[Frost84]

Nobody is telling me I have to have small base dies? I thought with an autoloader small base dies are necessary. The Lee dies seem cheap enough but I only want to have to buy dies once. I take it the crimp die is necessary from all the talk on here. Somebody point me in the right direction.

 

[paulosantos]

Check out this thread.

http://68forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7174

I use the regular Hornady and RCBS Dies and they work fine. For the X-Treme barrels, you may want to go with the RCBS Small Base Dies.

 

[borderpatrol]

The crimp dies is not necessary but many people use them just for insurance. As long as you have .002" to .003" neck tension your bullet should not move.

I'm not a fan of Lee dies or small base dies so will not recommend them. Just about any other makers standard dies will work fine. I always buy Redding or Forster whenever I can.

 

[MCA]

Check out this thread.

http://68forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7174

I use the regular Hornady and RCBS Dies and they work fine. For the X-Treme barrels, you may want to go with the RCBS Small Base Dies.

Why would this be as opposed to the Hornady? I'm getting into this from ground zero and have the Xtreme on order and a brand new Hornady L-N-L AP at my feet in the box (but no dies yet) so I need the "why's" as well as the recommendations.

 

[marinesg1012]

Constructor recommends the Small base dies... I dont know what Tim uses...

 

[Strawdawg]

I recall that Constructor said the small rifle die sizing was a better match for the DMR-C chamber that they employ.

 

[yblow]

If you only want to buy dies once then but redding dies. There the best and have a lifetime guarantee. I just tried a hornady die and it broke on the first pull and had a lot of play in the bullet seater die. Plus redding is made in America with American people and American machinery!!!

 

[constructor]

Nobody is telling me I have to have small base dies? I thought with an autoloader small base dies are necessary. The Lee dies seem cheap enough but I only want to have to buy dies once. I take it the crimp die is necessary from all the talk on here. Somebody point me in the right direction.

SAAMI chambers are .422 in diameter if they are not wallowed out, The DMR-C in the Xtreme and MK68 is .423.
Auto loaders need .004 to operate reliably or even .006 if sustained fire as in a carbine class or combat.
A new SSA case is apx .415 works fine, If I was buying new dies I would buy those that size brass to .418 or less, .004 under the .422 SAAMI diameter. I started out using Redding but now use RCBS small base because the cases were getting stuck in the chamber and the Reddings were only sizing the brass to .420.
Forster and Redding usually don't size brass down as much, they are usually aimed at the benchrest crowd shooting bolt guns. I have had several calls about Redding dies not sizing the brass small enough.

Tim uses Redding but called me about tight cases

 

[David]

Why would this be as opposed to the Hornady? I'm getting into this from ground zero and have the Xtreme on order and a brand new Hornady L-N-L AP at my feet in the box (but no dies yet) so I need the "why's" as well as the recommendations.

This is probably two months too late, but I have a set of Hornady dies from right when they became available for the 6.8 and I measure my several-times-fired-and-resized loaded Remington cases as:
Widest part of case near extraction groove: .417"
Case immediately behind shoulder: .400"

I stumbled into this part of the forum and almost had a heart attack wondering if all my 6.8 reloads were going to be too large to fit in the Xtreme I have on order. I raced to the bench with a caliper and breathed a sigh of relief on the assumption that the dimensions listed above will fit fine.

I surely didn't need more rounds to pull; I already have a mammoth project of pulling a vast number of 9mm reloads loaded at the maximum for the earliest Vitavouri published data, which turned out to be fantastically overcharged and dangerous to fire.

 

[Red Monkey]

After reading the above post I decided to measure the base of my resized brass...they were all .418 so I guess I'm good to go.
Just for the record I'm using Lee dies. When I ordered my 6.8 dies Lee's were the only ones I could find. I reload for several calibers using Lee and RCBS dies. I even have an old set of Bonanza benchrest dies for my .308. If you set up your dies properly they should make quality ammo. If they don't then it's usually 'operator error' and not the falt of the dies.

 

[rcrandall]

I was reading this thread yesterday and thought maybe I should measure my re-sized SSA cases. I use the Redding dies and also have one of Constructor's 12 twist 3 groove barrels. I haven't had any issues with stuck cases. I resized three SSA cases tonight and measured them, all were under 1.678" in length. At the bottom the cases the bodies measured .4180, .4175, and .4175. I hand cycled them through AR15 Performance upper, smooth as silk, no sticking. Maybe some of the Redding dies have different dimensions?

 

[Test_User]

In case anyone has noticed before Constructor is a instigating prick. Dare one of you to trying calling him that.

