I was reading about the Larry Willis collet die for belted magnums tonight. What he said seemed to make sense. Anyone have any experience with this particular die?

My experience is that I have had one for several years and have never had to use it. It seemed like a good idea to me as well when I bought it.

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Originally posted by Grumulkin:
My experience is that I have had one for several years and have never had to use it. It seemed like a good idea to me as well when I bought it.

I'm pretty much in the same boat. It seemed a good idea. I used it once, and thought it was a pain in the posterior - shaving brass off the outside of the cases (if memory serves). That particular die has been sitting on the shelf ever since.

- mike

I have one and use it as needed as it does remove the slight bulge ahead of the belt. I have not had any problem with brass shavings, I just put a little Imperial die sizing wax on the case and the die and there is not a problem. It is sort of a pain and does add a few minutes to a reloading session, but the reloaded cartridges chamber like factory new. I do not use it every time, only as needed (the "top end" of the die is used as a guage to determine if there is a bulge above the belt).

Karl

I shoot belted magnums. I loaded some of my brass 18-20 times and have never needed one.

Thanks for the answers, I've not had any problems. I FL size my hunting loads in my .300 Weatherby. After reading about the die it seemed to make sense. But I was thinking it would be another tool that made sense but never got used that much.

A belted case is no different from a rimless, rimmed, semi-rimmed, or rebated case when it comes to the pressure ring which develops at the point where the brass thickness at the head tapers into the wall and the brass is no longer thick enough to resist deformation against the walls of the chamber. If deformation in any of these cases occurs to the point that they will not re-enter the chamber without swaging down that pressure ring, then the head of the case is swelled way beyond salvagability from excessive pressure and the primer pocket will be expanded to the point that it will be too large to hold the primer securely.

Thus, this die is designed to resize ruined brass so that it will easily re-enter the chamber immediately prior to being discarded.

I own and reload for, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 rifles using belted cartridges in eight different chamberings, the oldest of which I have owned for 46 years, and have never owned or felt the most remote need for this by-definition useless type of die.

quote:

Originally posted by cessna:
I was reading about the Larry Willis collet die for belted magnums tonight. What he said seemed to make sense. Anyone have any experience with this particular die?

I looked at this die when I bought Larry's digital headspacing gauge. I really like the gauge but decided to hold off on the die. It just seemed to me that I had shot my 300WM brass more than the times where I should be having this bulge problem.

Since then I've shot the brass more and still haven't had a problem feeding. It seems this die may be a solution looking for a problem that at least for me I'm not experiencing. Now others from what I've read have found the die to be useful. But until I have a problem, I think I'll save my money.

quote:

I own and reload for, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 rifles using belted cartridges in eight different chamberings, the oldest of which I have owned for 46 years, and have never owned or felt the most remote need for this by-definition useless type of die.

well said

A friend of mine had this problem with a Texas Magnum in .338 Win years ago. The FL die was just too big in the base. A used die in another brand took care of the problem.