Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Best way to do .260 AI dies

I'm going to be doing a .260 Ackley and trying to figure out how to get away from a $200 set of dies. Could I use a Lee neck sizer and have the seater die reemed out for the ackley shoulder?

Is there a better way?

I say just buck up and do it right from the start. It may hurt a little now, but I doubt you will ever regret it.

Jess

I hear ya, but I am having a hard time swallowing the $600 PacNor barrel along with the expensive dies. What about having Pacnor open up a standard RCBS die set with their reamer?

Perhaps a 7mm-08 AI bushing die with a smaller bushing? Would have to check pricing to see if that would save you anything though...

John

Check with Redding. I heard a rumor that they might be making 260 REM ACKLEY dies as standard production items for 2010.

I bought a standard 260 Rem. Redding micrometer seater die, and blank sleeve and had my gunsmith run the 260 A.I. chamber reamer in the blank and install it in seater die. For the resizer, I just ordered a Redding 260 A.I. resizing die. Total cost about 130 dollars. That was 5 years ago.

Papa260

That won't work. For starters it would open the neck of the sizer to chamber diameter. That would leave you kind of short on neck tension.

Won't work anyway... Dies are hardened after reaming. Which makes them so hard that standard reamers won't cut them.

The 7mm-08 bushing die is the best idea.... If you would happen to have an RCBS Comp. seater, or a Vickerman seater, that would solve the seating problem.

Grasshopper

Please note I said "for starters" in my full post.

Your best bet is to totally luck into a set for sale for $45 like I did.

I"ve always thought... if you are going to the trouble of doing a new barrel and a wildcat so to speak, you bit off eveyrthing and if thats a 200 buck set of dies, well that was your choice.

That being said 7x08AI and the right neck bushing in an FL neck bushing die from Redding might well be the cheapest route to go, and then you could get another rebarreled in 7x08AI....

Or you get a die blank, have them ream it with the reamer and use neck bushings... Carstensen is the name of die blanks that comes to mind, I may be off there though. Its been a bit of time since I used one.

All good suggestions and I too (looking back) should have gone the 7-08 route, live and learn,
But maybe I can help with the seater, what I did is order up a Forster Br seating die with the sliding collar, this collar isn't hardened but just regular machinable stainless I had the Smith Chamber it with the same reamer he used on the barrel and bingo there's your seater. He charged me a few bucks to set it up in the lathe but thats fine wouldn't want him doing it for free.

Great Caliber Choice you'll have lots of fun.

260 Seater

As I understand it, you can use standard plain-jane Lee Collett Dies on an AI case to size them. That would be your cheapest and best option. The Collett dies work great for everything else.

I have not done the AI thing myself, so ask around.

I am using a 7mm08 Lee collett die on my 7mm08 improved and it works great. I was told about doing that here some time ago. miles

Mathman: Noted! I was merely elaborating on your post. No offense meant...

GH

The Lee collet die for the standard cartridge will work fine, as it says on their website.

I use their standard Bob die on my 257 AI brass and have had no issues whatsoever.

Furthermore, I have 30-06 I've been collet-neck-sizing only for 10 years, many more than 10x, and never have had to run through a FLS die at all.

Buy Hornady's excellent seater die for 6.5 calibers and you're good to go.

"Buy Hornady's excellent seater die for 6.5 calibers and you're good to go."

OK looking around and can't figure out which die you are talking about. Link?

Skip the AI on the .260 case. It's not worth the hassle according to Terry Cross who abandoned 260AI for the standard version.

No matter how much of an advantage you may or may not have velocity-wise, the "cool factor" and case life are two reasons not to skip the AI'd version...