Does anybody make carbide rifle dies? If not, why? I want to get a set of 45-70.

There's a few. Dillon makes them for .223 and .308 for over $100. A straight case pistol die just needs a little carbide ring at the bottom. A tapered case die needs the whole interior made of carbide, so $$$.

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/24498/catid/4/Dillon_Carbide_Rifle_Dies__Individual___Three_Die_ Sets_

Bye
Jack

I'm with you, woodwright. It's just foolish for there to not be carbide sizing dies for straight-walled rifle cases. I've asked die makers before whether they had or whether they would make for me a carbide 45-70 sizer die, and they responded with a plain, simple, short, "No." I just don't get it. :confused:

The .45-70 is tapered.
http://ammoguide.com/?catid=38

Bye
Jack

There's very few, if any, 'straight' rifle cartridges. About the closest you get are the handgun rounds chambered in rifles, ie. .357 Mag, .44 Mag, etc.

FYI you can neck-size .458 Win Mags with .45 ACP / .45 Colt carbide dies, and same with .444 Marlin & .44 mag carbide dies. More of an expedient than a real solution, though.

If the cases aren't straight, then there is a LOT more surface area, and friction, than with just the little carbide ring. You end up still needing to lube them, a little.

FYI carbide is a lot more brittle than (most) tool steels, and in addition to the cost, you'd have to be careful as sticking a case in one and getting ham-handed might end up with a very expensive broken die.

makes sense. I was trying to get away from case lube.

Try some Imperial case sizing wax, you will be amazed.

Lee's wax based paste lube is quite good as well. Powdered graphite is enough for neck sizing, and you only need to wipe the neck then the case with a clean cloth.

Fireplug

makes sense. I was trying to get away from case lube.

Carbide rifle dies for bottleneck cases, such as the Dillon's, still need case lube. I actually got an unlubed .223 case stuck in one, so I know it's true. The straight-wall carbide rings don't need it because the amount of surface area they have in contact with the die is so much smaller and because they work entirely by squeezing the case through it with sliding action. A die for a bottleneck cases has both sliding and compressive squeezing going on at the same time, and that increases the intimacy of the die contact with the brass, creating higher friction.

The .45-70 is tapered.

Bye
Jack
So is the 9mm Luger, but that's available in carbide...

:confused:

It's an interesting point, and I recall it being discussed decades ago when carbide pistol dies first started getting popular. I don't believe the 9 mm carbide dies became available as soon as they did for .38 Special and other straight cases. The .45 ACP has a slight taper, but so slight (about three thousandths wider near the extractor groove) that it was just ignored. I can recall claims carbide could not be made for the 9 mm because of its taper, but I don't remember where I saw that? Apparently, someone decided to ignore that, too.

The consequence of making a 9 mm straight would seem to me to be limited. First of all, the bullet, when seated, brings the case O.D. back out wider than the resized walls down to the seating depth of the bullet base. That's already not all that far from the extractor groove in the case, so with the casehead largely untouched by resizing, you have only a short jump where the case is a bit narrow. The main issue is whether that will impede feeding? It would seem not, though the radius of the carbide onto its narrowest portion would ensure no sharp transition occurs just above the extractor groove that could cause a hang-up. In any event, counting that the sizing die will bring the case two or three thousandths under bullet diameter, the total diameter narrowing would be around 14 thousandths, so the step would be about 7 thousandths. Hardly likely to trip the gun up. On firing, that area expands. Extra expansion at each shot is going to mean shorter brass life, but 9 mm is easy enough to come by that it seems unlikely to be a big cost.

In .45-70 a straight sizing ring would be narrowing the case a greater amount near the casehead than a 9 mm has happen to it. 26 thousandths of the taper, plus the bullet grip, for a total of more like 29 thousandths narrowing. So, the case fatigue in expanding that extra width on each loading cycle is going to be more of a case life issue, and the big cases are more expensive. In hot loads in the Marlin action it could induce casehead separations with more frequently than properly tapered sizing dies would allow. In low pressure CAS loads, though, that still might not be a big problem?

Maybe you can get one custom made and tell us how it goes? Worst case, if you keep losing cases, you could use it for neck-sizing-only down to the seating depth of your bullets.

So is the 9mm Luger, but that's available in carbide...

:confused:
The technology is certainly there to machine bottlenecked carbide dies e.g. 9mm Luger and .357 SIG so I think demand plays a big part in deciding whether to make them as well as cost. Given enough demand, the cost of production goes down and the die becomes affordable. Cost doesn't seem to be such a big factor with relatively short cases but does it go up exponentially with longer cases possibly due to a greater manufacturing "reject rate'? I believe Dillon offers carbide dies for .30 carbine. The cost of those are much higher than steel. Bottom line may be that steel dies works so well with long cases that there is just not enough demand to produce them in carbide. Just my dos centavos.

Dillon makes .308 and .223 FL carbide dies (http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/24498/catid/4/Dillon_Carbide_Rifle_Dies__Individual___Three_Die_ Sets_), too. Expensive, but for high volume they don't so easily develop the scratch marks and the brass does go in an out of them a little more easily. You still need lube to use them, though, because with all that contact area even carbide will stick to brass too hard to work without lube. As I said in post #9, I've had the experience.

The .30 Carbine die is here (http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/24502/catid/4/Dillon__30_Carbine__carbide_size_die_only_).

It's not carbide, but you might try getting a steel set titanium nitride coated.

These guys will do it for you:
http://www.ch4d.com/
click on "Services"

A little pricey at $39.15, but way less than a custom carbide die. :)

This reminds me of an experiment I have not tried. I have been working with a couple of permanent lubes for awhile. One of them, Moly-Fusion, has at least one testimonial (http://www.shootersolutions.com/moltes.html) on its web site from a fellow who treated his steel .270 die with it and claims he has successfully run it with no case lube ever since. The most basic kit for this stuff is about $20, but I think you could treat several dies with it, if that proved to be effective? I'm not sure how comfortable I would be running dies dry, even with a permanent lubed surface, but having it that lube as insurance against a case accidentally left dry makes good sense. And if it seemed to work really well, I might get comfortable with the dry dies.

Why would anyone want to spend twice as much on a carbide rifle die when you need to lube the cases anyway? Doesn't make sense to me.

They are really for high volume commercial reloading because they don't scratch up or wear out very easily. They do run a little easier, despite needing lubrication, so it makes progressive loading a little less work.

I used to use a company that Armaloyed rifles, shotguns and Pistols. This coating was designed for high pressure presses for forming metal. That might also work as a coating inside standard dies, but I'd still lube. I hate pulling a stuck case out of a die.