7.62x51 Nato sizing

[Desert Rat]

I broke out the .308 reloading die last night and set up to re-load some of my once fired CETME brass. I have the Winchester brand marked 7.62 Nato. Long story short I was able to easily resize and load standard .308 brass with no problems but the CETME fired brass stuck about 3/4 the way into the die. I didn't try real hard to force it but it really felt like it wasn't going to go. I tried a couple of different cases and they were the same. Is that normal? I'm thinking that the blow back may allow the case to expand more? The other theory I have is that my little Lee bench top turret is just not up to the task. Any ideas on what to do from here would be greatly apperciated... I got a lot of brass I need to recylce (and people say us gun totin folks aren"t green) or my poor newly rebuilt CETME is going to be spending alot of time in the cabinet :cry2:

[tump]

i reload military brass for my fal with no problems. its a little tight sometimes, i just lube them real good.( there is a story in there somewhere i think ) i'm using lee dies and a lee cast turret press.

[pigpen]

I was sizing some stuff out of an fal & a g-3. fal brass was like butter when sizing. g-3, not so much. I too thought a case would get stuck but none did. just be generous with the lube.

[Phirebug]

NATO chambers are cut longer, so the brass is going to expand a little bit more.

[7.62guy]

10-4 on the lube. a good spray on like dillon or rcbs works for me.:2pistol:

[Desert Rat]

OK, guess I shouldn't of had that bowl of Wimpeoos before starting last night. Just went out and knocked out three with a little effort. Thanks for the reality check guys.

[97th Signalman]

Are you cleaning your brass before resizing? Its best if you remove any black soot deposits from the brass before lubing and resizing.

[bladeworks123]

A good example of how much thicker walled NATO brass is over .308 win. When loading for one or the other I can always tell the commercial brass due to how easy it forms. And yes, the cases tend to be a bit more swollen sometimes when fired from a DRB, depending a little on the lock timing of the rifle too. Nothing to worry about though,,,,

[Desert Rat]

I tumbled them cleaner than when they were new. I just wasn't putting enough elbow grease into it. After I put the kids to bed I went out and loaded up 20 in about as many minutes.

[97th Signalman]

I used to use an old Pacific press and it had somewhat less mechanical advantage than todays models. I was particulary noticiable on 7.62 x 54R and 7.62 x 51 where the force needed to resize was pretty high. I upgraded to a Lee classic cast press last year and it made a world of difference in the effort that I had to apply. Of course, while the force required went down, the handle stroke was longer. Like they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Another big thing is if you have been sizing a lot of pistol ammo or .223 stuff, and then follow it up with a big rifle caliber, you can be surprised at how much more effort is required.

[jbruney]

Yeppers. The NATO brass is a trip, but coming out of my cetme's I find it a challenge....Soaked the last ones in lube oil and then removed the oil after sizing.....It still took some pushing to get them through though.