Wilson hand die question

[Tesoro]

I called Wilson yesterday to order a 223 die set to use with my arbor press. The gal asked what rifle and I said my A series Sako. She then told me I need to order ‘oversize’ dies because of the Sako chamber. She didnt know more and I cant reach a tech to ask.
I cant think of any logical reason why as Sako have, if anything, tight chambers.

Anyone?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Its just a factory chamber as opposed to a match chamber, thus oversized

 

[Tesoro]

I thought a match chamber in 223 just has a longer throat for those heavy bullets? What does this have to do with the die?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Like all match chambers they are made on the tight side of the saami tolerance instead of the generous side

 

[Tesoro]

Thx. Makes sense. I will have to measure some fired brass and give the measurements to Wilson. as I am not sure how tight my chamber is compared to their match dies. Chances its larger than match specs.

 

[Tesoro]

FYi I was called back by WIlson and got the answer. The oversize die for the Sako 223 is a whopping one thou larger than their std die!!

 

[D-4297]

That .001 can be the difference between brass going in your rifle , and jamming brass to a stuck round when trying to close the bolt . I recently spun a new barrel on my TR .308 , and the difference between my older "shot out barrel" at the extractor groove was exactly .0015 . I had to run four hundred cases through a small base die to get them to work in my new barrel . Both cut with the same reamer , but as the barrel is used , the chamber dimensions will enlarge . Including the diameters with-in the chamber area . Something to watch for when changing barrels , or Dies and trouble-shooting problems . Personally ; I might have gotten the smaller Diameter Dies .

 

[mikecr]

It's a neck size only bushing HAND die. If you run into much interference fitting, then you'll struggle to pop cases out of the sizing die, and to pry them out of the seating die.

I run standard Wilson dies with a 223, but the cases are pulled from a Cooper chamber (min SAAMI).
It would not bother me, wouldn't hurt, to use a 1thou oversize set.