Advice Sought: Decapping When Neck Sizing?

[DUCKMAN11]

Like everyone has said.... you can decap with a neck only sizing die in 1 step. That being said.....

Hunt one time in a drizzle or dust storm and you are gonna wish you bumped the shoulder back 2thou and sized the body.

I'm not saying that neck only sizing is bad but it's not ideal in a hunting situation in my humble opinion. It's best left to benchrest style shooting on cases that all come from the same lot and have been neck turned in order to achieve constant neck tension and the best accuracy. Neck only sizing on once fired factory ammo that's not neck turned or especially in your case of fire formed 243ai brass could possibly leave you with neck tension from .001"-.007" depending on the brass make and model. The reason I know this is I've made the mistake in a 25-06AI.

The way that makes the most accurate ammo for me is using a redding type S full length sizing die and an expander mandrel die from 21st century to set final neck tension.


In my opinion having constant neck tension is the most important thing in making accurate ammo. Followed closely by seating depth. There is way more wiggle room with seating depth than neck tension. Move a bullet in or out .010" and you might not see a change..... move neck tension in or out .001" and the target and chronograph will show a difference.

There are folks on here that have forgotten more about reloading than my little brain could possibly fathom. Hopefully they chime in and shorten the learning curve.

 

[FiatFreak]

The Hornady Headspace Comparator is a tool that allows you to measure "Base to shoulder" So it allows you to measure just how much you have set the shoulder back when resizing. There are no objective tools that I know of that do this, other than the Hornady (original Stony Point IIRC). Its not expensive, and I use mine whenever I set up a new resizing die. Once you have the die set up and locked, you can basically forget it for a particular gun. One of the reasons I tend to avoid owning more than one gun in the same chambering. I HATE messing with the resizing die, once I am comfortable that the die is set just right.

Yes, your last paragraphs seem to capture what I would recommend. Only arriving at .001 - .002 is tricky without tools to measure it.

In pursuit of ultimate accuracy, which you desire, there are LOTS of further tweeks, ideas, procedures. Many have merit, otherwise the rest us fools would not discuss them ad nauseum. But for a beginning reloader, you should start with some standard processes that are good, time tested.

The process I describe to you will achieve better accuracy, better brass life than full length resizing every loading. Usually. And with less hassle and downsides than neck sizing, bushing sizing, mandrels, neck turning, collet neck resizing etc etc....

Thats my $0.02

The Hornady Headspace Comparator is a tool that allows you to measure "Base to shoulder" So it allows you to measure just how much you have set the shoulder back when resizing. There are no objective tools that I know of that do this, other than the Hornady (original Stony Point IIRC). Its not expensive, and I use mine whenever I set up a new resizing die. Once you have the die set up and locked, you can basically forget it for a particular gun. One of the reasons I tend to avoid owning more than one gun in the same chambering. I HATE messing with the resizing die, once I am comfortable that the die is set just right.

Yes, your last paragraphs seem to capture what I would recommend. Only arriving at .001 - .002 is tricky without tools to measure it.

In pursuit of ultimate accuracy, which you desire, there are LOTS of further tweeks, ideas, procedures. Many have merit, otherwise the rest us fools would not discuss them ad nauseum. But for a beginning reloader, you should start with some standard processes that are good, time tested.

The process I describe to you will achieve better accuracy, better brass life than full length resizing every loading. Usually. And with less hassle and downsides than neck sizing, bushing sizing, mandrels, neck turning, collet neck resizing etc etc....

Thats my $0.02

Thanks for the additional information you've provided. I'm very appreciative.

I'll investigate the acquisition of a Hornady Headspace Comparator. Sounds cool and prudent. If I totally understand it correctly, that tool is one that measures the case length from the base to the shoulder, rather than the base to the case mouth. I would say that I very much like your reference to the "set it and forget it" approach. I don't imagine I'll own any other rifles chambered in .243, so that would be and ideal approach (and if I did, I could just full-length resize the ammo for rifles other than my SAKO because I don't believe I'd be as fussy with those).

Yes...understood. There are, indeed, LOTS of tweaks/ideas/procedures...some very sound, others not...which is all part of the pursuit! As I initially mentioned, I've been reading and studying the science of reloading for many years, and now it's time to begin the "hands-on" phase. Accuracy is a major goal, and the other is extended case life that will result in more shooting fun! That's a "win-win" for me!

Thanks for your input, and for the input from everyone else thus far. God Bless!

 

[FiatFreak]

Like everyone has said.... you can decap with a neck only sizing die in 1 step. That being said.....

Hunt one time in a drizzle or dust storm and you are gonna wish you bumped the shoulder back 2thou and sized the body.

I'm not saying that neck only sizing is bad but it's not ideal in a hunting situation in my humble opinion. It's best left to benchrest style shooting on cases that all come from the same lot and have been neck turned in order to achieve constant neck tension and the best accuracy. Neck only sizing on once fired factory ammo that's not neck turned or especially in your case of fire formed 243ai brass could possibly leave you with neck tension from .001"-.007" depending on the brass make and model. The reason I know this is I've made the mistake in a 25-06AI.

The way that makes the most accurate ammo for me is using a redding type S full length sizing die and an expander mandrel die from 21st century to set final neck tension.


In my opinion having constant neck tension is the most important thing in making accurate ammo. Followed closely by seating depth. There is way more wiggle room with seating depth than neck tension. Move a bullet in or out .010" and you might not see a change..... move neck tension in or out .001" and the target and chronograph will show a difference.

There are folks on here that have forgotten more about reloading than my little brain could possibly fathom. Hopefully they chime in and shorten the learning curve.

Thanks for the comments. I totally understand your points, but I can pretty much say that I'll not be varmint hunting is a drizzle or dust storm...LOL! Conditions like those will keep me indoors...LOL! Good stuff! Fascinating. Thanks!

 

[shinbone]

As many have already noted; no need to separate neck-sizing and decapping into two separate steps:

Redding Neck Sizer Die 243 Winchester

Redding Neck Sizer Dies only size the neck of your bottleneck cases to prolong brass life and improve accuracy. It is important to note that since these...

www.midwayusa.com

And you may want to reconsider that you will *only* be neck-sizing. Once your brass grows to chamber-length, it is generally best to be bumping the shoulder back 2-3 thousands (or possibly more, depending on the specific application) at each reloading.

 

[Reelamin]

I have never seen a neck sizing die that doesn't knock out primers at the same time. You really don't need a separate decapping die.

Don't complicate a simple procedure.

^^^^^^^^^^^THIS!!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^