Which die for a Model 99 308 Winni ? ? ?

Hi All,

I bought a 99F in 308 Win. about 2 1/2 years ago (my first one), and around the same time came across a super deal of 15 boxes of Remington 308 ammo. Well, I'm about down to my last box and was going to start reloading for this rifle. I have several sets of 308 dies for different rigs, some with full length resizing dies, which is what I was going to use. A friend of mine said that "He STRONGLY recommends I use a small base die instead. . .or I could be sorry"! ! ! My friend is a very knowledgeable guy and owns several 99's and swears that is the way to go. I only small base size for my auto-loading rifles, is it necessary to do so for this rifle? I have 3 lever action rifles, a Winchester Model 94 Big Bore and 2 Marlin 336's that I DO NOT do this for. Anyone with experience/knowledge of the Model 99 and this question, PLEASE, enlighten me. I've tried the search engine on this site with no luck! Thanks in advance.

My 99f in 308 has a very tight chamber but ample headspace and I was having problems with extraction. I had the roughness in the chamber lapped and now only neck size pushing the shoulder back just far enough that there is slight resistance when the bolt locks up. If your empties chamber and extract easily then you may also be able to neck size only.