.308 reloading dies?

[wayles]

Just read the Excellent article on the homepage about the .308.It generated some questions in my mind.
I'm primarily a hunter but I'm always looking for ways to improve my performance on the range as well in the field. I presently use rcbs dies for all of my guns reloading but have wandered how much improvement I might be able to achieve by doing what was suggested which was to purchase some forester dies and send them in to the factory along with some loaded round neck measurements and let them polish them out .002 or so.The article talked about opening the neck area up which would have to improve accuracy because it would fit the chamber better after resizing which I agree with and the neck tension consistency should probably be improved. Questions are :if I do my part of steering what sort of improvement might someone expect in their groups and would the neck tension still be enough to hold the bullets firmly enough for hunting conditions where it would not be a concern about moving in or out of the neck.Most of my guns shoot 1moa or less but I have a couple I can't do any better than 1.5 in or so.
Thanks wayles

 

[M700]

I'm not sure if there's a way to tell if you'll get "X" improvement or not...

A couple of years back, after a long time using standard RCBS dies, I went with a Hart arbor press, and a set of those nice little Wilson in-line neck-size and seating dies. I have seen an accuracy improvement from my .308 - but I'm not sure exactly how much I can attribute to the dies. I suspect most of the improvement came from the better seating die. Sometimes I still use the RCBS sizer die, but seat with the Wilson, and accuracy remains very good.

Short story? I dunno! Guy

 

[ReedG]

Hi Wayne:

The neck can only be "opened up" so much before it won't hold the bullet anymore. If you have a factory chamber, I don't think you can make the neck fit the chamber. That's why custom barrels have special chambers with a specified neck diameter.

I just put around 500 rounds through a .308 Savage VSS, which was my first experience with that caliber. So I am certainly not as expert as most of the guys on here, but my recommendation is:

Get a set of Hornady Match Dies. I've got Forster, Redding, RCBS and Lee dies and these new Hornady's rank right near the top. The resizing die uses bushings to you can get one to size the neck to grip the bullet best. I believe the grip on the bullet is more important than the neck fitting the chamber. One of the real features in the Hornady Match die is that the neck die is designed to bump the shoulder back when you neck size. With this feature I reloaded Winchester brass 8 times without any FL sizing or bolt tightness. These are the first factory dies I've seen that do this.

Another alternative with a factory chamber is to size only part of the neck. Results with this vary greatly depending on what type of bullet you're using and how deeply it is seated. I've never done it with a .308 but have extensively with .223. The theory is that the unsized portion of the neck will center the case in the chamber and the sized portion will hold the bullet. You might want to try it. I've had the best results in .223 using a Lee Collet Die with a washer slipped down over the case to let it only resize about 2/3 of the neck. You can also just back your sizing die,NOT Collet Die) out a couple turns.

I don't know how extensively you have worked up loads for your rifle,s), but my personal experience is that the simplest of dies can load superior rounds. The seating depth,how far into the lands), amount of powder, case preparation, primers, etc. all have more to do with accuracy than the dies, in my experience.

Great to have you on the forum. Good shooting ...