Reloading 7.5 MAS

[webbertelli]

Hello again from England.
A tip I received when requesting info on a previous post set me to thinking. I'm a big fan of Lee Dies, but they dont make collet dies or a factory crimp die in 7.5 MAS. I have tried using .308 win (7.62 X 51) collet dies and FCD with a 3mm shim washer slipped over the case to try and correct the OAL. Results have been mixed and I have been having problems getting adequate neck tension with some of the cases.
Has anybody tried the same thing using other dies, possibly 7.5 swiss or 7.62X54R to achieve necksizing only on MAS cases. I suspect that when I have used the FCD I have over crimped the case, deformed the bullet and caused tension problems that way, but until I attempt to reload another batch I wont know.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be gratefully recieved.

[Stoats]

A simple solution is to use a full-length die but not to screw it all the way down. This sometimes results in slightly ugly reloads since you may have a slight step in the neck just up from the shoulder. Whether this works or not depends to a certain degree on the size and concentratricity of your chamber.

Stoats (expat Brit)

[Dschuttig]

The 7.62x54r will work just fine for neck sizing and factory crimp. You may have to change the expander ball in your 7.62x54r neck die to a .308-.309 as compared to the .311 or so most come with. When I talked to someone at lee several years ago to get a custom 7.5 MAS factory crimp die, they said to just use the 54r. Dan