material removal to 0.008" (or 0.004" per side). Probably gives a pretty good idea the hardening isn't very deep.
 
If you dont have anything useful to contribute then move along quietly and leave it to those who do.

I assume the response was from a member I have placed on the ignore list. It is not possible to discuss die making on this forum. Before this forum and the Internet it was an option. Because it brings out the ugly in members I do not get involved but there at least two methods/techniques not practiced today..

One method was used by a genius.

F. Guffey
 
Make one out of 17-4 or an old barrel and have it melonited? I would not run that reamer in a hardened die unless it's carbide. Newlon makes sizing blanks if it helps.
 
Dont do it. Keep on doing what youre doing and get them hardened like you currently do already. Youre not going to save any time. Newlon blanks are simple and you already know the proper way to harden them if youve made dies successfully before
 
I always wondered why they needed to be hardened or how long they would last if they werent. In my head I see a brass hacksaw and a 1/4" bolt and dont think I would live long enough to put a decent scratch in it.
Most are hard so there has to be a reason, doesnt there?
 
I always wondered why they needed to be hardened or how long they would last if they werent. In my head I see a brass hacksaw and a 1/4" bolt and dont think I would live long enough to put a decent scratch in it.
Most are hard so there has to be a reason, doesnt there?

Steel sizing dies do actually wear out, normally in commercial applications. That's why companies like Dillon offer carbide dies in high-volume use calibers like .223 and .308. I doubt if anyone not either loading commercially or for one or more belt-fed machine guns will ever wear one out, but you get the picture.
 
I always wondered why they needed to be hardened or how long they would last if they werent. In my head I see a brass hacksaw and a 1/4" bolt and dont think I would live long enough to put a decent scratch in it.
Most are hard so there has to be a reason, doesnt there?

A non hardened die is sticky. Itll cake up with brass. I definitely tried it when i started making dies and it dont work
 
A non hardened die is sticky. Itll cake up with brass. I definitely tried it when i started making dies and it dont work

Thanks, I've always wondered this but never tried.

How do you properly harden them? I did some research a few years ago and decided it was cost prohibitive unless you were able to do a "batch".
 
Thanks, I've always wondered this but never tried.

How do you properly harden them? I did some research a few years ago and decided it was cost prohibitive unless you were able to do a "batch".

If you go to your local machine shop they will throw your parts into their next batch usually for nothing if youre nice
 
I always wondered why they needed to be hardened or how long they would last if they werent. In my head I see a brass hacksaw and a 1/4" bolt and dont think I would live long enough to put a decent scratch in it.
Most are hard so there has to be a reason, doesnt there?

Hardening generally reduces steel's coefficient of friction with another material. In cartridge dies, that means that the brass case can compress and it's material can flow up & out without the tendency for it to grab and gall on the walls of the die. As far as how steel is hardened, it's brought up to a determined temperature dependent on the alloy, held for an amount of time, then quickly quenched back to nominal temperature in either an atmosphere, air, water or oil.

http://www.crucible.com/eselector/prodbyapp/carbon/maxtool.html

This link gives an example of the steps for 4140 steel.
 
Steel sizing dies do actually wear out, normally in commercial applications. That's why companies like Dillon offer carbide dies in high-volume use calibers like .223 and .308. I doubt if anyone not either loading commercially or for one or more belt-fed machine guns will ever wear one out, but you get the picture.

........I don't get the picture. No sir, this is not correct. Carbide lined sizer dies do not exist because regular steel hardened dies wear out. Not even remotely close. Carbide dies exist to eliminate the need for sizing lube. They are typically used in high volume loading applications/calibers to save time and money by not having to lube every case and subsequently not having to clean the lube off of every case.
As to regular hardened steel size dies wearing out....what does that take?? How many cases have to be sized to see it?? I have 6 resizing dies of various manufacture that have sized what must be tens of thousands of cases and they still work like the day I bought them in 1979. I have had others get scratched up, but for the money they get tossed and replaced with new ones...same as "commercial" use dies.
 
Actually, carbide sizing dies for bottleneck rifle cases still require lubricating every case. As to how many pieces of brass it takes to wear out a steel die, I have no idea. I assume that it is a tremendous number - one that the typical recreational reloader is not going to encounter in a lifetime. I would imagine that we're talking about hundreds of thousands, or possibly even millions of pieces of brass.

"For high volume users, such as commercial reloaders, law enforcement agencies, and high power or service rifle competitors, we include a full-length carbide sizing die. Lubrication is still required, but the increased scratch resistance and die longevity of carbide are of great benefit to these groups of users."
 

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