6 Dasher brass "Click?"

[KevinBaker]

Kevin,
When I run across a chamber that produces brass with an annoying "bolt click" I have ever so slightly opened up the chamber at the .200" line at the base of the chamber . There are a lot of 6 BRX reamers out there that will cut chambers prone to bolt click . All it takes is a "D" size Starrett Small Hole Gage (.400" -.500" ) and a 3/8" wooden dowel with a spilt notch on one end for 360 grit emory paper . If you have access to a lathe then chuck the barrel in the lathe and measure the chamber diameter at the .200 line . What you want to do is increase this diameter about a 1/2 thousands to no more than one thousands (.0005" to .001") . Cut a 1/2" wide strip of 320 grit emory cloth and wrap it around the wooden dowel with part of it through your notch at the end of the dowel. With the barrel spinning start polishing and measuring being careful not to remove too much material. I have know of some of my competitors that didn't own a lathe to do this with so they would put the barrel in a vice and have the dowel spinning in a drill . I haven't tried that method as I have a couple lathes but it must not be too bad of a method as these competitors have beaten me regularly with barrels done in this fashion . It's been my experience that once a batch of brass starts clicking it will keep on clicking no matter what but opening up the chamber and starting with new brass usually solves the clicking problem. FWIW

Rodney

Thank you for the advice Rodney, but that's a little above my pay grade at the moment....LOL. I may have to wind up sourcing that job out to someone else.

 

[Dgd6mm]

A friend of mine that is a Gunsmith and is on this site, his screen name is Ggmac. He took a .45 ACP die and cut the top off and cleaned it up a little and it does the job of a small base die for my .308.

 

[Terry]

Where can I get a small base Dasher die?

Just bought a .308 2 die small base die set for $39 from Midway.

 

[KevinBaker]

The "click" often enough is the result a wrongly adjusted die, neck sizing only, and/or a die that does not match a chamber very well (typically being on the large side). Off the shelf, universal dies typically is why and many times can be a poor match up to custom chambers. This is one of the reasons I use custom dies for all my custom chambers, and only use universal die sets for factory rifles/chambers.
On another note, there can be a lot of variance from one universal die set to the next, and between the dies with in a set.
My 2-cents
Donovan

Donovan,

I'm using Harrell's FLS neck bushing dies.

 

[KevinBaker]

I just researched what a small base die does. My Harrell's die is only bumping the shoulders back around .0015". If I tried to take them back .002" or .003", would this accomplish the same thing as the small base die?

That depends on where the brass is oversized. If the brass has expanded up by the case head only a small base full length sizing die will take it down so it doesn't hang at the cam over point on the action. It wouldn't hurt to have a little more HS though. You might give that a try first, before you spend the money on a SB die.

Edit

Just saw the response above. I agree if the base is causing the issue. Having zero HS can cause a hard bolt lift as well. Take a couple of those culled cases and bump the HS to .002", pull the firing pin assembly and see if the bolt will drop all the way down with no pressure. If so, you may luck out. If not, SB die should fix it.

Chris,

I took nine previously culled "clickers", de primed them, and using my original Harrell's die and some shims, i bumped the shoulders until i achieved .002". I removed my firing pin assembly and tested each one of them, and the bolt dropped with no resistance on all except one piece. I double checked the shoulder length on it, and it had not moved at all after sizing so I discarded it. I loaded the remaining eight rounds with my normal recipe, and I'll shoot them to see how they act.

Kevin

 

[FatBoy]

Good deal. I hope this works out.

 

[KevinBaker]

Well, no joy. None of the eight rounds showed any improvement. I have a Redding .308 small base die that should arrive this weekend, so I'm hoping that this will fix my problem.

 

[DJ111]

You probably do not need a small base die as just the regular FL die from the 308 family will really squeeze compared to your dasher die.

 

[tenring]

Try a set of Redding competition shell holders. You get 6 in the set, each one .002" shorter than the next. Start with the .010 and keep going down until the base is squeezed enuf to fit.

 

[queen_stick]

Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed that once my brass starts to 'click', it will always click. I've used small base dies, and got everything sized to where the bolt will fall closed when chambered. Didn't matter... next time i fired it, it was clicking again. I think once the brass reaches that point, it's toast (or very close to it).

I've never had this problem unless I was loading at, or very close to max pressure.

I know guys that have been ordering "match reamers" with the rear of the chamber (closest to the bolt face) ground about .002 larger than the "standard match reamer." This allows for the use of regular dies without running into bolt click. This also adds a very slight body taper as a result, but I'm not sure if that plays a part in reducing stiff extraction?

 

[KevinBaker]

You probably do not need a small base die as just the regular FL die from the 308 family will really squeeze compared to your dasher die.

I have a Redding type S .308 FL die, and I'll give that a try tomorrow. I'll take some measurements and post the results also. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[KevinBaker]

Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed that once my brass starts to 'click', it will always click. I've used small base dies, and got everything sized to where the bolt will fall closed when chambered. Didn't matter... next time i fired it, it was clicking again. I think once the brass reaches that point, it's toast (or very close to it).

I've never had this problem unless I was loading at, or very close to max pressure.

I know guys that have been ordering "match reamers" with the rear of the chamber (closest to the bolt face) ground about .002 larger than the "standard match reamer." This allows for the use of regular dies without running into bolt click. This also adds a very slight body taper as a result, but I'm not sure if that plays a part in reducing stiff extraction?

Well, I'm hoping that my brass isn't toast. I have .268" chamber, and from the neck turning, fire forming, and case prep I would hate to have to start over. My load is 34.2gn of RL-15, but I don't think that's a hot load as far as I can tell from what others are running. I don't have the reamer print, so I have no idea as to the specs of it.

 

[dkhunt14]

Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed that once my brass starts to 'click', it will always click. I've used small base dies, and got everything sized to where the bolt will fall closed when chambered. Didn't matter... next time i fired it, it was clicking again. I think once the brass reaches that point, it's toast (or very close to it).

I've never had this problem unless I was loading at, or very close to max pressure.

I know guys that have been ordering "match reamers" with the rear of the chamber (closest to the bolt face) ground about .002 larger than the "standard match reamer." This allows for the use of regular dies without running into bolt click. This also adds a very slight body taper as a result, but I'm not sure if that plays a part in reducing stiff extraction?

The extra taper should help it extract easier. The problem is the reamer at the .200 line is to small or the dies are too big. it is just like eggman says. Matt

 

[dkhunt14]

I thought the shellholders from Redding just made you bump less, like plus headspace. If that is true it won't help. Matt

 

[DJ111]

Just run your 308 die down until it bottoms out on the shell holder. After you do this check your head space again as it will probably pull the shoulder back up. You will just have to bump it back with your dasher die.

It is going to be a pity using 2 dies and you are going to want to get one that works.

I would guess u are sizing .0005-.001 at the .200 line with your dasher die.

You are going to shit after you use that 308 die ..u will end up with about 2-3 times that at the .200 mark.

If you can get a die to size .0015 at that .2 you will be sitting good.

I have a fat assed dasher reamer and my first Harrell's die did not work, clicked on the third firing. They took care of me and shipped me the die I wanted and it is perfect now.

 

[Erik Cortina]

Try a set of Redding competition shell holders. You get 6 in the set, each one .002" shorter than the next. Start with the .010 and keep going down until the base is squeezed enuf to fit.

His dies are not sizing the brass enough. If he keeps going down ignoring the shoulder bump, he will likely bump the shoulders back excessively and still not size brass enough.