Need a Case Trim Die for Dillon RT1500 - Who Makes Custom Dies?

[Oso]

I need a Case Trim Die in 300 HAM'R for a Dillon RT1500 Trimmer. This would be a custom die since no one currently makes one.

I have reached out to the usual suspects"
- Whidden isn't making any Trim Dies for forseable future
- CH4D will do it but it will be a 2 year wait.
- Mighty Armory almost seemed willing to entertain the notion.
- Dillon ... didn't bother asking they are busy and not prone to making one=off custom dies.

Anyone have another Die Maker source that might machine a Case Trim Die???

 

[Hoser]

Essentially it is just a long 300 Whisper/Blackout with a slightly different body shape.

I would get a steel 300 Blackout die, have your gunsmith anneal it, push a 300 HMR reamer in there a little bit and then heat treat it.

Or, form the 223 brass like you would for 300 Blackout but trim it to the short end of HAMR length and dont worry about trimming it.

 

[Oso]

The 300BO body taper profile is close enough to 300HAM’R for using as trimmer for existing 300HAM’R cases, But it is 1/4” too short for forming new brass from .223/5.56 donor brass. When 300BO Trim Die is installed long in toolhead of reloading press, it will not adequately secure the .223 donor case as the Dillon RT1500 Trimmer begins to cut the case neck…. Case is likely to spin freely under the torque. Unlike 300BO where the new case neck/shoulders are formed from the case body of .223 (there is lots of friction-hold), the angled shoulder on .223 becomes the neck/shoulder on newly formed 300HAM’R case only after it is expanded out to .30 caliber in a subsequent step. Also by using 300BO Trim Die set long then there is little to no friction hold on base of case (no resizing because the bottom of die is 1/4” above/off the shell plate). In short, there is a minimal friction-hold on .223 donor case while forming neck/shoulder of 300HAM’R.

Using a .223 Trim Die is closer in that there is excess case length. The downside is needing to ream it out and also shorten the die body to match shorter case length of 300HAM’R. Aldo now need to rent or buy a reamer for 300HAM’R.

A 7.62x40 WT trim die would be near perfect…. Finding one used is difficult (Extremely Scares)

I’m just trying to find a reasonable workaround … preferably an alternate die maker who may have a quicker turnaround time.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Starline makes brass.

 

[Hoser]

I have made a lot of 300 Whisper/Blackout and 7.62x40 brass for people over the years.

The secret to WT brass was necking it up first in a few steps with lots of lube. Then anneal it.

 

[Rsadams]

All the crap going on is exactly why I haven't picked up that 300 hmr caliber yet.... I want to give it a try , looks very interesting.... You probably will just have to trim by hand the old school way....

 

[Oso]

I have made a lot of 300 Whisper/Blackout and 7.62x40 brass for people over the years.

The secret to WT brass was necking it up first in a few steps with lots of lube. Then anneal it.

Great feedback!

By dumb luck, tinkering and OCD, this is exactly the process that I am doing. I started by annealing all the .223 cases before doing anything else. My first attempt was using a necking-up mandrel from PMA Tools that tapers 6mm to .30 cal. I assume it was designed to expand 6BR cases to 30BR in one pass. Even with annealing, necking-up this much in a single step was a bit hard on cases and didn’t lend itself to smooth press operations on my Dillon 1050. I’ve done a fair share of forming wildcats, but always on a single stage press. I am learning about the additional challenges / considerations associated with case forming on a progressive press … smooth stroke of press handle and movement of toolhead, and limiting shell plate deflection so that Dillon Trimmer gives a nice square cut without leaving any burs.

There just isn’t enough stages on Dillon or anyone else’s press to handle the Case Prep (deprive & swage), Necking-up , Trimmer (takes 3 spaces for shop vac manifold), and finally running through FL Sizing Die. The PMA Necking-up Mandrel is very nice and probably better suited for a single stage press. It required too much force (up & down), which interfered with smooth press operations. I decided to use smaller incremental steps for necking-up the .223 donor cases.

My observation was same as yours - After expanding the neck/shoulder of the .223 to .30 cal., I have sufficient friction-hold on the case to successfully use the 300BO Trim Die (set long) and Dillon RT1500. Out of approx. 2k of cases that I necked-up, I only had 25 case where the neck split.

 

[Oso]

All the crap going on is exactly why I haven't picked up that 300 hmr caliber yet.... I want to give it a try , looks very interesting.... You probably will just have to trim by hand the old school way....

I am doing this the hard way because I have to justify the gear I own. Also, I had set aside a couple of 5gal buckets of .223/5.56 range brass that I am reassigning from 300BO to 300HAM’R.

Both Sig Sauer and Starline are making factory brass for 300HAM’R. Given current market, the average price of $35/100 cases is pretty good. You can buy on Wilson Combat website or directly from Starline. I think through Starline you can buy 500 cases for something like $130. I might be few dollars off on prices but in the zip code.