I foresee a problem

[dok7mm]

I am finally picking up my 6.5 Sherman in a few days. I have all my fire forming rounds ready to go. After measuring a large sample of case neck thicknesses on my parent .280 Norma cases, I found I need to do a skim turn to get a .005" clearance in the .297" chamber neck.

My problem is that I have Whidden FL bushing dies and I need a FL sizer with an expander ball to set up for my neck turning mandrels and no such animal exists for this wildcat. I have located a generic 6.5 neck sizer made by Hornady, only option I've found.


Does anyone have any experience with this die, that they can share? Or perhaps another solution? I figure I'll need to reduce the fired neck by .004-.005" and then expand up to fit neck turner mandrel to get right fit. I'm trying not to have Whidden build a custom die----the$$$ and the wait.

Anyone have any help to offer? Thanks

 

[rcoody]

You say you have all your foreforming cases ready to go. That means loaded up and ready to fire.as.soon as you have the gun in your.possession?

You have.measured the outside diameter of the loaded.rounds.and.feel they will not chamber? They probably will

What neck turner are you uaing?

Why don't you turn them with a 280 mandrel before necking them down?

Or after fireforming and sizing with your dies just neck turn on your 6.5 mandrel

 

[Mikecr]

You don't need 5thou of neck clearance.
But if you just want to turn anyway, you should do it with the NEW/UNSIZED 280 brass, before necking down.
What I foresee in your direction is a high turnover rate of excessively sized brass..

 

[dok7mm]

I'm quite aware that I don't need .005" of neck clearance. I normally try to run 3-4 thou of clearance. As this is a no turn neck, I didn't plan on turning at all. I put a false shoulder on the necks of the rounds for fireforming instead of jamming the bullet into the lands (at the time, I didn't have a chamber to measure and needed to make some rounds for my smith to smooth throat and barrel prior to nitriding). I didn't turn the the .280 brass, because I figured there was going to be a big change in dimensions blowing case out to to Sherman specs. I think I know what I'm doing, I just needed a die that will size the fired necks down just enough to expand with my K&M mandrel and do a skim turn to improve neck thickness variation on my Norma brass. I will then use my Whidden dies to bump shoulder and size neck with bushing, so I don't foresee "a high turnover rate of excessively sized brass". I talked to Hornady tech this morning and he confirmed their generic 6.5 neck sizer would do the job & was ideal for a variety of 6.5 wildcats. So, I hope my problem is solved.

 

[FearNoWind]

If I understand what you're trying to accomplish I would expect that a Redding die with appropriately selected bushings would work.

Neck Size Bushings | Reloading Dies at Brownells

 

[gohring3006]

I have the die you're asking about.
It will work for expanding the necks enough to work with my Hornady Mandrels.
But it's not the ideal set up..

 

[dok7mm]

Wish it were so easy. Bushing dies will not reduce the entire neck length of a case, it leaves a bit of the fired neck diameter adjacent the neck shoulder junction. If you turn this section, you are going to cut it thinner than the rest of the neck. This could cause a separation of the neck, depending on the depth of the cut. I like to turn my brass very slightly into the shoulder material --- this helps prevent donuts, so I would be having a thin ring in my necks. If this would work, I could be using my Whidden bushing dies. In my first post, I mistakenly said I was going to turn for .005" clearance, what I meant to say was that I was skim turning to .0145" for a .004" clearance. I don't need to turn for neck clearance, but I do want to reduce case neck variance in this lot of brass. This lot of brass runs from
.014" to .0155" The Hornady neck sizer should solve my problem, if I really have one. It all depends on how well it shoots, when I start working up loads. Thanks anyway.

 

[dok7mm]

I have the die you're asking about.
It will work for expanding the necks enough to work with my Hornady Mandrels.
But it's not the ideal set up..

Thank you. I know it may not be perfect, but it should get me by as this is a one time deal. The Hornady tech guy advised me to size down the necks, check my headspace and bump as needed, and then expand. I appreciate your input.

 

[FURMAN]

I think I may be confused by what you are asking but when I turn necks I use a K&M expanding mandrel in a press adaptor and then turn the necks with my K&M turner. The adaptor and pilot are $23 from K&M.

 

[gohring3006]

Thank you. I know it may not be perfect, but it should get me by as this is a one time deal. The Hornady tech guy advised me to size down the necks, check my headspace and bump as needed, and then expand. I appreciate your input.

You're welcome...
Its a little tight, I just use sizing wax on the mandrel and it works fine. I do know, the neck sizer seems to over size the necks significantly. So the imperial dry neck lube is your friend. I even polished the expander ball, but I think it may be undersized now making the neck turn mandrel use a little harder than it might otherwise be if I didn't reduce the size of the expander by polishing it... I'm not sure though....

 

[dok7mm]

LOL I must be confusing quite a few. I have been using K&M turning stuff for a very long time and have no shortage of mandrel sizes for turning, expanding and pin gauges for checking results. To make it a little clearer, a fired case ID is larger than the turning mandrel, Sooooo you must resize in a FL die and THEN expand it for turning. On new brass, you just have to expand and turn. This is a wildcat that has only FL bushing die and seater. Get it now? I no longer foresee a problem. My neck sizer will be here Monday. Thanks for the interest.

 

[FURMAN]

I think I see what you are saying but if I am understanding you correctly you are necking down then wanting to turn but are concerned about the non sized part of the neck. When I want to turn necks on a case I intend to neck down I do it first then neck down and not worry about the donut. If I think it will be a problem I would inside neck ream after firing. Either way it sounds like you got it under control. Good luck.

 

[dok7mm]

On the non-sized part, I was explaining to someone, why you don't use a bushing die on fired brass to set up for turning. I didn't neck turn the brass first, because fireforming changes the dimensions alot. Big time shoulder and neck changes. I Quit.