jimm, you said you tried using the die out of the press. Is the fired case a tight in the collet body? They should just fall in and out. Zero contact. If so, the chamber you have is on the big side and the fireformed cases are at or over SAAAMI max.
Easy solution to this is to enlarge the collet body. A lathe is needed to 'drill' out the collet. I like them to be a few thou larger so there is absolutely no drag.
As to dragging on the mandrel, just see if you can put a bullet into the fired case neck. If the bullet is a firm fit, you have a tight neck chamber/brass combo. Just make sure you have enough clearance between the loaded ammo and chamber or else high pressures can result.
If the bullet just falls into the neck, the case never touches the mandrel this it is at the top of the die being squeezed. My guess you problem lies in an oversized chamber.
All SAAMI necks are designed so that a bullet will fall into the fired case neck. They are always generous in size.
The collet should easily be pushed up and fall down in the die body. If it goes up and sticks, you need to take apart and clear out any burrs. Yes, sometimes it happens but over the many of these I have used, only found this issue once.
There will always be critics of the rather unique form of sizing. Most have never used this die or used it improperly. I have yet to find someone who has used it properly, properly meaured the results, then complain about the die.
The neck dimension is ALWAYS the same (defined by the mandrel). Neck tension is thus consistent. If not, a great indication that the necks are worked hardened and need to be annealed.
Since many in the LR and BR world are discovering higher neck tensions and the benefits for low ES, the whole bushing adjustability starts to loose favor. You just grab a bushing that gives 3 to 4 thou neck tension and fly at it.
Bushing dies are also excellent, but way more expensive. Their strongest benefit is the lack of expander ball. That is pretty much the route of all the sizing issues.
Any process that reduces the neck dimension without needing an expander ball has the chance of good results. Just keep things true inside the die. I just wonder why ALL die makers make the neck portion of their sizing die so small.
I guess they have to worry about the thinest neck being sized...
Jerry