Cough cough he kind of took two different situations one was tagging me for being naturally paranoid of Mr Murphy!

The Xtreme barrel, as C has already pointed out, in the spots where most auto gun get tight with feeding are actually looser. The reason he recommends and I agree with using SBD is if you need or plan to be doing a large amount of very fast pace high volume shooting. Carbine class for instance. It is added insureance that you will have no issue as things starty to get gummed up with carbon and gunk.

As the Xtreme was put out as a combat focused upper the recommendation for small base dies is proper. In that type of shooting you want to take zerop chances. Most likely you would have no issue at all even in that type of shooting with regualr dies but why take a chance.

Many people are using the xtremes with normal dies without issue.,

THe same recomendation would stand for any 6.8 AR used for that typeo of shooting. IT IS NOT XTREME SPECIFIC.


Infact the XTREME is setup specifcally so it works very well with both handloads and factory ammo. Its headspace is kept near the min and the leade diameter size is reduced both of which help with keeping the bullet in line with the bore's centerline and reducing ther amount of case stretch and work hardening. Areas such as the base and neck diameters of the chamber are actually a tad larger than spec which helps with feeding with hand laoded cases that have a number of firing and were not sized as much.

This end up giving you a barrel and chamber that not only maximizes accuracy but also improves feeding. Constrcutor shoudl get full credit for the chamber as he has learned very well from all of my teachings. Way to go grasshopper!!

Seriosuly now, the chamber used in the Xtreme was purposely made to work very well with all ammo and give maximum relaiblity yet still keep accuracy near max. It is a improvment over the SPCII and other chambers out there for both handloads and factory ammo. Infact is is proably one of the best for factory ammo. Our chambers are held to very tight tolerances.

 

[BLACK LION]

Gotta love it.

 

[constructor]

In case anyone has noticed before Constructor is a instigating prick. Dare one of you trying that with him.

Cough cough he kind of took two different situations one was tagging me for being naturally paranoid of Mr Murphy!

The Xtreme barrel, as C has already pointed out, in the spots where most auto gun get tight with feeding are actually looser. The reason he recommends and I agree with using SBD is if you need or plan to be doing a large amount of very fast pace high volume shooting. Carbine class for instance. It is added insureance that you will have no issue as things starty to get gummed up with carbon and gunk.

As the Xtreme was put out as a combat focused upper the recommendation for small base dies is proper. In that type of shooting you want to take zerop chances. Most likely you would have no issue at all even in that type of shooting with regualr dies but why take a chance.

Many people are using the xtremes with normal dies without issue.,

THe same recomendation would stand for any 6.8 AR used for that typeo of shooting. IT IS NOT XTREME SPECIFIC.

Infact the XTREME is setup specifcally so it works very well with both handloads and factory ammo. Its headspace is kept near the min and the leade diameter size is reduced both of which help with keeping the bullet in line with the bore's centerline and reducing ther amount of case stretch and work hardening. Areas such as the base and neck diameters of the chamber are actually a tad larger than spec which helps with feeding with hand laoded cases that have a number of firing and were not sized as much.

This end up giving you a barrel and chamber that not only maximizes accuracy but also improves feeding. Constrcutor shoudl get full credit for the chamber as he has learned very well from all of my teachings. Way to go grasshopper!!

Seriosuly now, the chamber used in the Xtreme was purposely made to work very well with all ammo and give maximum relaiblity yet still keep accuracy near max. It is a improvment over the SPCII and other chambers out there for both handloads and factory ammo. Infact is is proably one of the best for factory ammo. Our chambers are held to very tight tolerances.

LOL. I knew you would be around shortly to give a dissertation, I just give a short bleep to save time and you fill in the blanks, works every time LOL

 

[constructor]

I was reading this thread yesterday and thought maybe I should measure my re-sized SSA cases. I use the Redding dies and also have one of Constructor's 12 twist 3 groove barrels. I haven't had any issues with stuck cases. I resized three SSA cases tonight and measured them, all were under 1.678" in length. At the bottom the cases the bodies measured .4180, .4175, and .4175. I hand cycled them through AR15 Performance upper, smooth as silk, no sticking. Maybe some of the Redding dies have different dimensions?

I have a set from 2004 that size the base to.420- .421 which is very close to max.

 

[Test_User]

Man does it suck when you realize you've been had!!!

 

[rcrandall]

I have a set from 2004 that size the base to.420- .421 which is very close to max.

I guess I just got lucky....I do have the RCBS SB die but the other day I got a case stuck (first time in years) and by the time I was able to get that case out of the die I broke the expander ball/decapping pin area. I need to contact RCBS and get a replacement.