very important question

[dombra]

Dear Gent
this may be a stupid question but it's VERY important to me-
Is it any way possible to use a Lee 8x57mm resizing, bullet seating die set to resize\seat cast bullets for a 308(7.62x51)
MANY MANY Thanks for your advice in advance

[Bullshop]

You could prolly use it to seat boolits but an 8mm die is not going to size a 308 case, at least not where you would want it to.
BIC/BS

[versifier]

While it would work to seat in an -06, I think it would be too long for a .308, but that doesn't mean you can't try it and see. Seating, especially if you are using a boolit with a flat point (meplat) can be done with an amazing variety of dies, as long as they are the same or greater in diameter as the case in question, and the same or lesser length. Not all seating dies are "full length", though, so that's why I said you have nothing to lose by trying.

Sizing, on the other hand would not work. Look at the shoulder and neck diameters for comparison. What are you going to do about the case neck? That's what you need to resize most to seat a bullet/boolit in the case. You'd be pushing a .323" expander ball down through it, depriming, then pulling it back through. Even if you didn't collapse the case neck, you would still have no way to return the neck to .30 cal size and would end up with an 8mm-08 case. Which, come to think of it, is an intriguing idea in and of itself, but not one that will be of any use to you.

Under Mil Rifles, someone posted recently about reloading 7.5 Swiss cases without any sizing at all. If the chamber neck is tight enough so that the brass didn't expand on firing to the point where the neck could no longer grip the bullet/boolit, it might be an option, especially with a large diameter cast boolit, but I don't know as I would necessarily reccommend it.

$20 will get you a new set of Lee RGB dies, and if you're doing 8mm, you've already got the right shell holder.

[georgeld]

No more than they cost why don't you just buy the proper dies??

[Char-Gar]

Yes sir that is a doosie of a question! You said it was important, so I hope you don't have any blue chips riding on the answer.