OMG 308 SB Die

[Straightshooter1]

I never FL size then SB size. If you are getting dents on the shoulder from sizing, you have too much lube on the shoulder area. Once the dents show up, there will be residual lube inside the die that will still cause the shoulder dent. Clean the die to eliminate the excess lube out. When lubing the case, be sure there is not excessive lube on the shoulder area of the case, I usually use my fingers to wipe that area and keep an old towel handy to wipe my fingers on. If the case is difficult to lever into the die, there's not enough lube on the side of the case.

Since my Forster FL dies have a little hole for the excess lube to escape through, I never have the issue.

 

[H2OBUG]

My dies have a little hole too. With plenty of lube they went smooth and I got dents. Light and wipe lube I ripped the press out of the table.
This was once fired brass but probably the worst I have seen.

 

[nettle]

I run the 308 through a 308 FL die with a de capping pin and then a small base die. I started out with One Shot which was the worst. Then I tried Imperial which was considerably better. I also tried Rooster Laboratories Radical Case Re-Forming Lubricant. The Imperial was better than the Rooster Laboratories. I haven't used RCBS and a lube pad in over 50 years because the stuff is just too nasty. Dillon Case Lube requires the least effort of all for small base sizing that I have tried.

 

[jelenko]

Dillon Case Lube requires the least effort

Hmm. Isn't Dillon case lube lanolin with alcohol?

 

[Stumpy1]

Hmm. Isn't Dillon case lube lanolin with alcohol?

Yup. Home version is lanolin from Amazon, mixed between 16:1 and 32:1 with 99% isopropyl alcohol, also from amazon. (That would be one ounce of the lanolin to 16 or 32 ounces of the alcohol)
Make sure you let the alcohol evaporate before you try to size your brass.

I usually wash the sized brass with 91% alcohol to remove excess lanolin before a final tumble.

search for:
Now Solutions Liquid Lanolin
99% alcohol Isopropyl

 

[William Vogel]

My dies have a little hole too. With plenty of lube they went smooth and I got dents. Light and wipe lube I ripped the press out of the table.
This was once fired brass but probably the worst I have seen.

Have you measured the fired case to figure out how long the original chamber was that it was fired in. It sounds like the brass has been stretched out pretty good. It’s not a terrible thing but I wouldn’t want to use it in a gun that required a small base die. Worked brass is not going to last long. Maybe you already have this all figured out but the dents are going to fire form. If it has creases, I’d be concerned. Are you going to use this brass in a bolt gun or a semi auto?

 

[distinguished]

Since my Forster FL dies have a little hole for the excess lube to escape through, I never have the issue.

My dies have that little hole too. Seems like that little hole always lines up with the lock ring though.

 

[Pres100]

I had a batch of 308 1x fired military brass that was fired in a MG that I got from a friend and immediately found out it was hard to resize.

I cleaned good and annealed
Lubed up liberally with Dillon case lube and ran through a full length body die that didn't work the neck
re-cleaned, relaxed and ran through a SB die for final sizing to my chamber.

I think using liberal amounts of lube ( not enough to create any hydraulic dents) helped tremendously but also the annealing and dwell time in the press also helps with the spring back.



I went on to measure and trim them all and remove crimps... it's a lot of work. You really have to pay pretty close attention to pre and post dimensions to make them work well ... don't just jam them through dies without final dimension targets or you could end up with a lot of variability in functioning.

Mine were done for semi auto guns rather than my bolt guns ... far better brass available for that , but the brass has served well.

 

[Rocketvapor]

Two areas on used/fired cases to be concerned with.
Usually it's the lower half of the body that leads to hard sizing (and broken benches ) when sizing MG cases.
Lots of lube on the bottom half, regular body die followed by Small Base.

The other is bumping the shoulder for wildcats. That's where lube is needed at the top of the BODY, and go SLOW.

 

[D the D]

Run them through a 30-06 die first. Then full length resize in the 308 die. Old trick of Highpower shooters for machinegun brass. The 30-06 die has a gentler taper I guess. It just works.

 

[RegionRat]

Run them through a 30-06 die first. Then full length resize in the 308 die. Old trick of Highpower shooters for machinegun brass. The 30-06 die has a gentler taper I guess. It just works.

+1
I used to do the same before I accumulated more dies.

This tends to get that 200 line under control without forces being added by the shoulder bump at the same time. Then the next die takes the shoulder and rest into account.

This trick or a Redding Body die are good methods to step it down so that there is less strain per stage.

As someone who started in the age of surplus gov 30-06, then later 308, etc. we had fewer choices back in those decades.

As time passed, the availability of better brass for the Service Rifles meant the clubs were less interested in barrels full of machine gun brass, and so this pattern of teamwork to process bulk military brass has faded away. You would have a hard time convincing me to do this again in this day and age. Thank God for Starline and the other outfits who help with club buys of decent brass. YMMV

 

[nettle]

Hmm. Isn't Dillon case lube lanolin with alcohol?

That's what it says on the bottle.