Reloading 6.5mm without ANY resizing: Has anyone else tried this?

[Greg Page]

I've been transitioning from neck sizing to shoulder bumping for several of my long range calibers, using the recommended "tension on bolt close" testing and a set of Hornady headspace tools. But with some rifles, (especially my Bergara 6.5 creed) the fired cases fit back into the chamber just fine with no bolt close effort at all. And a little experimenting with seating bullets showed a very workable neck tension in this unsized fired brass.
SO........ I've loaded up a dozen rounds of my favorite recipe with NO resizing at all, using just a decapping die with no expander ball, and NO resizing die. The loaded cartridges test feed smoothly through the rifle, and the seating pressure on the Hornady 140gr VLDs seemed consistent. Yes, I COULD give them a 1/8 turn light crimp in the Lee factory crimp die just to even out the neck tension, but I'm not sure it actually needs it.
Has anyone else tried this? Am I missing something here? Am I going to screw something up? This seems just too good to be true....
GP

 

[19 Badger]

How much neck clearance do you have with a loaded round? My fired cases don't typically hold a bullet after it has been fired...

 

[Jud96]

I don't understand the point. You probably won't be able to fit them back in the chamber after they're fired another time. This isn't directed at you personally, but people seem to think less sizing and super tight tolerances equals more accuracy. Consistency is what equals accuracy. Most competitive shooters, like 90%, and I mean F-Class, Benchrest, NRA long range, etc full length size, shoulder bump, and do this every time. If it wasn't accurate or consistent they wouldn't do it. What you're doing is interesting, but it's not long term and it won't be consistent as brass expands more and more every firing.

 

[Send it 284]

I've been transitioning from neck sizing to shoulder bumping for several of my long range calibers, using the recommended "tension on bolt close" testing and a set of Hornady headspace tools. But with some rifles, (especially my Bergara 6.5 creed) the fired cases fit back into the chamber just fine with no bolt close effort at all. And a little experimenting with seating bullets showed a very workable neck tension in this unsized fired brass.
SO........ I've loaded up a dozen rounds of my favorite recipe with NO resizing at all, using just a decapping die with no expander ball, and NO resizing die. The loaded cartridges test feed smoothly through the rifle, and the seating pressure on the Hornady 140gr VLDs seemed consistent. Yes, I COULD give them a 1/8 turn light crimp in the Lee factory crimp die just to even out the neck tension, but I'm not sure it actually needs it.
Has anyone else tried this? Am I missing something here? Am I going to screw something up? This seems just too good to be true....
GP

If your fired necks are tight enough to seat a bullet without sizing then you don't have nearly enough neck clearance!
You're gonna have issues for sure

 

[Kmccord]

Not sure how your neck is holding the bullet, my fired brass out of my Bergara B14 HMR 6.5 Creed or any rifle for that matter, you can slide the bullet in and out of the neck, no tension to hold it. That is how I check for donuts in the case, if I slide it in and hit a wall where it will not move any further, then I have a donut problem.

 

[MNbogboy]

When anything seems out of place most likely it is. Very wise of you to question this anomaly.
Neck clearance, donuts or carbon at the case mouth end of the chamber will all cause your "issue". Definitely not condusive to any type of consistency.
If it is a neck clearance issue, the "springback" in your necks is the cause of your tight fired necks. Remedy will be to neck turn.
If it is donuts as Kmccord mentioned it may be your transition of neck sizing and bumping the cause. Reaming and/or neck turning may be required for the fix.
Carbon in the chamber is often the cause of a "tight" neck at the case mouth end of the neck. Here the case mouth is not allowed to fully expand and easily springs back to undersize.
All three conditions could lead to higher or excessive pressure and IMHO should be addressed.
Check neck clearance first (chamber dimension & loaded case).
Inspect brass for evidence of donuts.
Inspect chamber with bore cam for carbon that could impinge or restrict normal expansion.
Hope you get it figured out.

 

[Greg Page]

Thanks for Great feedback. This all made no sense to me either, which is why I brought it up here. The tight necks in fired cases were, I believe, a byproduct of carbon buildup in the chamber.
The confusing thing for me is still that my fired cases fit so easily back in the chamber. Therefore, I can't get any feedback from the gun on how much I need to neckbump, since it fits easily with zero neckbump. Hence the exploration of "No Resizing" at all. So, now with a well scrubbed chamber, I'm going to go with either about .003 to .004 shoulder bump based on the Hornady headspace gauge, or, for this rifle, just go back to easy breezy neck sizing/no lube mess, with an anneal every 3rd loading. I KNOW that all the pros FL size, but I'm shooting .3s and .4s with this approach, and I've got some cheap Hornady brass that are on 8 loadings and the primer pockets are still tight, so......

 

[MNbogboy]

A layer of scotch tape on a resized case head cut to fit with scissors is a good spot to start checking your shoulder bump. The tape is approx. 002 thick.
I use two layers as a "no-go" in the event of .004 is a little more than i want.
It is a good check to verify your hornady tool method.