Small base dies are a poor solution, they just work the brass more which is never a good thing
This topic was done to death when Lapua started making brass for the 6 BR
THE answer was make the reamer larger at the base
THERE IS NOTHING NEW ABOUT THIS, IT HAS ALL BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DEALT WITH BEFORE
Yep. And while it's less known in the hunting world, it happened when the Sako 220R 'balloon head' case used for the PPC was phased out in favor of the 'PPC-USA spec case head dimension. A couple thousand Benchrest competitors had to change up their chambers. As most have multiple barrels, this was no small thing. But the benefits outweighed the small amount of effort needed.
And when Lapua released their excellent 308W brass, it was significantly larger at .200 ahead of the extractor groove than what was on the market at the time. Over a relatively short period of time, 'smiths needed to have their 308W reamers either pulled back or new ones made to work with the new brass dimensions. And every competitive shooter with the 308W....Palma, etc...either got new chambers or the back ends of their existing chambers opened up via polishing. Again...benefits trumped a bit of inconvience.
Savvy rifle builders like Charlie Sisk stay ahead of this from the start by understanding the reamer/brass/die relationship and spec'ing a reamer accordingly. Others like Butch Lambert take a different approach by getting two reamers and have complete control over sizing to their reamer. All of this starts with having a good relationship with the reamer maker and understanding tolerances and how to use that to their advantage.
Adults work through things like this by sharing info and working together for everyones benefit. Other types are only interested in being argumentative and divisive. Like always....do your homework and due diligence.
Good shootin' -Al
