Im building a 20 practical and my Criterion barrel is picky as hell, I currently have a set of RCBS AR-15 223 dies, regular RCBS 223 dies and a full length sizer Redding type S die and NOT ONE of these dies will get close enough to the bottom of the brass to reliably feed. I trimmed .010 thous off hte shell holder and no difference and trimmed another .010 off the die no go there also....Ive read in a few places where the LEE die sizes even further down than the small base circle RCBS die, Also the Small base RCBS die set is only 4.00 more than the Small base sizer as a single die, is it the same die or a different one because its in a set....I had an AR10 that i HAD to use RCBS small base 308 die and thats the only thing that rifle would eat....If anyone has any advice on this Im all ears Im going broke on this project....
Very Respectfully Submitted
Semper Fidelis
Sounds as if you'll need a custom sizer made. A combined shaving of .020" should have been more than enough. When you installed your barrel, how tight did you headspace it? I had a tight chamber in an M-4gery I built, rounds sized in a standard die would jam in the chamber when loading. I had to switch to a small base sizer to eliminate that problem. Does new brass chamber easily?
Vietnam Vet, Jun 66 - Dec 67
small base die
new brass chambers no problem and I do have the head spacing set a little tight on it ill admit that so i may back it off a hair. The small base die did the trick but i still have a few rounds here and there that the bolt is pretty darn heavy when chambering but easy as pie when extracting. Im not sure what all this adds up to .....My brass is clean and super shiny so i can see defects I truly dont know what it is....thnak you for any help
I think I are confused....
No full length sizer sizes ALL THE WAY to the case head; and how exactly does that affect feeding anyway??
As to the AR-10 reference, I've never had ANY AR that needed small base dies. Once upon a time I thought that, then discovered that the brass needed to be annealed. Otherwise it would "spring back" to un-sized dimensions.
I'm a firm believer in the theory that if it bleeds, I can kill it.
+1Originally Posted by darkker
I'm using the Lee die set with my Criterion in .223 (1:8 twist and 28" heavy bull large shank). These work well - for me.
.22LR * 6.5x47 Lapua * .223 Rem * .308 Win * 260 Rem * Large Cojones!
[I]"I can prove anything by statistics except the truth."[/I]
The LEE Die works great for resizing brass going through a AR-15, loaded thousand's of rounds with it, never a FTF. And here is a shoot of my bench , you can see what I use mostly. For basic reloading, just for plinking and hunting, you cant be Lee Dies.
I had to run all my 20P brass in my RCBS SB die since the brass I sized down would not chamber.
Its an added step overall IMO. I had no problems chambering after that, but did on extracting after being fired on a handful of brass.
I was using LC/r-p/win brass, so brand wise it didn't matter, still had to run them in the SB die.
Make sure your brass is trimmed to 1.750" also. Anything that was 1.760+ failed to chamber also due to length.
The LEE Die works great for resizing brass going through a AR-15, loaded thousand's of rounds with it, never a FTF. And here is a shoot of my bench , you can see what I use mostly. For basic reloading, just for plinking and hunting, you cant be Lee Dies.
How do you ever find anything on a bench that neat? :)
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