Can someone tell me what expander dies do and are they really necessary? I've reloaded for a 243, 270 WCF and 375 H&H. I've never used one. I do trim, deburr and chamfer the mouth of my cases every time I reload them. I'm going to a 505 Gibbs and the expander die is part of the set. Is that only if you use lead bullets?

Thanks much,

Chuck

They pretty much come with straight wall case sets. You can bell the mouth just a tad to get the bullet start ez. Ya....probably pretty much used for lead bullets.
I have some lyman M dies that have a "step" to do the same thing. I use them to take wrinkles out of virgin bulk brass. I actually experimented with leaving the case mouth slightly flared thinking it might align the bullet with the bore as the brass laid in the chamber....but I could not see any gain in accuracy.

Thanks Kraky, the RCBS 3 die set for the 505 Gibbs has a separate expanding die. Does that mean the resizing die doesn't have an expander ball? Also Cabela's states that the Lee Classic Turret Press (I have one) will handle 50 BMG.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas...37a&_requestid=69755

I'm guessing I just have to have a couple of Lee Turrets tapped for the larger RCBS Gibbs dies for it to work?

Appreciate any help,

Thanks,
Chuck

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
Also, Cabela's states that the Lee Classic Turret Press (I have one) will handle 50 BMG.

Lee says that the press, with the auto-index disabled, will accommodate cases as long as the 50 BMG.

Will the ram on your press accept the 50 BMG shellholder insert? You'll need to talk to a machinist concerning indexing the turret for proper alignment during machining. It may be time intensive, considering the alignment surface is threaded.

There is very cheap LEE Universal Expander Die from .22Hornet to .458Win.

The Sinclair web site explains the uses of expander mandrels quite well.

If you ever need a custom one, give Buffalo Bore in Northern Idaho a call. Good work.