Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Resizing 30-06 base using 45 ACP die?

Anyone ever tried this?

Ted

No! Why would I want or need to do that?

Ted, I think Dogzapper might have posted something about this but I don't remember what his use was.

Depending on your chamber, brass, and die relationship, the regular FL die may not size the web enough. Rather than buying a small base die, you can sometimes substitute with the 45 ACP die for almost any of the .473" size cases.

My 45 ACP dies are kinda short for a 30/06 case, but cutting the top off in a lathe might me a real home run. I think that you are on to something there aalf!

I started looking into doing this same thing with the 6PPC cases modifying a 41 mag carbide die, many years ago.

The tungsten/carbide .45ACP die is simply a TUBE. For pity's sake, simply screw the die down until it lightly touches your shell holder and run cases with the .473" base through it. The die will wonderfully iron-out your cases.

Steve

DZ is right on the money! ... recently had a problem with my gunship brass sizing to fit a 308 chamber.These are the reloads ET and I will use for speed goats in Wyoming next month.Kool beans to kill goats with these cases from our 41 year battle in Vietnam 1970.The LC 7.62 brass was shot out of one our mini guns in SEA and they tended to have slightly oversize webs as most automatic chambers tend to be a tad sloppy.The 45 carbide die did the trick on the web then I FL sized and trimmed...perfect...excellent advice Steve!

Thanks, Guys, figured that might work!

Ted

My Friends,

This is one of those dark, dusty corners of handloading. The information is too small for an article and, for some reason, it just never quite fits in.

Many years ago, I ran into a "logistics" article and the author pointed out that the .30-'06, .308 (7.62 NATO) and .45ACP all have in common the .473" rimless case head.

Later, I had some sticky loaded .30-'06 ammo and I hated the chore of tearing it all apart, FL sizing and reassembling. Then, a BRIGHT LIGHT went off in my head, "Why not see if I could resize the BASES by running the loaded ammo through a .45ACP tungsten/carbide die.

And I should mention here that the handgun dies, especially those made to reload ammo for autoloading pistols, have really great tight sizing units. In the t/c die, a ring of tungsten carbide is used and it is nice and tight.

Anyway, I ran one round of ammo through the tungsten/carbide die and tried it in my .30-'06. WOW, it fed like quicksilver ... the headspace was perfect and the swollen base was perfectly ironed out.

I cycled the rest of the ammo and tested for accuracy. No problem.

Since then, I've used this trick many, many times and it has saved my arse from the fire on numerous occasions.

Let Steve court heresy. Amongst the benchrest folks, it is "known" that cases eventually grow (from firing) and that a "bump die" is required to return the cases to the original shape. Bump dies work on the shoulder. Frankly, I believe a "Base die" would be way more appropriate ... and that is precisely what I use; a .45ACP tungsten-carbide sizing die to iron out the BASES of rifle cases based on the .473" rimless case head.

Is there any other cartridge that is commonly used that has such a common die???? YUP, there is and I found it only because I needed it horribly.

Once, I ended up with a schitload of .223 Ackley handloads that would fit two of my .223 Ackley rifles, but would not close in the chamber of my third rifle.

Scrambling for help, I found that the .38 Special/.357 Magnum was close to the .223 case ... If anything, the .38 was just a snazzle too large. So, having a nice RCBS .38/.357 tungsten-carbide sizing die, I tried sizing some cases.

Friends, the manuals may tell you that the .223 cartridge base is smaller than the .38/.357, but in actual practice, the .38 t-c sizer just irons a little polished area on the .223 case web.

And I polished the base web areas of my 2,000 .223 Ackley loaded ammo in just a few hours. AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE CASES EASILY FIT INTO THE RIFLE THAT WAS PREVIOUSLY A NON-CLOSER.

I shot every last cartridge the following weekend ... leaving many prairie dog widows and a few dead coyotes.

Now, lets take a look at what we know: the .45ACP tungsten-carbide die (the open type) will size the bases of any cartridge case based on the .30-'06/.308 ... and, my friends, that is a LOT of rounds ... and because we are concerned with the web area of the cases, it makes no diff if the case is Ackley or not. Also, we know that the .38 Special/.357 S&W Magnum sizing die, the open type with the tungsten-carbide ring, will iron-out the web area on any case based on the .222/223.

Hey, you now have the knowledge and it didn't cost you a single dime. COOL, huh???

I've written about this subject three times in the past. Regrettably, the rodent-mag I scribbled for had a very small circulation, so not many folks know about the use of a couple of handgun t-c dies to ease the swollen web areas of certain rifle cartridges.

Hey, now YOU know. Pass it on.

God Bless,

Steve

Yeah!

Well ain't that the cat's whiskers. I have a bunch of LC69 30-06 that I picked up after a Garand match about 20 years ago. Even full length sizing left it very sticky in a Zastava 98 I had for a while. I'll bet this is the remedy.

Now you know, Ed.

Ted

The light went on in my head yesterday, Steve, only in this instance a friend has some 280 Ackley brass he needs to tune up a bit.

The Best of His Blessings to you as well,
Ted

Hey, Rooms,

A few years ago DID read your mentions of the techique, and found it especially useful not just for standard .473 and .375 base brass, but for 6.5x55 cases. Swede brass can be all over the place, and chambers as well.

Yeah, it's supposed to be a little bigger at the base than the .30-06 and others, but not so big new brass won't go into a chamber. American brass is sometimes too big in the butt to chamber in a tight European chamber. The .45 ACP fix works quite well.

Anybody gone the next step and compared the Redding double ring carbide dies with others?

I've been running all of my cases through either the 45 or 38 dies to iron out the bases. It is easy with a carbide die, and it makes them all seem to chamber a bit more slickly.

I've been doing it every time I reload the case--is this going to be too much of a good thing?

Anyone have a link to buy one?

It is just a part of the standard carbide sizing die set for 45ACP. Nothing special. The 38/357 works great on the 223 also.

Yes, thank you, I realize, just don't want to buy the whole set.

why I just happen to have set of Carbide .45's in my dillon 650, nice!