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Posted: 2/5/2005 7:41:26 PM EDT
While waiting on my 458 socom bbl from Tony, I thought I would load some ammo using the 300 gr. Rem bullet. Anyone have any decent loads for this bullet. Also, anyone use Lee dies for this caliber. The set I have, the sizing die scrapes brass off the outside of the neck area, like the tooling chattered a bit when it was reamed and the final finish did not correct the defect. Thanks
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Yes, Lee still has dies available for the 458 SOCOM. You may have to call them direct. If you buy the Lee dies, you WILL need an additional seating stem if you plan on using anything other than the 600gn bullets. The included seating stem is too short to use anything else. They will rush you $8 for another seating stem, and you have to send them a sample bullet. Personally, I turned my own seating step 5/8 longer than thiers from an old bolt. Works great. Actually, I'm surprised that no one has set up a CNC yet to turn out a few dozen of them cheaply for all the sets that have been sold. I like the Lee dies, but I much prefer my CH4D set (I know, I'm probably the only one here! Mine do NOT scratch or shave the brass, and I got mine used from Pahrump). I'll go through each Lee die. 1. Sizing die. Leaves scratches on the neck (and I've already polished it a lot), and does not have an internal expander. Compresses the brass and relies on spring back to control bullet grip in the neck. If there is any difference in case wall thickness, as there sometimes is, with this method of sizing, you get uneven sizing and bullet release. Basically, Lee has made a sizing die similar to a straight wall case, instead of treating it like a large conventional rifle case. Not really the right way to do it, but I guess economics played a role in that decision. I prefer the CH4D with it's conventional expander to ensure neck concentricity and final internal sizing, and consequently better control over the case quality. Any of your other rifle dies missing an internal neck expander? I know that the 458 SOCOM isn't a precision 1Kyd rifle case, but that is no reason not to do it right. 2. Case mouth belling die/powder charging die. Normal Lee set up, if you're familiar with them. Take the little floater out and POLISH THE CRAP OUT OF IT WITH A DREMEL AND JEWLERS ROUGE. Otherwise the matte finish on it will cause brass chatter, and the brass that rubs off onto the tool will gall on successive pieces of brass, leaving your carefully prepared case mouth rough on the inside. DO NOT SET THIS DIE TOO DEEP! If you own a Lee powder measure or powder funnel, you can use it on this die. If you use the powder measure, even with a double disk set up, you're likely not going to be able to get enough powder (this is a HUGE volume case). I suggest you find your load, and set up the disks for a "Double Tap" for tighter powder control and finer charge weight control. If you "Tripple Tap" it, it will overflow and indicate an overcharge. Trust me, I've tried it to be sure. As always, visually verify the powder charge before seating the bullet. I use this die and like it. 3. Bullet seater. Comes with a very short seater stem, suitable for the 500gn+ bullets. What a BS idea, they should have included 2 seating stems, or the longer one, as I'm sure people are using the 300-400 cheaper bullets way more often than the more expensive 500gn+ bullets. $8+shipping+sample bullet+wait time=unhappy customer. I have a lathe and I made one. I have measured bullet run out with a sample lot of 200 bullets, 100 seated on the Lee and 100 on the CH4D dies. Run out and consistency was equally matched (minimal). 4. Crimp die. If you over bell the mouth, this is a life saver. For heavy recoiling cartridges, I'm a crimper. I adjust this die for a light crimp on every bullet, just enough to ensure that the belling is ironed smooth even if the bullet does not have/is not seated to the cannelure. I have found that a .010 crimp has proved optimal for safety/reliability the way that I set up my reloading operation. YMMV. I use this die and I like it. YMMV. 5. Shell holder. OK, this is where things go radically wrong. It includes a shell holder for a 7.62x39. Um, this is SOCOM, not the big B. Wrong shell holder+money already paid+money for the proper shell holder+aggrivation=unhappy customer. 6. .3cc dipper. Huh? WTF? You're gonna be there for about 3 days loading 100 rounds with that dipper. I would rather have saved 50 cents on the dies and NOT gotten another useless dipper. 7. Lee die rings. I throw 'em all in the trash and use the Hornady rings. Much more reliable and repeatable. I'm a torquer, and all my dies have witness marks that correspond to a master mark on my press to ensure that once they are set up, that each time that I use them the set up remains the same with minimal checking required. I hope that this helps. If the tables for the load data don't include the RL7 loads, they should. Very reliable, even on starting charges. Effecient, burns very clean, and very easy on the brass. I see more velocity from my RL7 loads than I'm getting from the CorBon loads, with dramatically LESS case head expansion. Tom 
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I'm going to have to agree with Banzai on the CH4D, I like mine. That being sead I orderd the Lee set because it was much cheaper and I've never heard of the CH4D. I called lee and ordered the the die set and told them I needed the long stem bullet seater, I was told that the long stem bullet seater was a custom build and that I had to send them the bullets I was going to use. IK told them ther was all ready a long stem bullet seater made for the dies and I needed one. Needles to say I had still had to send them my 300, 405, and yes my 500gr bullet because the short stem bullet seater that came with them was useless, wouldent seat the 500 gr bullet to the propper depth. Now , 1 week later (I paid for next day shipping back to them) I get three custom bullet seaters and low and behold they wont work. The bumb fucks sent me the short stem custom bullet seaters(now I'm out for three stems and shipping back). I called them and talked to the guy that makes them and was told that I was wrong and they should work, Yata , yata yata. I sent them back again with shells, bullest, usless seating stems, and a factory loaded CORBON 300 gr bullet for dimintions. I get the them all back two weeks later including the usless seating stems and finaly a single long stem seater . I'm jumping for joy now because I can finally load up some rounds(even though I'm out three usless seaters and shipping back two times). Now after I loaded some 300 gr bullets I go the load up a few 500 grain bullets and the damb seating stem wont adjust. Ya, the saeting stem had expanded in the seating die. So needles to say I had to get a machinist friend to look at the dies and the seating stem to make one that is correct. Still waiting for that to be done too. Dont think that the CH4D dies are perfect either. Yep you guessed it, the bullet seater is wrong too. The ch4d set up is a little nicer with a mandrel but it has a parabolic curv on the inside and it deforms the lead on my 300 gr heads, so once again my machinist buddy has it to tweek the seater. Yep if it wernt for bad luck I'd have no luck at all.  I do understand that this is a wild cat of sorts so I'm not pissed at anyone. Just not happy about the way somethings are done. Thanks for letting me ramble on. sorry if it boared anyone! 
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Marty mentioned using a seating stem from a 44 Magnum die. |
I swap around seating stems all the time, most all my dies are CH brand. For instance, the 338 Spectre with the spitzer bullets is one seater (that came with it) but the lead nose RN 300 gr Hawk needs a rounded seater, so I use one from my 7.62x25 dies for that one. The long bullet needs only a short seater ... For the 458, the cartridge was designed to use the 300 gr Barnes X SPITZER, thus the shape of the seater. However, using the seater from a more rounded bullet works, and like Parrandero said, one from a .44 Mag (or .45-70 or anything else) will work just dandy. |
This explains a lot for me. I'm going to call CH4D today and get a seating stem for a .44 mag. Thanks Marty. |
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