• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

FL Sizing Die Shaving Brass

Supersum1

Private
Minuteman
Mar 13, 2018
83
29
NE
Had a concerning experience setting up my new Dillon 308 Win Carbide full length sizing die today.
I noticed with the first few cases sized that the brass near the web was shiny and brass flakes were visible on the case and bottom of the sizing die.
BLUF: Should I be concerned? I know Dillon will take care of me if I call them, but wanted to get more experienced opinions before I waste their time.

Some extra possibly relevant data:
-Brass is once fired Federal Gold Medal Match from my PWS AR10
-Brass was deprimed, cleaned, and lubed w/ alcohol/lanolin lube prior to sizing
-Fired brass diameter at the approx location of the shaving is 0.471"
-Sized brass diameter at the shiny area is 0.468"
-Brass shaving seems to be fairly uniform around the brass, not only on one side

Let me know if you have any thoughts or additional questions.

UPDATE: Called Dillon, they're having me send the sizing die back to increase the chamfer at the base. Said it shouldn't be shaving brass even with the more than typical expansion of the case web. Knew they'd take care of it without issue.

Pictures of some cases and the bottom of the die.
9E7AF73C-E37A-41FA-872B-F5AC0EA0604C.jpeg
E2365DB3-2F3E-4033-835D-0D1D12B4453E.jpeg

676486E3-EC18-44E4-99B9-F9D78EBBC26E.jpeg
 
Last edited:
.468" is about the right sizing at the web. Your PWS might have a generous chamber. Do you have access any other once fired brass , maybe from a bolt gun to try the dies with? Federal GMM brass is pretty thick and softer than most other brass.

I have a friend who has a Les Baer 308 and the Federal GMM ammo fired from his rifle needs a S/B die to get the web back to specs. He gives me the brass and I have to run it through a Redding S/B body die to get it to chamber in my bolt guns. I know on the brass fired from his gun it shoves the shoulder about .008"- .010" forward @ 1.638"-40". It's likely over gassed, but the GMM brass gets a good beating in his rifle.

I run an early Knight's SR-25 that has a very tight chamber. Fired brass measures 1.631". Fired brass from my GAP 10 measures 1.634".

I reload a lot of once fired Federal GMM brass. Older brass is pretty soft and only lasts a few reloads in autoloaders. The newer FGMM brass that has the blue primer sealant is better brass and is a bit harder than the older stuff that has no primer sealant.
 
I did notice I had to bump the shoulder back quite a bit (about 9 to 10 thousandths) to get it to sit below max in an LE Wilson case gage, so I could see the chamber being pretty loose. I also just tried sizing some FGMM 308 once fired from my bolt gun: no brass shaving notice.

This is new FGMM w/ the blue primer sealant.
 
Dillon’s FL die is small base.
Supersum1:

You're gonna have to size it first in a standard FL die which will bring the case head down to .470-.471”, then it won’t shave in your Dillon die. Understand that in order to bring the head diameter down from .472” to .468” the Dillon die must be .466” at the base. Shoving a .472” case into a .466” die is bound to shave brass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: flyright