Well, I finally broke down and order a Type S bushing die for my 338/378 Wby. I've been having trouble with neck tension off and on since I had it rebarreled so hopefully this will bring an end to all of that. Plus hopefully it'll dramatically cut down on the wear and tear on brass. Too bad the dang thing cost $115!!! But if it's like everything else they make, it'll be fantastic. It was strictly a custom order item, but apparently they had made one for someone else in the past and had one in stock. They only had the neck die so I went ahead and ordered that, but I plan to have them custom make me a FL type S die as well , and use it in conjunction with the competition shellholder set (the ones made in different sizes) so that I can control how far back I bump the shoulder (when needed). I haven't used them personally but I'd say that they've got to be one of the best inventions in handloading in a while. Problem with the FL die is that they haven't made one apparently, so they'll charge me the custom die charge of $115 or whatever, plus a $50 setup fee. Ugh.

Anyway, on to the point. I'd like to have a decent grasp on how this die is going to operate before it gets here. Is there anyone that uses them on a regular basis that can give me some tips, pointers, things to watch out for etc.? I'm not new to handloading, or neck sizing dies, and I've used the Redding bushing dies before but they were for a friend for his gun and I didn't really take the time go get that familiar with them at the time.

I have one, and the neck gets only partially resized, but the ammo produced is very concentric.

Go over to http://www.6br.com and get JLC phone # he will convert you standard FL die over to a bushing die for about $40. he will also do a body die for around $60. Alot of dies Redding doesn't make into bushing type dies so Jim is the best option and he has been doing it for a long time started out doing just for the BR guys years ago then his business expanded. Another option is to get a shoulder bumping bushing die from http://www.neiljones.com runs alittle over $200 for his complete set plus any extra bushings. My last sets from Neil was for a 300wby and 30-378wby they come either for an arbor or threated press. Well good luck.

Thanks for the info Tom, unfortunately the FL die that I do have is just a standard RCBS die so either way I'm probably just going to have to shell out the money for it.

You can send that RCBS die to Jim and he will convert that to a bushing type die for $40 alot cheaper than going with a Redding. I'm not sure but isn't the 30/378wby the same case as the 337/378wby just necked up. Sinclair shows they make a Redding 30-378wby type S FL die for around $62 all you would need would be the 338 cal bushings.

10-4 Tom, I'll look into that. Yes Redding does make a 30/378 Type S FL die. I checked with them a while back and from what I can tell the through hole for the neck is large enough for the 338. The reason I didn't get it is because I thought that the contour of the should might change ever so slightly when going up from 30 to 338 and that using that die for resizing would result in a "funky" shoulder. If that makes sense. Not to mention that the price on the Type S FL die is still $96. The die shows up in Sinclairs chart in the $45 column but I'm 99% sure that's an error and I also wasn't able to actually find the Type S FL die on any of the drop down menus.

quote:

Originally posted by Kingfisher:
10-4 Tom, I'll look into that. Yes Redding does make a 30/378 Type S FL die. I checked with them a while back and from what I can tell the through hole for the neck is large enough for the 338. The reason I didn't get it is because I thought that the contour of the should might change ever so slightly when going up from 30 to 338 and that using that die for resizing would result in a "funky" shoulder. If that makes sense. Not to mention that the price on the Type S FL die is still $96. The die shows up in Sinclairs chart in the $45 column but I'm 99% sure that's an error and I also wasn't able to actually find the Type S FL die on any of the drop down menus.

If the lenght from the shoulders is the same on the 30-378 and 338-378 the overall dia of the bushing has nothing to do with it. Kind of hard to explain but I know what you mean and I wouldn't worry about it. You might want to call Sinclair as they have stuff in their catalog that isn't in there on line one they show the redding type s FL die for a 30-3378wby as a category 3 part #77547 may help. Well good luck.

I honestly don't know why anyone buys anything other than Lee or Redding dies. Opposite ends of the spectrum, but both work. I really don't like RCBS.

I'm a big RCBS fan, and I don't mind Lee either. The reason I haven't gone the Redding route in the past is because I just didn't need to, and RCBS customer service is second to none. However, before I hijack my own thread I'll get back to the point.

Per Redding the through-hole on the 30/378 bushing dies is .365"-.366" "approximately". The OD of the necks on my fired cases specs out to right at .359", so that definitely opens up the option of using the 30/378 FL bushing die. (Still pondering the option of a custom die by the gentlemen mentioned by Mr. Holland)