308 Neck Sizing Issues

[mikeg1005]

I decided to try neck sizing in 308... having some issues.

Rifle is a Savage 10FP in 308.
175gr SMK, 44.1gr Varget, 2.800" OAL, Lapua brass. I purchased the brass new, FL sized it, fired it once and am now neck sizing it. All the brass is within trim length specs.

I am using Redding FL and neck sizing dies. When I put the neck sizing die down all the way + a little to have the press cam over the sizing of the neck stops a little bit short of the beginning of the shoulder, from what I am reading is fine.

I can take the resized brass and chamber it in my rifle with a little bit of resistance which is I'm understanding is expected when not FL sizing. All my brass will fit the chamber fine.

When I load the round, not crimping and go to chamber it, one of two things happen... either the round stops and I can't close the bolt, or I close the bolt with resistance and then it takes some force to open it again. On the rounds I can close, I see that the bolt face is polish the case head as it is being turned.

Any suggestions? Am I doing something wrong? This happens regardless of case OAL.

 

[Mikecr]

You're leaving no, or negative head space.
The partial neck sizing is not an issue, but shoulders still need bumping.
You can use a Redding body die just for bumping, instead of FL sizing.

 

[1911gator]

I dont if it makes any difference in dies, ive allways used leedies with good results, in my 220 swift, 308, 8mm. had similar problem with not pressing the shoulder, slight adjustment on die depth resovled the issue.

 

[Kevin Thomas]

mikeg1005,

You're not having issues, you're just experiencing Neck Sizing. Use the F/L dies, and you can avoid all this. Cases fired in one rifle should chamber in that same rifle after being neck sized (for a time, anyway) but that's not always what we get. You do, occasionally, get this sort of interference, stiff bolt closure, sticky extraction, and so on.

Neck sizing offers absolutely no increase in accuracy, and full length sizing (if done correctly) is no harder on the brass. The F/L sizing will also allow you avoid a wide variety of headaches that N/S invariably causes at some point.

 

[SidecarFlip]

+1 on Kevin's comments. Toss your NS dies and learn what hbeadspacing is all about as well.

BTW Kevin, I'd like to see a bit better packaging on bulk Lapua brass. The blue tub is nice as is the neat Lapua decal but I had to run every piece because the necks were beat up.

For 70 bucks for a hundred 6.5x55's, I expected better packaging and I didn't get it.....

Even Norma-Nosler packs their bulk brass in correctly sized cartons, vertically, not thrown in a container, willy-nilly.

You guys can do better that that can't you????

 

[Kevin Thomas]

Sidecar, shoot me a PM if you need to. Sounds like you got an old box, but I think we've got it taken care of now in the newer ones.

KT

 

[MTBULLET]

just for the heck of it, try a few pc's winchester brass. I find it works better for me.

 

[BountyHunter]

I agree FL size to normally avoid problems.

However, in this case something sounds familiar, especially if a unloaded case will chamber but a loaded one will not. That is not normally a shoulder bump issue when that happens. Either the empty cases will chamber or they will not without difficulty.

Did you trim/rechamfer the necks after FL sizing?

Take a loaded round and run your fingernail from the shoulder to the bullet and see if you feel as slight ridge at the very edge of the brass at the top of the neck.

IF you do, you have a problem with your neck chamfering tool rolling the outside neck rim over very slightly instead of cutting it cleanly. Mine was a 40 year old tool, that once replaced and necks rechamfered, solved the problem.

I have seen it twice and it happened to me last summer. I had to take nail file and file off the ridge on the loaded rounds at a match.

The resized cases chambered perfectly BUT when you put a bullet in them, that ridge stood out enough to hinder chambering. The empty case easily squeezed down until you put a bullet in it.

Just something else to look at and easily find and fix.

 

[mikeg1005]

Just got back from the range, shot out to 1k, no difference in accuracy between the two. I think I'll stick with FL sizing... the time I spend correcting sticky rounds doesn't really pay off to not have to trim.

This brass was never trimmed/chamfered and it was shot without issue previously. I think like mentioned it was the headspacing issues.

Thank you everyone for your help.

 

[SidecarFlip]

FL always. I don't bother purchasing NS does anymore. Waste of money.