Has anybody used there standard dies to reload ai calibers.I have not got a set of ai dies yet so I tried my LCD and Lee seater dies and they seem like they will work.The seater die seems to work the best.But I think I can use both.I know I cant use the fl die.Has anybody tried this?
std dies vs ai dies
- Thread starter hunter243sgk
- Start date
They WILL NOT work... Take a .260Rem. It has, I believe a 30 degree shoulder or thereabouts with a bit of a slope to the case from head to shoulder. Fireform it into an A.I. and it straightens the walls out to some degree and puts a 40 degree shoulder on it. You will also notice that once those things take place the actual height of the shoulder is a bit forward of the "UNackleyized" case. You can not use them.. This is true for ALL Ackley cases.. Now whether it would work in the seater die>> I can only guess. However, I would THINK the inside of the seater die would conform to the Ackley case..
Don't use the full length as it may deform the shoulder and body.. The lee collet should work fine as the parent cartridge and the AI are about the same length so the collet is fine along with the seater for now.
Shoots dots I am not for sure why you say the LCD will not work.It sure feels like it will.But I will check again on another formed case.And the seater works great.Johnbearman you seem to be correct.And yes as I said I know not to use the fl die.It would mess up the 40 degree angle.I will experiment some more and see how good this does or dosent work.
I have never used an LCD die. However, I do know what the "regular" cases look like and what A.I. formed cases look like. I can not imagine the A.I. version working in anything but a set of dies made for the A.I. case. Now maybe the LCD is different, I do not know. I know that if you took a Forster or a Redding die and tried to stick an A.I. case in a regular dies of the same caliber, it won't make it far. But in this case, I don't know. I was speaking more of the shape of the cases. But if it works and there is no "slop / play" in the die, use it..
No there is no slope or play in it if anything it is a little tight.
The Lee Collet Dies work quite well to neck size AI calibers. I use LCD to neck size 22/250AI and 244AI cases all the time as they contact only the neck only and do not touch the body. Many years ago I had Lee make a custom collet die for the 30/30AI only to discover later that the standard 30/30 Win collet dies work just as well for a lot less cost. I did get a 30/30 AI seater die out of the deal since the standard 30/30 Win seater die will not work with the AI. Vic
Thanks to everybody for the info. And I agree with most of you!!!
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