Lake City 09 7.62x51 issues

[GUNNER45]

Hello, I am new to reloading. I am having issues with the LC 09 brass.
I have a Dillon 550, using Dillon lube and the dies are marked 308.

The trouble is the brass wont go all the way in when de-priming and sizing. I pull the handle down, the resistant gets heavier until I have to stop.

The brass is not all the way up in the die and it takes a lot to pull the handle back up.

Thanks for your help

[J-cat]

Your brass was prolly fired in a machinegun. It has expanded beyond what your die can handle. I suggest you resize it in two steps: Redding body die, then your Dillon die. The former sizes the case only a couple thou, but it's enough to bring it down to a reasonable diameter so your Dillon die can finish the job. Also get some imperial sizing wax. It is better than what you have.

[Divernhunter]

I usually deprime the mil brass by hand then swage it before trying to resize/prime it.
The crimp will need to be removed before you can run it in a progressive or even single stage.

[45R]

No issues here with sizing LC brass using Dillon 308 dies. it does take a little effort though.

[ExtremeX]

Your brass was prolly fired in a machinegun. It has expanded beyond what your die can handle. I suggest you resize it in two steps: Redding body die, then your Dillon die. The former sizes the case only a couple thou, but it's enough to bring it down to a reasonable diameter so your Dillon die can finish the job. Also get some imperial sizing wax. It is better than what you have.

This... and a big +1 on the imperial sizing wax.

[Pauliedad]

I'll second the wax. I like the Dillon lube and make a version myself but I have to be generous or just grab the lube and get busy.

[edwardm]

Is the brass clean? I found dirty brass takes a little more effort to size. Not Superman strength, but some.

Deprime the brass as a first, and separate, step. If there is a lot of crimp on the primers, you won't be fighting that in addition to the brass. After sizing, swage and uniform the primer pockets. Clean brass sizes more easily - is yours at least tumbled in some walnut?

Make sure you get enough sizing lube on the neck and the body - avoid getting too much on the shoulder or you'll dent the brass. Also get some lube on the inside of the neck. Not too much, but enough to ease the expander/decapper rod in.

Finally, wander down to a shoe store and buy a tub of Kiwi Camp Dry Mink oil. After 3 or 4 lubed cases through the die, the next 10 won't need lube. Plus you can use it to take care of your boots and leather rifle slings.

[Gunsrruss]

Lube

I take a RCBS lube pad and spray Dillon lub on it. I let it dry then roll the brass across it. Plus I use small base dies for all the rounds I use in automatics. AR-15, M1A and 30.06 for Grand. It does sound like you have machine gun brass so you will have to work at it

[Grunt81]

Some good answers already. I've recently prepped and fired 100 LC cases in 7.62 with no issues. A few of them were from 09 as well. None of them were LC Match so I'd assume they were all fired in a 240-G or similar medium machine gun.

I'd like to emphasize a few things here before you drop the money on a body die.

Use your press in single stage mode, rather than combining the effort of 4 operations at once.

Start with tumbled brass (there may be oxidation between the spent primer and the case). I've never attempted to resize dirty brass in order to protect my resizing dies.

Lube inside the entire case neck. I use Hornady Unique and it works well. You can use a Q-tip or an RCBS lube application brush to do this. I use my fingers to lube the body of the case, from about a mm below where the shoulder starts, to about a cm above the bottom of the case. No need to be too generous with the lube, but an obvious, hazy layer to the naked eye should be money.

If this takes too much effort to resize, then you probably have an arm/shoulder injury or there is an issue with your Dillon die being smaller than SAAMI spec. I haven't dealt with their customer service yet, but I'd imagine they wouldn't mind exchanging yours for another one, if that's the case.

You'd be way better off getting a universal decapping die, rather than a body die in my opinion, but that is a successful route you can take, as J-cat suggested.

All the best.