Ream a Wilson 260 Seater Die into a 260AI ??

[VaniB]

I was wondering if it's possible to ream a Wilson factory .260 Remington in-line seater die into a 260AI seater die using my 260AI reamer. Is this something that a smith can do easily for me while he's already reaming the barrel? I don't know enough about lathe work to know if it's a PIA or a simple enough task.

This might sound funny, but I like the Wilson in-line seaters so much, that I will skip building a rifle in a particular round if the Wilson seater in that cartridge can't be obtained.

 

[Kings X]

Should not be a big deal.
He can run the reamer in deep on both the seater and the neck bushing die. Then trimbase back to match headspace gauge.

 

[fguffey]

http://www.lewilson.com/chambertypebulletseater.html

The chamber and sizer die is not cut with the same reamer, there is no secret to the secret of in-line seater dies, I have Lyman, Weatherby,, Lee including Target Models etc., and I made a few, no body die, no body support, it functions with case neck and shoulder support and most importantly they center the bullet with the neck and the bullet is absolutely in-line with the neck.

Wilson claim their in-line die has case body support,so, if you want to ream a Sinclair die I would suggest you call Wilson to determine if a reamer will cut the seater die. Again, the chamber reamer is larger than the reamer that cuts dies.

Universal in-line seater die. The Universal seater does not offer case body support for alignment.

F. Guffey

 

[VaniB]

"Again, the chamber reamer is larger than the reamer that cuts dies."

Hmmmm......I didn't think of that. I guess you're right that the body dimensions inside a Wilson Seater is likely going to be made a bit tighter to fit a new or sized case. The reamer would likely be cutting a chamber a few thousandths larger to allow the cartridge to feed easily.

I couldn't get in touch with Wilson on a Friday at 4:00PM pacific time (their time), so I ran this thread Friday evening. I'll try calling them next week. While they once told me that they are too busy to do custom dies, perhaps they can give me good advice. I doubt I'm the only customer that seeks AI seaters from them.

 

[oldroper]

Wilson sell neck and seater blanks for gunsmith their $50 plus for each to use or if your gunsmith is pretty good he can rechamber a Wislon seater 260 same as he would rechamber 260 to 260AI. My gunsmith did a 35WhelenAI from Wilson 35 Whelen seater also did 30-06AI seater and neck die.

If I not mistaken but Wilson neck and seater they use the same reamer and they only one they make that support the case body is holder for the trimmer.
http://lewilson.com/faqs.html

Here something on the seater blank
http://www.lewilsondirect.com/bulletseaterblank.aspx

 

[BigDMT]

Not only are they different reamers, but dies generally go through a rigorous metal hardening process after they are cut and can really wear out a reamer if modification is attempted afterwards. Some GS's wont even do it unless you provide your own reamer. Probably best to get a new die or build a custom die reamer for making custom dies from Wilson blanks.

You might be able to use your chamber reamer on die blanks though. I think I remember hearing something about using a chamber reamer then getting the inside of the dies chrome plated for hardness and reducing dimensions. Maybe I'm mistaken though. Just thought I remembered hearing something like that from my smithy...hmmmm.....?

 

[oldroper]

Most gunsmith have a source for Die blanks that are not harden
http://newlonprecision.com/

Wilson neck and seaters are not harden. there is only one other that makes and sell arbor dies
http://www.neiljones.com/html/micro_dies.html
Neil also makes threaded dies