.308 Case Prep With The RCBS Case Prep Center

This video includes many elements of a couple of my other case prep videos (sorry for the repeated info), but hopefully in a more concise format and with the addition of the flash hole uniforming and deburring.

I added a few accessories to the RCBS Case Prep Center. I drilled and tapped the base of a Lee cutter to accept an 8-32 stud to attach it to the Case Prep Center, and I used the Lee case length trim gage, shell holder and lock stud. The case length trim gage and shell holder are caliber specific and are sold as a set.

I use a Hornady Primer Pocket Reamer to remove military primer pocket crimps and make the primer pockets a bit more uniform.

I use a Lyman flash hole uniformer to drill the flash holes to the same diameter and countersink and deburr the inside edge of the flash hole inside the case, for consistent powder ignition and maximum accuracy.

All the accessories I added are available from online retailers such as MidwayUSA dot com.

NOTE ABOUT THE MODIFIED CUTTER:

I drilled and tapped one cutter for me and it was a little hard but not a problem for a sharp high speed steel drill on my little mill-drill. I did one for a friend and it was very difficult. The steel cutter was very hard. I think Lee makes the cutters from a tool steel that they subsequently induction heat treat, and I think my initial cutter wasn't properly heat treated which probably explained why it dulled so quickly cutting brass.

I eventually used a cobalt drill, low RPM and a lot of pressure to drill the hardened steel. I used a much larger center drill to start the hole because the #29 tap drill for 8-32 would walk long before drilling. The center drill is much shorter and fatter and therefore stiffer. Once I had a divot started, I drilled the tap hole. I almost broke a tap, so I drilled a larger hole for much less thread engagement and tapped that larger hole. I think the thread engagement was so little that I epoxied the stud in place?

I now recommend getting a scrap chunk of aluminum or plastic, drill a #29 hole all the way through the center, use that as the pilot hole to drill a much larger hole part way through that's just barely large enough for the cutter body and epoxy it in place after tapping the #29 hole on the base and screwing in a #8-32 screw from the inside so the threads stick out the bottom by 3/8" or so.

http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/271467

http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/476992

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=617234

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=253550

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=729748

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• .308
• case
• prep
• preparation
• trimming
• chamfer
• chamfering
• flash
• RCBS
• Lee
• Hornady
• Lyman

[mrballeng]

Could you please provide a link for the shell holder and lock stud? I can't find it any where.

[Liberty4Ever]

@mrballeng MidwayUSA (.) com items 271467 and 476992. The first is the .308 specific case length gage and shell holder. The second is the cutter and lock stud that work for any caliber. You need both, which currently cost under $11.

[40simpleman]

The Lee length cutter. How did you drill and tap it. I ask a machinist friend to do it on his home lathe and he said it was to hard. He broke several drill bits and his small lathe will turn down to 200rpm. How did you drill and tap it for the 8-32 stud?

[Liberty4Ever]

@40simpleman  Click "Show More" under the video and read the comments. I was able to drill my Lee cutter with some difficulty, but it wasn't surface hardened as much as the second one I tried. I recommend making a sleeve for the cutter and installing a threaded screw protruding through the bottom of the sleeve to mount the cutter to the RCBS case trimmer.

[obitosan230]

Magnum45

Hello, I wish to know how to installing LEE cutter in it because I see no way to put in it without crashing. Thank you

[Liberty4Ever]

@obitosan230 There's an annotation on the video at 1:25 telling you to read the video description to learn how to install the Lee cutter on a station of the RCBS case prep center.

[mrballeng]

@Liberty4Ever , Great thanks. Ordering it today. Thanks for taking the time to make your videos. Much appreciated.

[Liberty4Ever]

@testy462 Uniforming and chamferring the flash hole will result in minor changes to accuracy. It's the sort of thing you'd do when small improvements count. You'd typically do this for bench rest shooting but not plinking. Brass from different manufacturers can have very different flash hole sizes, but still only create small differences in powder ignition. I've had some military brass with holes so small that the depriming pin is pulled out of the resizer. Drill those, for sure!

[testy462]

Are you seeing a large difference in accuracy when doing the final step, the resize and chamfer of the flash hole?

Nice video, thanks for posting this up.

[Liberty4Ever]

@chrisbudka Please read the comments to the right of the video.