308 Getting Stuck in Die

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Negative Investment

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Has anyone else had a problem with 308 casings getting stuck in their dies? All my other calibers slide through their sizing dies without too much resistance and I've never gotten any stuck. I use lube on all my brass and for all calibers, but sometimes I miss a casing or don't put enough lube and it will get stuck, but only with 308. Does anyone know why that is? I'm very curious if anyone else had had this issue with 308.
 
There's nothing special about .308 that makes it more likely to get stuck...I'd be looking at the die itself. Maybe it wasn't polished quite well enough, or a bit of surface rust inside? Are they brand new dies?
 
My 308s are 'stickier' in the die than my 223 loads. I reload 308s by the hundreds in a Dillon 1050, and I notice a difference, too. Maybe it's just that the 308 has more surface area than a 223, so it feels 'stickier' than a 223 or 9mm.

I once forgot to lube a 308 case, and it became stuck, hard. Now I lube the heck out of my 308 brass.
 
I had issues with 308 sticking also. I posted my issue a few weeks ago and received a lot of answers. here are some reasons, Die is dirty/vent hole obstructed/not enough lube/too much lube/different case thickness/ type of lube/press not mounted firmly. I addressed all of these and found that the die was dirty, my cases were not chamfered enough after trimming and finally if I never wanted another stuck case I would use rcbs-2 lube with lube pad. The one shot spray doesn't always do the job. Goodluck
 
If you use too much lube it will dimple the neck, I suppose that is minor though. I have had 2 different RCBS dies in 308, they both do the same. Oh well. My 7.62 x 54r, 7.62 x 39, and .223 don't ever get stuck, or even close to being stuck.
 
Do you mean 7.62mm military brass? Or commercial 308?
7.62 is fired in machine guns and is difficult to size.
To prevent sticking you need: good lube, applied correctly, and sense of feel. Those are three different things. I like grease lubes, and Lucas White Lithium Grease works great.
 
I've got both 308 and 7.62. I have lapua and Lake city primarily. It all feels the same. They all measure about the same. My brass is pretty well fire formed through my gun (some of it has been fired 15+ times) I also anneal my brass every 5 firings or so. Its not a major issue, its just annoying when you miss a case and it gets stuck and the rim breaks off.
 
The .223 is easier to resize because you are moving less metal.

Among the .30 caliber cartridges mentioned, the .308 has the shallowest body taper, so getting stuck is, indeed, a little easier to have happen with it. It also has a wider included shoulder angle than the other two .30's mentioned, making it a little harder to set the shoulder back.

.308 Win/7.62 NATO is also a chambering for which small base dies are made. If you are using a small base die, that will also make it harder to run the case into the die and will work the brass unnecessarily and will increase the chance of a stuck case. Small base dies are sometimes useful to a first resizing of machine gun once-fired brass so it will fit any chamber. This is why the Dillon carbide dies for commercial reloaders are small base. But once fireformed to a rifle, and for once-fired brass from rifle chambers, there should normally be no need for a small base die.

Using good lube is always a good plan. In addition to the various commercial offering for the purpose, some guys looking for lower cost are now using white lithium greases. There are also commercial assembly lubes that have very high film strength and that are sticky like bar chain oil. STP mixed 50:50 with motor oil works well, if you don't mind the smell of motor oil. It can also be mixed with lighter lubes, like ATF and still seems to work, and it can be mixed with the aforementioned bar chain oil. There are lots of possibilities out there. Get some old cases and a beat up sizing die from a gun show and experiment to find what you like best.

If your cases have 15 load cycles and you've never annealed the necks and shoulders, you may find that reduces sizing effort enough to be worthwhile. It will certainly extend case life if the pressure ring isn't getting too thin.
 
To prevent sticking you need: good lube, applied correctly, and sense of feel.
Click to expand...

I agree with that statement. In 35+ years of reloading I've never had a stuck case and I've always used RCBS Case Lube applied with their lube pad. What type of lube are you using and how are you applying it?
 
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About two years ago, when I called Dillon to order 20 bottles of their lube, the operator on the phone asked why the heck I needed 20 bottles. I told him that I shoot and reload massive amounts of ammo.

His reply was that if that's the case, I should be making my own lube by using a 99% rubbing alcohol mixture combined with liquid lanolin; mixed in a 4:1 alcohol to lanolin ratio. This is the entire Dillon case lube formula.

The guy was super cool and very honest. He said no one needs 20 bottles of their lube. This honesty and helpful attitude, btw, is why I love the Dillon customer service.

I immediately went to the internet and found 99% alcohol and then found liquid lanolin. Cost was 99 cents per bottle of 99% alcohol, and, I think $1.99 for a bottle of liquid lanolin. I bought something like 100 bottles of each (because they were on discount, and I can't help but buy large volumes if stuff is on sale). The guy was right, two years later, I'm on my third bottle of alcohol and second bottle of lanolin.

I've never had a stuck case of any sort, and reloading pistol brass is like moving butter.

Lube, lube, lube.
 
Who's case lube are you using? If its Hornady's spray on One Shot it does have a troubled reputation in regards to its use or (not properly) applied application.
 
Sizing a case: I have sized cases that caused me to believe the die was going to explode. I understand the die was not designed to be abused like that, I understand the case was not designed to be exposed to that much pressure/abuse.

308 W case sizing: I have 308 W case forming dies, I have used it to form 308 W cases from 30/06 cases. The 308 W forming die is my favorite die, I use it to form 7.7 Japanese cases, 8mm57 cases etc.. The next favorite is the 243 W forming die, for the same reason.

I started on 450 Belted magnum cases, I did not start like all the other reloaders when they start sizing cases, I measured the diameter of the cases first. I sorted the cases into 'going to be easy' and 'going to be difficult'. Even the difficult to size cases can be sized. Like the 308 W forming dies there are belted magnum dies that can make sizing easier. There is no reason for going into sizing belted magnmum cases because there are reloaders that are conditioned to push L. Willis tools.

F. Guffey
 
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