VLD vs Lyman M die

[nitrohuck]

So I have been using the VLD chamfer tool on all of my cases for bolt rifles, and am wondering if the Lyman M die is a better alternative to opening up the case mouth to allow boolits to seat easily...

Mostly this is for 3006 and other .30cal cartridges, I am just wondering if it's worth the cost, the VLD tool seems to do just fine and doesn't shave off any lead upon seating.

[Dan Cash]

I use both. I could get by without the VLD chamfer tool but it definately enhances accurate cast and paper patched bullet seating.

[country gent]

The chamfer tool removes burrs that can be an issue on the case mouth. The M die expands the case mouth so cast bullets arnt "swaged down" to neck dia. If your loads are acceptable and not giving any issues then keep doing what you are. The M die is a slightly diffrent form of the expander ball in your existing die set.

[nitrohuck]

Cheers guys,

for .309" sized boolits I don't think my cases are swaging the lead down at all, however I am about to start using .311" boolits and am thinking an M die might be necessary at this point,

Remembered I had an M die already for 6.5mm so I called Lyman today and bought both the .30 and .31 plugs from them to swap out in the die body, will try them out and see if it makes any difference down range.

[reed1911]

I have to say the universal die with small and large plugs is a heck of a deal. I prefer it over the M type dies only due to having 1 die and two plugs goes from 17 to 50. Less dies to keep up with. Depending on how you stack the expanders and adjustment screw, you can do anything from a .25 ACP case to the ultra mag length cases.

[dromia]

The universal expander die and the Lyman M die are two different tools that do two different jobs so as comparable as apples and oranges.

[bhn22]

The VLD reamer and the M dies aren't even related to each other. The reamer chamfers the case mouth to match the boat tail angle of a VLD design bullet. That's it. The whole idea is to not blemish the boat tail, which could affect accuracy with expensive match bullets.

The M die does much more. It expands the case neck to a fixed concentric ID, and flares the case mouth in a special way to help you seat your bullets straighter, and without damaging the bullets base. Since the neck is expanded before you seat the bullet, the bullet isn't doing double duty as a mandrel. So it seats straighter (IMO), and is unlikely to be swaged down slightly by a tight case neck. Remember that all cases are not the same, and that some are thicker in any given area than others. This is where people have problems with Lees FCD.

[nitrohuck]

Just used the M Die to seat some .311" boolits.

Used the 31M plug and can say it definitely seemed like a better way to go. I neck size my -06 cases for my 03a3 and noticed that even .309" boolits would get shaved lead and look a bit mangled if I pulled them back out, with the M die that seems to have stopped.

I am going to assume this probably also helps with concentric neck tension on the boolit? The Lee neck collet die certainly seems to do a great job, but then running the case through the M-die seems like it can only help out further with concentricity,

[Outpost75]

I use the VLD chamfer, and also the RCBS cast bullet expander, for which I have several expander plugs and rods set up i different diameters, .308, .309, .310, .311, to cover the range of milsurps I load for. I like to lightly flare the case mouth to hand-start the bullet to the top of the GC or part way up the base band of a plainbased bullet, and expand the rest of the neck so that it is not more than 0.002" smaller than the bullet shank, using a .308 plug with .310 bullet, etc.

With soft bullets such as 1:30 or 1:40 in plainbased, subsonic gallery loads, a full thickness neck military. 30-'06 case, which has become work hardened after reloading several times, if not expanded down to where the base of the bullet will rest, will size or deform the bullet. For my military bolt and vintage sniper rifle match loads I outside neck turn case necks to 0.012" wall thickess and re-anneal case mouths every 5 firings. This makes a difference.