bottleneck carbide dies

[rrob692326]

Anyone have experience with them? I contacted a titanium nitrite company that will plate my RCBS small based 308 sizing die for 45 bucks. They say it adds only 3 /10,000 of an inch to it. What has been your take on using them? All I have heard was they still need lube. CH dies will plate it for 51 bucks, but only guarantees them if they are CH dies. Do you feel it was worth the cost to use them?
Thanks

[lefty o]

i have a set of carbide 223 die's, and they are supposed to last longer in high volume reloading, but still need lube. i have no idea what you are supposed to gain with a plating.

[country gent]

The titanium Nitrite is a hard plating we used it some on high wear punches and forms in stamping dies. In reloading dies there are some differences that need to be thought of. With short pistol straight walled cases 1//4" at the bottom of the die does the work, this is where the carbide ring is. and the actual taper on the case is very little. So very little of the case is actually in contact with the die when sizing. On a bottle necked rifle case thee is the body taper shoulder and neck all contact the die when sizing much more surface area is in contact with the die. A carbide die still requires lube in rifle calibers because of this added surface. The titanium will reduce wear on the dies but still requires some lube. Titanium Nitrate is a high abrasion resistance coating. Another little consideration s while the coating adds .0003 in a hole this becomes .0006. ( .0003 on side). Hornady has a line of coated dies or did. I have some neck bushing TIN coated and they serve their purpose. Where this coating would shine is a standard die starting to get large with use.

If I were going to have a die coated I would polish it some before sending it out in the body area and possibly the neck area depending on the die as this will makes the coatings finish smoother and better. Coating a new SB die as is may make it to much of a good thing making I over size the brass and up the force required to size.

[rrob692326]

Already polished the steel dies with flintz. I considered titanium because it is much smoother and harder than carbide, so I figured that with it, the sizing operation should be much easier, even with the slight build up by the titanium. I felt a slightly tighter sizing die should help bring once fired machine gun brass to a smaller dimension even with the spring back to help the ammo work properly in my different semi auto rifles. Anyway, that was my thoughts on it.

[jmorris]

I have carbide in .223 and 308 as above they just last longer.

TiN wouldn’t hurt but be aware that many vacuum deposition coating processes can do a good job on external features but not as great of a job on bores that are much deeper than just a few diameters. As you noted it’s already very thin even where it can be applied the best. So you might as the question before spending the money.

[JeepHammer]

Super thin TiN coating 'Harder' than carbide inserts? ...

TiN coatings are usually used on high heat applications, like cutting tools.
Not sure it would gain you anything in dies, and like Mr. Morris said, it's VERY hard to get a deep hole plated.

As for lube, it's going to be an absloute requirement for the foreseeable future.
Brass is both sticky and abrasive, if for no other reason to keep the abrasion to your dies to a minimum.

[rrob692326]

Thank you for your help.

[lightman]

I'm not sure if I would spend the money to have a die plated. At one time I considered send one off to Armoloy but I never did. I have been tempted by Dillon's carbide 223 and 308 dies. But I'm a hobby reloader and have never worn out a sizing die.