Hone Dillon 308 Die

senna.bra

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 21, 2007
165
20
50
FL, Tampa
Any idea if there is anyone out there able to hone a Dillon 308 die for less neck tension? My Dillon die, both 223 and 308 have too much neck tension. I get they are made this way for semi-auto gun, but I am trying to cut lost of brass without too much neck tension.

Thank you,

SC
 
Re: Hone Dillon 308 Die

I don't know of anyone who could hone your die but another option would be to get a Lee collet neck sizing die. They are less than $20.00 at quite a few places and you would only be using your Dillon once every 5 to 10 reloading cycles depending on the charge, etc. Use the neck die until you feel a litle resistance closing the bolt, run them through Dillon and then go back to neck sizing.

Now that I have said all of that I'll bet you are going to answer that the dillon is a neck die also.
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Re: Hone Dillon 308 Die

Modifying dies isn't my idea of a good plan. But if you want to, I say try it anyway. No better way to learn.

My solution is to live with the die's neck diameter, but back the F/L die off so it's only resizing the very end if the case. This will provide an alternative way to reduce neck tension and also confine the work hardening to the part of the neck with might be expected to get trimmed eventually with brass growth. The unsized wider portion also serves to center the case neck better in the chamber throat.

When the shoulder grows enough to influence chambering, reset the die to bump and size f/l, then return it to the end-sizing configuration for subsequent reloadings.

This is not some whacky Rube Goldberg approach but, in fact, a very old BR shooter's way to deal with excessive neck tension, dating from the days when bushing dies were still a thing of the future. I've been doing it for as long as I have been handloading, as a lesson my Elder Brother, an old-time BR shooter, taught me.

Greg