Belted magnum brass question

T

TSPIRI

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Hi I was watching a video on reloading today and the video mentions that most fl dies don't resize belted cases down all the way to the belt. In the same video it is said that after only a handful of reloads brass becomes too deformed near the belt to chamber properly. He demonstrated with some once fired factory ammo and some after just 1 use were too large to chamber properly.

In the video he showed an extra process with a special bushing to resize the base of the case back to a proper dimension. I'd like to start reloading for my 338wm. Is the added expense of a new tool (100usd) according to that video really worth it? He claimed it could extend the case life dramatically from 2 to3 uses too dozens.

I don't know anyone who hand loads so I'm looking for advice
What kind of case life are you getting out of your belted magnums?
Is this really an issue or was he making something out of nothing.

I've been accumulating my once fired brass from Barnes factory ammo since I got my 338. Guys at the range hover over me when they see what I'm shooting because it's hard to find locally(I'm in Montreal)

Thanks for any advice
 
I usually go to ruisseau noir but from time to time I go to pionnier.

I'm asking because I purchased a bag of mixed once fired cases and I didn't want them to go to waste. If they won't chamber in my rifle because they fire formed in a different rifle chambers from mine then that was wasted money.
 
I have not had that issue reloading new or factory brass in my rifles. I use regular RCBS Full Length sizing dies for 308 Norma, 300 Win Mag, 338 Win Mag and 458 Win Mag.

However, for someone else, I attempted to make 7x61 Sharpe and Hart brass out of 7mm Rem Mag that was purchased as "once fired". My reformed brass would not chamber - jiffy marker trick showed problem was just in front of the belt, as you describe. Ideal solution would have been that bulge buster type collet die, but I was too cheap to drop that coin for 100 brass, if there was another solution. The 7x61 S&H is smaller/shorter body than any of the other magnums I have (same size head and belt, though) and my re-formed brass literally "dropped right in" to the 308 Norma, 300 Win Mag and 338 Win Mag dies. With the 458 die, however, it stopped a good 3/8" or more proud, so I used that die to "snug up" my batch of re-formed 7x61 and they all then chambered fine. Taught me that there is tolerances in die dimensions (duh!) and that even though all should have been the same, my 458 Win Mag die is tighter ahead of the belt than the others.

As far as two or three dozen loadings in a 338 Win Mag, I suspect that could only be done with very mild loads. I try to anneal my case necks at least every third loading, and I find that the primer pockets are no longer as tight as I would like after 6 or 7 "full power" loads. I have never had a split case neck, but have had multiple batches of brass get discarded because of loosening primer pockets.
 
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I believe you are referring to the Larry Willis die. I have this die and with certain chambers on belted mag cartridges you would need this die and on others not so much. From what I've experienced if your chamber is on the "long" side then this die will really help. In some chambers if you push your shoulder back the required .002-.003 to achieve good case life and headspace the case on it's shoulder and you happen to have a "long" chamber then there will be a small section in front of your belt that will not be reduced in size. With a few fireings then this area expands so as to make chambering hard. If you adjust your die down to size this portion of the case then you end up pushing your shoulder back too far and end up with poor case life and seperations. This is when this die comes into play. JME
 
I loaded belted cases for decades without the Willis die. There's millions of other people that load belted cases and have probably never even heard of it.

Having said that, I have one now and use it on occasion. I got it when I had a pile of expensive weatherby brass that was fired in a rifle I no longer owned and couldnt size it properly for one I still had. Since it paid for itself in a couple minutes I thought it was money well spent.

Dont buy one until you need it; because you'll likely never need it.
 
I have one of Larry Willis' special swaging dies for belted cases.
I believe that it was money well spent in my case. I have several
rifles chambered in 308 Norma Magnum. I also have a potful of brass
that has been 1-F in other rifles. Two of my Norma Mags have very
tight chambers, and a conventional FL die will not size that last few
thousands of an inch small enough to allow the fired and resized brass
to chamber. One trip through Larry Willis' die, and voila! They fit just great.
Dave.
 
i have been loading belted magnums mostly weatherby which is norma brass longer than i care to admit. its best to keep your pressures down so it doesn't expand the primer pockets i used to load smoken
hot loads but i found your brass and your barrels last a lot longer if you cut them back a bit
 
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