I have been sizing and reloading my Black Out shells with a Lee standard .300 die set, I was just going through a big box of junk that I bought from a guy and found some different die sets in it that I didn't know about, one of them is a RCBS .300 small base die set, I am just wondering, what difference will I see if I use these over the standard Lee dies?

Sorry if this is a redundant question, but I did search and didn't find anything.

Thanks.

When I got into 300BO reloading earlier this year, I read until I was cross-eyed trying to research the pros and cons on die selection.  I had already been reloading .223 and had seen many more con arguments against using or needing small base dies for that caliber even in a semiauto, gas gun.  The bulk of the arguments seemed to be that the small base dies worked the brass more aggressively than necessary.

Wondering if this same issue applied to 300BO, my research seemed to lean toward small base dies not being as much of an alleged problem with 300BO reloading.  In fact I saw some frequency of comments indicating that 300BO benefited from SB dies.  As always in the world of reloading, lots of varying opinions.

It's funny that you mention the LEE 300BO dies, because that's the one die set I saw more negative comments about than any other...inconsistency and other issues mentioned for some reason.  The whole thing lead me to go with RCBS SB dies for my 300BO.

I use LEE dies for my .223 reloading and have had no issues whatsoever.  Likewise I've had no issues with my RCBS SB dies...but...I only have a max of 2 reloadings on any of my 300BO brass.

I don't know...the only real argument I see against SB dies is that they make work the brass too hard, but I see some strong arguments that the issue is overblown.  It will take awhile, but I guess I'll find out after multiple reloading cycles of my 300BO Lake City brass.

I too saw good bit of negative feedback on the Lee dies. dryflash3 recommend the Hornady standard die set and the local Cabela's had them in stock so that's what we went with.

I have zero complaints with the Hornady 300 BO dies.

As a life long machinist and sometimes tool maker I may look at the equipment we use for reloading from somewhat of a different perspective.

To me they are simply tools designed to perform a specific task. Each tool has a reason for being made. This is also how I see small base dies.

If I don't "need" them I'm probably not going to use them but like many tools they can serve two purposes.

1) As already mentioned you may need them because you either have a tight chamber or a action type (like a pump action) that can't tolerate snug fitting ammo.

2) They will definitely make your ammo small enough that it should fit and function in any "in spec" firearm you attempt to use it in.

These are both good reasons for their specific needs.

The down side is that small base dies do work the brass more and as the name implies they make the base (this is the area at the casing head) smaller. Since brass transitions at this point from thin to thick (body to web) it puts a lot of stress right on that area.

This extra stress or working tends to shorten case life.

Motor

I agonized over die selection.

In the end, I decided on the Forster full length resizing fire and their Ultra seating fire with the micrometer.   I'm excited to try them.

I just didn't see a need for small base dies on this.  Maybe after a while, I'll change my mind.

Thanks guys,

Just wanted to ask, I didn't even know these were included in the big box of stuff I purchased, and figured I would ask, I have never had any problems with the Lee dies, but I have read some stuff from people saying you need small base dies for reloading the .300, I guess it is 6 and 1/2 dozen another on them.

Thanks again.

Hornady dies, hands down.  ESPECIALLY when forming your own cases.  Hornady's elliptical expander made it a lot less work to form around 500 cases in one long go.

The kicker?  Even on Amazon, the Hornady dies are only about $1-$1.50 more expensive than Lee's dies...

I have only loaded about 25 300BLK with Lee and found no problem with them. I am using preformed cases and not making my own from 223/556.

My set up is much like dryflash3's except I don't have enough M dies to go around and don't like constantly changing them. So I'm simply using a Lee universal expander.

Before I got my Lee FCD I was roll crimping with the Hornady seat/crimp die. Since all my brass was freshly trimmed this was working just fine but the FCD will make life much easier.

I haven't messed with full power sub-sonic loads yet and really don't see it happening in the near future. The only subs I've loaded so far are cast loads using Bullseye. These shoot good but of course don't cycle the action which is fine for their intended purpose.

My rifle shoots super sonic 150gr really well. I'm kinda torn on either using them or going with a 125gr bullet for whitetail this fall.Or just stick with my 5.56mm and 65gr Game Kings.

Motor

I use Lee dies for 300 Blackout, .223, and .308. They work great for me. Good groups and about as much effort as any other die as I can tell.

Lee also has great customer service for when you don't clean off range brass and try to resize it. Ask me how I know.

Exactly my setup as well.  If you are interested in the M-die for 300 BO, you need to buy the one for 30 Carbine.

I use the Hornady sizing die for case forming, with no presizing like Dryflash talks about.  Just cut and size, then trim to length.  Granted, Ive only made a 1000 pieces of 300 BO brass, but Ive never had an issue with brass chambering in my rifle.  Barrel on my gun is a Rainier Select which was made by BHW.

Or if you are cheap like me, install the stem of your 30-06 M die in an RCBS 9mm Luger case expanding die body.  I reload 9mm on the Dillon and never use the case expander die.  Worked great.  Of course if you load 300 BO on the Dillon, get the 30 Carbine powder funnel.