Trouble resizing .308 winchester

I had similar experience. My 788 has a larger chamber than my 700, so I bought RCBS Small Base dies. More effort, yes, but both drop in.
 
I've used the RCB pad, lanolin mixes and STP straight and thinned a bit with solvents but these days I use the Imperial Sizing Wax exclusively. It just plain works.
Paul B.
 
I know this thread is pretty old but the best stuff I've ever tried for tough resizing jobs has to be Rooster Labs CFL-56 sold by Meister Bullets in Ozark, MO. I'm a geezer and need all the help I can get when it comes to Lake City brass for my M1A! Feels like it cuts down the effort at least 50% compared to everything else.

I've been bragging on it since 2007 and nobody has ever reported back. I wish just once someone would try it and call me a liar.
 
One of the best "home made" bore cleaners was developed by Sierra Bullets for their test barrels.

A 50-50 mix of fine dental pumice and Hoppe's No. 9 bore cleaner.
 
I have been using White Lithium Grease available at Home Depot, with garage door openers. I bought a Lyman pad just for it. It takes only a very light film, and depending rifle caliber, I can skip lubing every other case. It really seems to reduce the force required.
Also use it for 40SW range brass which needs to be inspected, cull8ng smiles, sized, then passed through a Lee bulge buster. Finally, I check in a case gauge, and may repeat or toss trouble cases.
 
Bart,

Amazon list coarse, medium, and fine dental pumice. Do you recall which one Sierra used. Also, is that 50:50 mix by volume or by weight? Thanks.
 
I started with Lyman back in the 70s, thick, sticky and all the crap in the world sticks to the pad. Gave up on it when I discovered the RCBS spray a couple decades ago. Works great, the way I use it.

Tried the Hornady one shot aerosol. One shot didn't do it. I use the RCBS spray, the stuff in the pump bottle, NOT a spray can.

One of my other hobbies is building models which leaves me with some fairly large shallow (and clean) box tops. put the brass in, (40-50 rifles cases at a time), give them several pumps. wait a bit, stir and repeat. Give them a few mintues for the lube to work all the way around the brass evenly. Works fine for me. Cases should feel slightly greasy. I don't get dents either. IF things start feeling stiffer, give them another shot of lube. And of course, bigger brass takes a bit more.

Also, I use a single stage press, for the "Feel". I found loading rifle on a progressive just didn't do well for me, so I went back to the single stage, years ago.

do be aware that most of the military .308 you'll find was probably fired in machine guns which are noted for having "generous" chambers, and often take more force than commercial brass fired from bolt guns.
 
The pumice/Hoppes combo sounds interesting. I found a 1lb bag of fine on Amazon for $14.00. I’m curious exactly what the cleaning procedure would entail.
 
Wrap a patch on a cleaning rod jag then smear the mix on it. Push back and forth in the bore. It'll turn black then use another, then use only Hoppe's on a couple of patches
 
Trouble Sizing .308 Brass??
Do it in Steps, too much to do in one step.
Run the .308 in a 30.06 Sizing Die 1ST, leaving the Lube on the Brass.
Relube, resize in your .308 Die, WILL be ALOT easier to size, and set the Shoulder, then trim.
Been told to use a .45 ACP Die also, to set the Base, I have not tried that way yet?
Thx,
Barman54
Out
 
;)
Been told to use a .45 ACP Die also, to set the Base
Click to expand...
Now THAT's new !

SAAMI Drawings show:
45 ACP Head/Base: 0.4760" (Yep, that would/could gently "stage" it it way out of spec)
308 Win Head/Base: 0.4703"
30-60 Head/Base: 0.4698"
 
Been told to use a .45 ACP Die also, to set the Base, I have not tried that way yet?
Click to expand...

And just how would that even work?????

Look at the case drawings. (I picked Hornady, only because it was the first book I picked up)

.45 ACP is .473" at the case mouth, .476" at the base.
The .308 Winchester is .470" at the base.

Given that these are max values, and tolerances will vary a bit, and that sizing dies generally size things a tiny bit smaller, I still don't see how a .45acp sizer is going to touch a .308 case body, anywhere.

(this also assumes the .45acp sizer used has enough clearance above the sizer section to take the .308 case length. I don't think all do. )
 
I have been having the same issue. I don't reload .308 very much, Hornaday dies are almost new, but I have resorted to overspraying with my One Shot, (yes, I know, but it's what I have), and they will grudgingly go through. I will of course wipe off any excess.
 
7.62/308 and 45 ACP share rim and head diameter, and use the same shell holder. You can make 45 ACP brass from 7.62/308. For instance snake-shot shells. Other uses would require reaming the walls after cutting off shoulder.
So, passing 7.62/308 into a 45 ACP, die with stem removed, would work. Use the Lee 45 ACP Factory crimp die with the Lee bulge buster to size the base.
 
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7.62/308 and 45 ACP share rim and head diameter.
Click to expand...

Sort of....but not exactly.

The specs are very close, but not identical. You can make ACP cases from .308 brass (with inside reaming) because the .308 brass is very slightly smaller than the ACP brass and the tolerances of most ACP guns will allow it to work.

Again, look at the published dimensions. The differences between the two cases (max specs) range from .003 to .007 at different points, with the .45ACP being larger.

For a lot of things, these differences don't matter much, if at all, (we use the same shellholder for both cases) but if you're talking about using an ACP die to somehow size a .308 win case head, I just don't see that working.
 
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