Question for those who neck size

[DennisPA]

My question is for those of you that neck size your brass do you use a full length die and just back it off to do a partial neck sizing, or do you buy dedicated neck sizing dies?

 

[SBruce]

I buy and use dedicated neck sizing only dies. I've really come to like the bushing style without an expander ball...........very little working of the brass and cases come out of the die with very little eccentricity, really close to how they came out of the chamber.

 

[J E Custom]

i buy and use dedicated neck sizing only dies. I've really come to like the bushing style without an expander ball...........very little working of the brass and cases come out of the die with very little eccentricity, really close to how they came out of the chamber.

+1

j e custom

 

[rscott5028]

+1

j e custom

+2

--richard

 

[WyoElk2Hunt]

Same as the rest. Only dedicated neck sizer die.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

I'm not doing that much reloading so I just back off my full length Forsters for my 25-06 and 30-06s.

 

[boomtube]

IF an FL die can be used to neck size and not touch the case body we can neck size for that die-cartridge combination. That generally limits it to cases with lots of body taper, not often possible with straighter wall cases.

I bought a Lee Collet neck die years ago just to try it. Soon replaced all of my conventional neck dies with Lee's. There is a moving part in it (the collet) so it there's a learning curve. Those who have difficulty with mechanical things and are unwilling to take the time to learn how to use the Collet sizer correctly should stick to more simple 'push the case in, pull the case out' neck sizers.

 

[Johnboy]

Lee collet die Lee collet die

 

[Trickymissfit]

97% of my neck sizing is done with Wilson dies, or something similar in design. I will full length size when as case gets a little sticky, or has about five firings on it. If the bolt is noticably harder to close but the case slides into the chamber OK, I may hit it with a body die (preset for the chamber) to bump the shoulder back .002" - .003". I have found that my Redding bushing dies are a little harder on the brass than a comparable Wilson, but still not enough to get excited about.
gary

 

[Tikkamike]

I buy and use dedicated neck sizing only dies. I've really come to like the bushing style without an expander ball...........very little working of the brass and cases come out of the die with very little eccentricity, really close to how they came out of the chamber.

exactly how I feel. Well said Bruce!

 

[westcliffe01]

Could you elaborate a little for us greenhorn reloaders ? My neck sizing dies from Hornady and RCBS all overshrink the neck and then expand it back out with a slug. It was not the way I expected it to work, but didn't know of the existence of anything better. How about a link to the manufacturers website for the specific part ?

Thanks !

I buy and use dedicated neck sizing only dies. I've really come to like the bushing style without an expander ball...........very little working of the brass and cases come out of the die with very little eccentricity, really close to how they came out of the chamber.

 

[SBruce]

Could you elaborate a little for us greenhorn reloaders ? My neck sizing dies from Hornady and RCBS all overshrink the neck and then expand it back out with a slug. It was not the way I expected it to work, but didn't know of the existence of anything better. How about a link to the manufacturers website for the specific part ?

Thanks !

Yes, some neck size dies overwork the brass. They squeeze it down more than needed, and then expand it back to the necessary size with some sort of expander ball or "slug" as you say. Same thing that happens with most common FL size dies. This usually results in cases that are no longer very concentric. The more we work the brass, the fewer times we can fire it without annealing. Also, the more it gets worked the more likely it will be eccentric.

A Bushing Style allows us to squeeze down the neck only enough to give the amount of tension on the bullet that we want. We can set that amount by changing the bushings to whatever size we need.

By only squeezing down "just enough" for .002 neck tension (as an example)...........we work the brass far less each time it's loaded. In fact, with a tight neck or mimimun turn chamber and the proper neck thickness, in some cases we don't need to resize the case at all (fitted neck, but that's a different story).

There are also FL dies that utilize bushings in the neck and they work the brass as little as necessary too.

Redding, Wilson, Forster, Neil Jones and some other custom die builders are the ones I know of. There may even be others that I haven't heard of. Hornady now even offers them in their "Match Grade" line, but not in every caliber. Ask for Bushing Neck Dies, or Bushing FL Dies.