Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Larry Willis belted mag collet die?

I'm getting ready to start loading a decent amount of 7mm Rem Mag, and have a bunch of 1x fired brass to resize for a few different rifles (Tikka T3, Ruger No. 1, & Brown Prec Rem 700). None of the brass was actually fired in any of these specific rifles, so I am considering one of the Larry Willis belted mag collet resizing dies. Question is, is the die worth the $150+ shipped? I don't mind "buy once, cry once", but $150 for one die isn't exactly cheap.

You may not need it.

If the regular FL size die you have now sizes the brass well enough to chamber without excessively pushing the case shoulders back too much, then you're set already.

In my opinion I wouldn’t worry about that until the problem presents itself. Even then I would probably just replace the brass instead, especially if it took more than 3-4 firings to have that happen.

I would just segregate your brass for each rifle. Don’t push your shoulder back excessively when resizing and hopefully the brass stays thick and doesn’t swell above the belt. I bet most of those cases that swell are thinning in the area due to being excessively sized and / or having hot loads run in them.

I have one of those dies. If the cases get hard to chamber due to swelling ahead of the belt, it works very well. Sometimes a FL sizer doesn’t size that area as well as one would think.

If you don’t have that problem, probably don’t need one.

DF

Same as you DF. I’ve had one for years. Used it a little bit years ago, sits unused now, but it’s there, just in case.

Consider watching for one on ebay. I think I paid 60 or 70$ for mine shipped a year or two ago. Many have not even been used at all as mentioned above.

I was neck-sizing only for many of my rifles and my "7" had this problem, too, after several reloadings.

I've also got one.

It came in really handy when I bought a bunch of once fired 7mmRM brass on GB that I was forming into 350 Rem Mag. Probably 20% wouldn't chamber in my rifle and the bulge above the belt was the culprit. I now use it as a gauge whenever I size one of my belted mags, only takes a second to drop a sized case in to check. When I do find some that are getting tight, I set them aside and run them into the collet die after I'm done sizing the rest.

They're kinda expensive for occasional use. But brass isn't cheap.

So, one will have to figure how much brass can he save against the cost of that die.

But, it does work well.

DF

Ditto with what Chuck R said.

I'd start with ADG Virgins and Positive Headspaced False Shoulders,geared expressly to the vastly different chambers. Same goes COAL. Hint.


Fhuqking around Turd Polishin',ain't for me. Hint.








Just sayin'.............

Agree with you. Doing that you won't need Larry's die.

But, some of us do have turds that need polishing from time to time and that die polishes them pretty well.

I used mine a few times, saved some brass, but it really didn't make dollars or sense. I could have chunked the brass and not bought the die, been money ahead.

But, it's there on the shelf if I need to polish turds again.

DF

Depends on your chamber, I had to use one of his dies due to tight chamber on 300 H&H, rifle would not chamber any brass fired from another 300 H&H. After that I started with virgin brass and then I could use regular die to size them. I use regular dies for 7mm RM and 300 WM because chambers aren't as tight.

I need to go through the 1x fired brass, and see what all I have first....but if anyone has one they want to get rid of, please let me know.

Probably wouldn't hurt to run all the brass through the annealeez first!

I’ve had my eye on this die for a couple years now. I don’t shoot my 300 mag that much. It’s a hunting rifle only but I do load for it. Just haven't needed the expensive Larry Willis die yet.

There's a very good chance you never will need it. I didn't for many years with either my 300WM or my 350RM. It wasn't until I started using "once fired" brass to form 350RM or in my 300WM that I experienced an issue with the swell above the belt that a regular FL die couldn't get.

Now with sizing to bump the shoulder, every once and a while I'll find a tight fitting case and just run it in the Willis die. I don't know IF it helps or not, but I also went to using a false shoulder for the initial firings in both my 350RM and 300WM. If nothing else it helps me setup my FL sizing die.

When sizing the belt, make sure that you do not push the shoulder back too far!