Belted Magnum Brass

[ElkHunter]

Has anyone had any experience with Larry Willis' Innovative Technologies, Belted Magnum Collet Resizing Die? If so, i'd like to hear your experiences in amy size and caliber. I am reloading some 8mm brass and am wondering if this is a "must have" product or if the ordinary full lenght dies will work just fine. I am just starting to load the 8mm brass so no experience with it yet.

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

I've never had the problem he describes. I have 7mm STW brass I've loaded over 20 times with out the problem he describes.

 

[velvetant]

I've been reloading various belted mags for 25 years and have never had the problem he talks of

 

[Savage99]

So far in 54 years of handloading I have never needed such a product.

Learn to set your FL die right so as not to over size the brass headspace wise.

 

[kraky]

I have the die and have needed it for a friends custom built weatherby rifles. Not sure why they get "the bulge" but it was for real in those rifles.
The die worked perfectly and we "reclaimed" about 100 pieces of 270 wby and 300 wby the first night so it paid for itself in one nights use.
I have never needed to use the die for any of my rifles so I would say that the odds of needing one is very slim but if you do need it....it works perfectly and is very well made.

 

[Savage99]

Could it be that the FL dies for those Weatherby's was not made or set right?

 

[Delta Hunter]

75% of my reloading up to now has involved belted magnum cases and I've never had such a problem. Wait and see if you have this so-called bulge problem before putting money into a die you may never need.

 

[kraky]

FYi--there was nothing wrong with the dies as I use them on other rifles all the time. It's my feeling the chambers were cut pretty loose allowing the brass to expand a bit more than normal. Then when squeazing down the sides the bulge appeared. If I remember right if you measure virgin belted brass just above the belt it will measure right about .509. Check it out later on after a sizing or two and it will most likely measure .512-.513. This isn't a problem in most guns but if you get a bulge up to .514 you'll start to have a problem (in my experience). The belted magnum die will take your fired brass back to virgin dimensions. This probably isn't important to a bolt rifle but I can see it being a good thing with a auto loader like a BAR or perhaps some custom military/police auto loader.
BTW--the guns in question are made by a very famous maker of super lightweight rifles yet still shoot tremendously well. My friend has no intention of getting rid of the rifles....we just have to live with the persoanlity trait and the new die gets us around it perfectly.

 

[Guest]

I think the issue here is really the prohibitive cost of the die. As I recall, it's up around $90-100 for just this one die. If you need it, it's worth the cost, for sure. If you don't, it is a capital waste, pardon the pun. So the folks who are saying don't buy it until you need it are right on in this situation. I've been loading belted stuff a while without issue, myself, and don't own one of these, though I've looked at the information on their site.

 

[kiddekop]

Has anyone had any experience with Larry Willis' Innovative Technologies, Belted Magnum Collet Resizing Die? If so, i'd like to hear your experiences in amy size and caliber. I am reloading some 8mm brass and am wondering if this is a "must have" product or if the ordinary full lenght dies will work just fine. I am just starting to load the 8mm brass so no experience with it yet.

I bought one several years ago after having some chambering problem with some of my 300wm well used brass,took care of the problem.

 

[RogueRiver]

I bought my 1st magnum rifle this year, and thought why not get the inno. tech die. First you have to size the brass thru a regular die anyways. Then I tried the inno. tech. die and on my press the ram goes to high and hits the bottom of the die pushing the brass to high in the inno tech die causeing the collect to make deep scratches in the brass. I have used it on 4 peices of brass and saw no point.... my 2 cents

 

[kraky]

RogueRiver....I don't understand how your press can go "too high" and cause a problem. I just looked at my die and see that the shellholder has to hit the die gently to work so I can't figure out a problem with "too high". Are your sure you had the collet on right with the chamfer towards the mouth of the case and the thick end on the bottom by the belt?
If so this is an expensive die and I'd get ahold of the maker and find out if there is a defect. These dies are pretty popular and many times in the past there's been a bit of a wait getting one. I think if your die is defective they should fix it....if not and you don't like it you could sell it easily on E-bay. I've never had a problem working with mine.

 

[RogueRiver]

maybe I'm doing something else wrong. The directions said you want a space between the shell holder and the bottom of the die. I will try it again tonight after work