Bushing Die Will Help Increase Case Life

By Mitchel Demand

I do not need to tell anyone that reloads about the shortages in our industry over the last 18 months.
There are several reasons for the shortage, and even being optimistic, I believe we are going to see this
continue for at least another year. That said, there are things we can do to help ourselves with this issue
and save money.

Bushing dies can and will help increase case life drastically. We use them exclusively in the range for that
exact reason. It is not uncommon to get 50 plus firings out of non-magnum brass. With over 300k
rounds fired a year, one can see why we use them.

Here are a couple reasons why bushing dies work so well. A bushing die sizes the body of the case and
the outside of the neck. There is no expanding button or ball. This means the neck does not get
overworked. Most cases are ruined and thrown away because of cracked necks long before the rest of
the case is worn out. The neck is the thinnest part of a case, and it gets worked hardened by pressure
heat and resizing. Most of my cases are thrown away because they start to crack about 3/8’s of an inch
above the base. The rest are because of loose primer pockets.

Conventional dies make the neck well undersized, then it is drawn back over the expander button. This
gives you uniform neck tension, but it comes at a price. Drawing the neck back over the expander pulls
on the shoulder and causes the case to get longer. Ever wonder why you have to trim every 3 or 4
firings? This is a big reason why. I average trimming around every 10th firing with the bushing dies.

Bushing dies are not for everyone. If you do a lot of shooting and reloading, I suggest that you look into
them. My next Blog will expand on the subject even more. If you’re impatient like me and want the info
asap, give me a call, I would be happy to talk to you.