How much neck tension for hunting loads?

I got my first bushing resizing die, for my 6.5 gap, and not sure how much neck tension is best for hunting loads. I have heard a lot of bench shooters go with .001 but I'm worried that is too little for ammo rattling around in a pack on a hunting trip. How much tension do you recommend for hunting loads?
I use 4tho on my 300 win and 3tho on the 6.5 PRC
 
neck tension is something that varies based on rifle/load. I've tested a few of my rifles. several prefer .002, but my 338 shot best with .001. I like to size .001 under and then use an expander mandrel to size it back up to my goal. seems to provide the most consistency
 
I got my first bushing resizing die, for my 6.5 gap, and not sure how much neck tension is best for hunting loads. I have heard a lot of bench shooters go with .001 but I'm worried that is too little for ammo rattling around in a pack on a hunting trip. How much tension do you recommend for hunting loads?
For years and years of reloading, carrying ammo in the field I've found about .002 and up easily stands up to field use. For that matter when I start a new load effort I always start at .002. Now the caveat here is the brass needs to not become work hardened. You must be annealing properly and keeping you case necks fresh. I did some ad hoc testing a few times with different brass where I loaded up and shoot the same loads until I started noticing seating issues, .ie start noticing seating depth/feel difference or resizing issues which is indicative of work hardening. It seemed to always be around the 3-4 shots. So, to never waste my time on cases that might be work hardened but avoid annealing after every use I never shoot a case more than twice with out annealing.

I guess the easiest thing would be just to anneal every time 😃 but I am a little lazy.
 
I use .002 bushings.

I have used .001 but found I could push the projectile back into the case if I pressed against a hard surface.
Not what you want in a hunting round imo.
 
I use a 1 thou Wilson mandrel, and I always get a little spring back. One thing I always do is mix finger nail polish and acetone then using a syringe to put a little around my bullet and primer. It helps with moisture, and keep that bullet in place.
 
For years and years of reloading, carrying ammo in the field I've found about .002 and up easily stands up to field use. For that matter when I start a new load effort I always start at .002. Now the caveat here is the brass needs to not become work hardened. You must be annealing properly and keeping you case necks fresh. I did some ad hoc testing a few times with different brass where I loaded up and shoot the same loads until I started noticing seating issues, .ie start noticing seating depth/feel difference or resizing issues which is indicative of work hardening. It seemed to always be around the 3-4 shots. So, to never waste my time on cases that might be work hardened but avoid annealing after every use I never shoot a case more than twice with out annealing.

I guess the easiest thing would be just to anneal every time 😃 but I am a little lazy.

Sounds like I really need to get on board with annealing. I'm just alot lazy. LOL
 
Sounds like I really need to get on board with annealing. I'm just alot lazy. LOL
I am lucky because my father has been doing it for years and he inherited a Dual torch Bench Source Vertex annealer from a late shooting buddy that we use. So every gathers up brass as we shoot and then we just do big annealing sessions. Once you're setup you can work through 100-200 pieces in 15-20 minutes. It really returns the necks to unfired flexibility.
 
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