.308 Win. Powder-thru-expander spud

Ian

Notorious member
Needed one of these for my new Lee pro auto breech lock 4-hole progressive, so I took some SS round bar and turned it down, drilled, bored, reamed the inner taper to prevent bridging, and now I can use this in the rifle charging die body at station 2 and leave station 4 for available for a Factory Crimp. The press was never intended for rifle cartridges bigger than .223 but I figured out ways around that, including how to make the case feeder work.

8798
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Well done!
I don’t use the lathe even every week but there are times it is just handy to have. Projects just appear from nowhere sometimes.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Thanks guys, it works really well but took me about four hours to complete so there may not be any more, even for me! This is the first time I've worked stainless steel in the lathe, so it was mostly an experiment in speeds, feeds, depth of cut, rake angle, and avoiding work-hardening it.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
SS is our LEAST favorite material to work with. You need sharp tools, positive feed, and you just can't get in a hurry.
 
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Ian

Notorious member
The swarf is ungodly, too. Drilling a 7/16" hole down a 3/16" pilot at 200 rpm was about all my little benchtop lathe could handle while keeping the cut going, especially at the start of each "peck".
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
Yeah, it isn't that most SS is hard, it isn't, it's the tough gumminess that is the problem. And like titanium it doesn't soak up the heat from cutting very well so all the heat ends up in the tool.
 
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waco

Springfield, Oregon
Maybe someone should send you some material that is easier to work with than SS...:rolleyes:
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Got any 1144 kicking around Walter? Once Keith got me working with that stuff I haven’t looked back. Machines about as easy as 12L14 but doesn’t rust as you turn it!

I have done little with SS. No need for it in most situations for me and I don’t need the headaches. Did make my flycutter from some 1045 and it wasn’t bad at all.
 

Ian

Notorious member
"Somebody" did send me quite a bit of various 1000-series steel round bar scraps too, but I was looking for something a little more abrasion-resistant and wanted to see what the material in that small frb packed full was loke to work. Aside from having to turn it down so far for this particular part, it wasn't too bad and looks to be pretty durable. I still don't know how tough it will be to thread but I bet not fun.

If you find any 1144 scraps that would be the bomb, but I kinda doubt its spec'd very often for production parts. I'll be happy to take the money you saved me with all this other stuff and buy my own 1144.:)
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
How hard was it to get the length right? I made a powder drop for the 300 BO for the Dillon and it took me some time to really understand how long it needed to be. Needs to get the powder measure to cam over but not long enough to lock it up.

I have never used a Lee progressive so I have no reference point.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
Minor thread drift - as we clean up the shop before we move into our new building I plan to cull out lots of scrap and will be glad to send out care packages to those who might be interested. We've collected some more aluminum flat stock and a whole lot of 1018 steel round stock in different diameters. Not much 1144 as I haven't made any dies for a while. I'll post a who-wants-it list when that happens.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I copied the depth of the hole in the top and the location of the outside shoulder (between the biggest diameter and middle) pretty close as those are the two critical points for the powder actuator stroke length. If you don't get those right it either short-strokes or doesn't return the measure drum fully. I've worked with a 450 before and Lee has a similar pte die arrangement.

The real trick for the .308 is making sure the die body guides the case really close to center so the spud finds the center of the case mouth. .30 caliber is probably the smallest practical size to make this way because the hole for the powder has to be a certain minimum size to not bridge powder, and that of course limits how "pointy" the spud can be made. I got lucky with the Lee rifle charging die because the inside is about .480" and that giudes the case pretty well.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Good deal on the thru expander. I have thought about doing this for the Dillon, but I don't
(yet?) load large quantities of rifle ammo with cast, so the single stage has been adequate
for that, so far. The improvement would be to make the step "flair" like a Lyman M die for
the Dillon.

Wouldn't it actually have been easier for the press rifle conversion to add some simple extensions to the
press towers and make some new holes in the handle to relocate the links for the press and a ram extension?
Seems like a one time, fairly minor change to the press would increase the length of the pillars a bit, and a slight
increase in ram length and maybe stroke rather than cutting up the dies for each caliber you want to reload on it.
Not entirely certain if the link mod for longer stroke is required, but seems likely that the full ram travel
is already used for the existing press height. Three column spacers, and this ram
extension might have gotten you there.

8941

Or.....buy a Dillon 550, of course, but they are getting pretty expensive these days.

Bill
 
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