.308 Win. Dies

[HowardP]

I reload my .308s I have a bolt gun and now four semi-auto's . I have small base dies for my ar 10 and regular for my bolt guns, but I purchased a couple of Springfield Armory M1A's. I was wondering what dies I should use for the Springfield's . Thanks in advance for any info you can give me.

 

[Uncle Ed]

The case body should be .003 to .005 smaller in diameter than its fired diameter after sizing. This ensures the case will spring back from the chamber walls and extract reliably. And if you are going to be mixing brass between your M1A's a small base die may be your best bet.

 

[Zero333]

I've never had any issues using standard RCBS 308win dies for my M1A. There might not be any need for small base die if it's a 308win chamber.
7.62x51 Chamber ? might be a different story.

To my (often wrong) understanding, Spring.Armory chambers Civilian M1A's with SAAMI 308win chambers and have only used 7.62x51 Nato chambers in rifles specifically destined for Military use.

I've shot thousands of my reloads through my M1A and I've never had any feeding issues when sizing with the regular RCBS 308win die.

I think I've also used a cheap LEE 308win die with out any issues in the M1A

Edit:... If you plan on using the same brass in many different semi-auto's, maybe a small base die might be needed if some of the rifles have generous chambers or 7.62x51 chambers.

 

[D-4297]

Excellent info in both responses . My read on the both posts is to really try both types of Dies and see what works best . The actual determining factor will be the chamber . Use which-ever Die "Fits" the chamber best , and operates the smoothest .

 

[kiwijohn]

@Uncle Ed so how is the N.M. die set up? I actually have a Forster die that has .308 N M on it I never new but suspected that this is what it meant, I use a body die to set back shoulders when required as i was under the belief this was a good way to go.

( mind you i didn't understand that a N.M. die had different dimensions ) this must be my new learned thing for the day!

 

[Red Khon]

I load for 4 different .308s and 2 5.56x45. the only time I use the small base die set is when I reload military brass, which is fairly often. Not sure it's really necessary even then.