just how hard to convert a die to bushing ?

R

retired

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i have a 308 win sb die i need to run about 2000
pcs of ix brass thru, and i do not like buttons.
is this a practical task for a one of,
or should i send it out to have it done.
as my name says i have the time.
thanks
 
OK..... somebody has to say it and I'm used to being the fall guy....

"If You Have To Ask..... It's Impractical"

There, was that impolitic?

not PC enough?

mean?

:)
 
no
i had to ask as i had never done one
i bought one
i have done lots of stuff on a lathe, but not everything.

alinwa said:
OK..... somebody has to say it and I'm used to being the fall guy....

"If You Have To Ask..... It's Impractical"

There, was that impolitic?

not PC enough?

mean?

:)
Click to expand...
 
Most commercial dies are through-hardened, so you'll probably eat some tooling if you try. It's probably more cost-effective to buy a new bushing die.
 
If I was loading that many rounds I would recommend that you have the die Melonite treated. I have machined a few Redding, Lyman, and RCBS dies. They didn't machine like a heat treated part.
 
Why not just hone the neck out to the diameter you want??? No bushings needed and no expander either.
 
because it is a sb die, not a std fl die.
no need to sb size every time,
so not a reasonable idea.
and when done to a std fl die it limits its use to that gun and that lot of brass.
which is why they make bushing dies.
i have a bunch of 30 cal bushings.....
msalm said:
Why not just hone the neck out to the diameter you want??? No bushings needed and no expander either.
Click to expand...
 
well i finished my bushing die today
instead of my large lathe i used my small
visa card and a shop called amazon
here is the completed die!
 

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Butch Lambert said:
If I was loading that many rounds I would recommend that you have the die Melonite treated. I have machined a few Redding, Lyman, and RCBS dies. They didn't machine like a heat treated part.
Click to expand...

I have 'altered' more than a few and never encountered one that had enough hardening to be a problem with HSS tooling.

Most did not appear to have ANY hardening.

The sliding sleeve in Redding seating dies is easily converted to AI.

I have some older neck sizing dies that also use a sleeve and Kelbly's had no problem converting them.

Since my AI barrels are tight neck handling those carefully prepared shells gently after neck turning is very important.

Converting a 'regular' die to use sizing inserts would greatly depend if there is actually enough extra metal to bore the
large recess to hold an insert, and then being able to hold the insert in position.

And of course replacing metal is a lot harder than cutting it away.
 
Last edited:
I had one done

many years ago and it looked to me like the guy who did it annealed the area he fit the bushing into. The die worked well. Reading die.

Pete
 
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