The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

A couple of questions for the clever people.

Reloading dies in particular bushing neck sizing dies. Do they need to be made from mild/stainless steel. I use lots of Lewilson dies some of them are mild steel if you keep them lightly oiled they are fine the newer ones are stainless. Do they need to be made of steel why not Aluminium the bushing does the work.

Do you think the Wilson dies are cut with a reamer or are they machined to hold the base of the case inline with the bushing.

Do they use normal chamber reamers to cut sizing dies or are they different.

I would be worried about the aluminium body being damaged over time, you could always experiment with something like Keronite to give a hard finish and maintain dimensional integrity however it would need some experimenting and somehow I doubt it would be cost effective.

ovenpaa wrote:I would be worried about the aluminium body being damaged over time, you could always experiment with something like Keronite to give a hard finish and maintain dimensional integrity however it would need some experimenting and somehow I doubt it would be cost effective.

I don't have any experience with Keronite (just had to Google it), but I've done a lot of tooling development work in a past life with other hard coatings such as TiN/TiAlN & DLC and I have always found that the substrate material strength is still a critical factor when there is large compressive and impact loads. I.e. Carbide is still brittle to impact and shear loads, while softer steels/alloys/non-ferrous metals are still susceptible to compressive/tensile loads. I've found these are good only against abrasive and adhesive wear (which is why TiN drills and coated milling tools are so good). When under compression/tension/shear then there is no substitute for picking the correct substrate material, so a good die made of a tough tool steel that has high vanadium/other carbide structure will be only beatable by carbide in terms of longevity.

Does any one know if the Wilson dies are cut using a caliber specific reamer or are they just machined to hold the case square to the bushing. I can have a measure but before I do just thought some one might know.

Are normal full length dies cut with a chamber reamer or are the dimensions different closer tolerance or slacker tolerance for instance.

Does any one know if the Wilson dies are cut using a caliber specific reamer or are they just machined to hold the case square to the bushing. I can have a measure but before I do just thought some one might know.

Are normal full length dies cut with a chamber reamer or are the dimensions different closer tolerance or slacker tolerance for instance.

All these gunsmiths and machinists and none of them know if reloading dies are cut with a reamer I am surprised or may be its a trade secret.

Alpha1 wrote:

Does any one know if the Wilson dies are cut using a caliber specific reamer or are they just machined to hold the case square to the bushing. I can have a measure but before I do just thought some one might know.

Are normal full length dies cut with a chamber reamer or are the dimensions different closer tolerance or slacker tolerance for instance.

All these gunsmiths and machinists and none of them know if reloading dies are cut with a reamer I am surprised or may be its a trade secret.

Why don't you email LE Wilson and ask them!

Alpha1 wrote:


Quote:

Does any one know if the Wilson dies are cut using a caliber specific reamer or are they just machined to hold the case square to the bushing. I can have a measure but before I do just thought some one might know.

Are normal full length dies cut with a chamber reamer or are the dimensions different closer tolerance or slacker tolerance for instance.




All these gunsmiths and machinists and none of them know if reloading dies are cut with a reamer I am surprised or may be its a trade secret.

Why don't you email LE Wilson and ask them!

I might just do that blu.

But my question about full length reloading dies and do they use reamers no body knows the answer to that yet they can build a rifle from scratch chamber reaming and the whole ten yards or may be my question is not worthy of there time.

No worries Ill measure them up my self.

Alpha1 wrote:

Alpha1 wrote:


Quote:

Does any one know if the Wilson dies are cut using a caliber specific reamer or are they just machined to hold the case square to the bushing. I can have a measure but before I do just thought some one might know.

Are normal full length dies cut with a chamber reamer or are the dimensions different closer tolerance or slacker tolerance for instance.




All these gunsmiths and machinists and none of them know if reloading dies are cut with a reamer I am surprised or may be its a trade secret.

Why don't you email LE Wilson and ask them!

I might just do that blu.

But my question about full length reloading dies and do they use reamers no body knows the answer to that yet they can build a rifle from scratch chamber reaming and the whole ten yards or may be my question is not worthy of there time.

No worries Ill measure them up my self.

Well maybe like you they don't know the answer. Hey I can build rifles from scratch and chamber ream, I don't know much about LE Wilson dies though or how they are made. Don't assume stuff about folks just because your question wasn't answered.

Blu is right, I have no idea how a Wilson case holder is made, my guess is either with a dedicated taper reamer that is designed specifically for the case as opposed to the rifle, or by CNC. If I was to build a few thousand it would be by CNC and then finish honed.

My only experience of home built stuff is building/modifying neck sizing dies. I have not built FLS dies and would expect there to be issues in that a die built this way will be exactly the same size as the chamber and any brass formed in it will spring back very slightly so you could end up with a case that is slightly too big. There are ways of getting over this such as material choice, heat treatment using reamers built for the job and so on however I have no real experience of them.

Fair comment thanks for replying.