300blk Lee Die vs Hornady case Gauge

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  • Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,282
    HoCo
    I just used a sharpie as well as lighter
    The sharpie shows it better but the interference appears to be in the middle. This is a case that will only pass (barely) if I shove the case in hard with my thumb.

    Maybe some rough tool marks?

    Before and after photos
    2086e918129551f4eb736a9b260e64c4.jpg


    63ed7405aaae0ea5f5f7955f63231280.jpg



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,815
    I just used a sharpie as well as lighter
    The sharpie shows it better but the interference appears to be in the middle. This is a case that will only pass (barely) if I shove the case in hard with my thumb.

    Maybe some rough tool marks?

    Before and after photos
    2086e918129551f4eb736a9b260e64c4.jpg


    63ed7405aaae0ea5f5f7955f63231280.jpg



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Are those marks from the chamber or the gauge?
     

    Doco Overboard

    Ultimate Member
    Get a dry stick or a wooden dowel. Pulverize the end of it a little bit and soak it in kerosene, lamp oil or lighter fluid.
    Smoke the die with it and set it up.
    Spray a case fired from your rifle with Rem oil or Pam or case lube.
    Size the cartridge and check the transfer.
    Smudge a case on clean and dry chamber that seats properly.
    Compare the pattern between the two for obvious differences in the contact pattern
    Take a case that after being resized doesn't drop right in the chamber like it’s supposed two. Smoke it and compare to other examples.
    Then, take a tight cartridge that doesn’t fit Without a thumb press, smudge and allow the action to resize itself when going into battery.
    Compare all the examples, adjust die to allow chambering then follow up with flairing the case mouth To see what’s preventing the case from entering the die or the chamber.
    A properly sized case should drop in and out of the chamber without help.
     
    Last edited:

    ironhead7544

    Active Member
    Oct 27, 2018
    188
    The 300 blackout is the fussiest cartridge I have ever loaded for.

    Get the small base die. Remove the sizer ball. You already have the M die. I found that the bullet seater die I had was seating bullets slightly crooked. A lot of them did not enter the gauge. Picked up a Hornady seater with the sliding collar. That fixed it. I use the Lee Collet crimp die, light crimp.

    In certain situations where the case was fired in another rifle, you may have to size first in a regular FL die and then again in the SB die. The gauge will tell you.
     

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