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Posted: 12/6/2016 1:08:54 PM EDT
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I've been wanting to build a wildcat barrel for awhile now but have always been detracted by the cost of dies.
The other day I got to thinking about a way to possibly side step that cost. I have started using lee collet dies exclusively for my bolt guns. looking at the design of them I could very easily modify one for the cartridge so that would solve the neck sizing, a bullet seater is a bullet seater. could I use a chamber reamer to make a shoulder bump die off of a piece of the blank? I know the chamber is larger than a sizer reamer but would it not work to bump the shoulder when needed? I even considered machining it to accept redding neck bushings. now is a body die that critical for a bolt gun? for example if I resized the brass in it's parent case's die prior to fireforming or used virgin brass shouldn't the brass stay the same as the chamber only needing the shoulder bumped after a few firings? Thanks for any help. Yes a off the shelf option would be easier but I'd really like to have something different, without the huge cost of dies. I can stomach the reamer but dies push it over the edge for me. |
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Sizer dies made from the barrel blank are common, just about every custom builder will supply a custom sizer die.
You could probably try a 7/8-4 threaded bolt. Cases work harden enough after about the fourth time fired that they need to be sized full length as the brass gets too hard to spring back enough for good function through the action. Somewhere around the 4th or 5th time fired they probably should be annealed, but I wonder how many people got through that work, especially for easy to buy common brass. But you'll be making brass, so you're going to learn that skill anyway. |
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Quoted:
Sizer dies made from the barrel blank are common, just about every custom builder will supply a custom sizer die. You could probably try a 7/8-4 threaded bolt. Cases work harden enough after about the fourth time fired that they need to be sized full length as the brass gets too hard to spring back enough for good function through the action. Somewhere around the 4th or 5th time fired they probably should be annealed, but I wonder how many people got through that work, especially for easy to buy common brass. But you'll be making brass, so you're going to learn that skill anyway. ok, and those sizer's are cut with the same chamber reamer correct? I would rather use a piece of the blank over a bolt to make sure it's concentric to the bore. that and I'd have to buy a straight reamer to ream the bolt the correct size for the pilot on the reamer. I wouldn't trust a drill bit for that and I don't have any tooling that would fit inside a hole that small to bore it on the lathe. |
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Quoted:
ok, and those sizer's are cut with the same chamber reamer correct? I would rather use a piece of the blank over a bolt to make sure it's concentric to the bore. that and I'd have to buy a straight reamer to ream the bolt the correct size for the pilot on the reamer. I wouldn't trust a drill bit for that and I don't have any tooling that would fit inside a hole that small to bore it on the lathe. Sizing dies and reloading presses are very much 'self centering.' One of the ways of making sure is by replacing the typical metal clip used to retain the shell holder in the ram face with an o-ring. This allows the shell holder to freely move as the shell aligns to the die. |
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Have you looked at CH4D? They specialize in Wildcat dies. They made me a very nice set of custom full length dies for my 6.5 X55 Improved for around $85, quite reasonable I thought.
They list over 2000 calibers. |
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Quoted:
Have you looked at CH4D? They specialize in Wildcat dies. They made me a very nice set of custom full length dies for my 6.5 X55 Improved for around $85, quite reasonable I thought. They list over 2000 calibers. i've heard of ch4d and knew they made custom dies but I would have never guessed they had what i'm looking for already. sure as shit they list a 6mm-223 improved 30 and $88 bucks isn't bad at all. you sir have got the ball rolling! |
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You may also consider a case that simply has to be shortened to fit the AR mag.
One of the more interesting wildcats I saw was the 225 Winchester shortened about an inch to fit the mag. This way, you can use cheap standard dies, shortened of course, and maybe cheap 6.8 spc brass/reworked 30-30 brass. |
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Quoted:
You may also consider a case that simply has to be shortened to fit the AR mag. One of the more interesting wildcats I saw was the 225 Winchester shortened about an inch to fit the mag. This way, you can use cheap standard dies, shortened of course, and maybe cheap 6.8 spc brass/reworked 30-30 brass. This would be in a bolt gun. I want to build a bolt gun that I can get some more trigger time behind for less money. The new nosler 105gr 6mm RDF bullets show great promise in the BC department. even if I could only get it up to 2750 ft/sec it would skunk my current load in my .308, all of that with less powder, cheaper bullets, and less recoil. My son is already wanting "a sniper rifle" like dad's (he has his little savage rascal bolt action) so in another couple years i'd like to have my shooting buddy along side me and I would need something that wouldn't beat him up. I've long wanted a .223ai to fill that role but the 6mm should up the ante' and give me easily another 200yds reach and better in the wind. The easy route would be to build a 6br or one of it's varients (6brx, dasher, ect..) but the appeal of having something different and essentially free brass sounds good to me. If the cartridge worked out well, I could spin up another barrel with a lighter profile and toss it in a light stock with a lighter optic and viola their first deer rifle. I'm sure the 40' ackley shoulder would work well but I figure if I need to have a custom reamer to set up the throat for the 105's why not have it ground with the "proven accurate" 30' shoulder |
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my plan is to use the .223 case blown out to the same dimensions as the .223ai but with a 30' shoulder, necked to 6mm with the freebore setup for 105 nosler rdf's where the boat tail starts at the bottom of the neck. I would use a 1:8 twist blank.
I personally use lee collet neck dies for my bolt rifles but you do still need to set the shoulder back periodically. I would shorten a .243 win lee collet die for neck sizing. |
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