Necking down brass for wildcat

[mechengr]

It really seems like you're over thinking this. I'd just use a 6mm BR die to go down from 6.8 to 6mm, then run the brass into a 224 Valkyrie die held off the shell holder far enough that it only sized the neck. After that you can use your 6.8 SPC die with whichever bushing you'd like to get the neck tension you're looking for if you needed to. Your brass could be ready to load and fire in two press strokes.

Sure, there are nearly infinite ways to get from point A to point B and if I already had those dies on hand that would probably work. I still fail to see how using full length dies from other cartridges to size only the neck is any different than using stepped bushings to size only the neck? Am I missing something?

 

[yorke-1]

Using the other dies is just a way to accomplish the same thing in fewer steps. If you already had the necessary bushings on hand then it wouldn't make a difference. If I'm trying to form 100 pieces of brass for a wildcat and can do it in 2 operations instead of 3, that's a lot of time saved which is a big advantage for me. If your process is working well for you, then keep at it and have fun.

 

[nvschütze]

The spindle is a 3/8" bolt, welded into and axially-trued to a 14mm deepwall socket. The bolt is turned-down to fit both 3/8" and 1/4" drill motors.

The bolt is actually a 7/16" thing because it is a better fit in the drive socket than would be a 3/8" bolt. You want to get the bolt as close to on-axis as you can with the socket before you weld it so that there will be less wobble when comes the time to turn it down. That thing was made several years ago and works so well, I forgot about the juicy particulars in making it. It's the bee's knees; quite a shock to me that I actually thought it up...