No Neck Tension

[JFrank]

DB mentioned—I'm of the opinion that Redding is the Snap-On of the reloading world.

To tell the truth’ the second best seater I’ve owned was a simple Hornday that I put a micro adjust top on.
Wilson is number one.
J

 

[FLIGHT762]

To tell the truth’ the second best seater I’ve owned was a simple Hornday that I put a micro adjust top on.
Wilson is number one.
J

I use the Hornady seater with the Mic top on it for a few calibers. It makes repeatable settings like the more expensive seaters and has low runout. The cost of the Hornady seating die and a mic seater runs about $70.00. The great thing about the Hornady mic seater top is it can be used on other Hornady seating dies. It does not need to be caliber specific because the Hornady seating dies have the seating stem in the die, not in the mic top. I use the same mic seater for 30/06, 270 Win. and 300 WM. All the settings are repeatable, I just keep bullet seating lengths written on a card in each die box.

I do use the Redding mic seater in 308 win. It is a nice seater.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Your choice. Maybe when they start getting hard to chamber because the shoulder/body becomes an issue, then you can upgrade. It takes awhile, doesn’t happen right away

Hold the phone. Chambering issues are caused by "shoulder/body" issues? Can you elaborate? Because I've got 3 loaded cartridges on my bench right now (out of hundreds and hundreds of loaded/fired/reloaded rounds) that won't chamber. (One stuck so bad that I had to whack the bold handle with a rubber mallet to extract it.) I just thought I had gotten lax with my case trimming and the cases were just too long; I was going to just disassemble them, trim to length, and reload them again.

 

[FLIGHT762]

Yes, you can't neck size forever with the Lee Collet die. At some point, the cases will have to be F/L sized. If you decide to neck only (N/O) size, you should keep careful notes as to how many N/O sizings / firings you have on the brass. I found I don't N/O size for more than 3-4 firings before F/L sizing. As you found, at some point, your cases will not chamber and will get stuck, causing you to beat on your bolt handle with a 2X4.

Since I got tired of beating on my bolt handle, I rarely N/O size. When I use my Lee Collet Dies, I also use a Redding F/L Body die. The body doe sizes the shoulder and body, but does not touch the neck. Gives 100% chambering reliability.

This is why a couple of commenters have recommended ditching the N/O sizing.

You should have a F/L sizing die on your bench. You need one.

 

[bfalcon00]

Get a Redding or Wilson bushing style full length sizer and be happy. Much better control of neck tension.

Edit: Or Whidden.

Throw in an expander for even better control. Sinclair, 21st century.....

This here is the answer. I bought a Redding FL sizing die and a mandrel die from 21st century to set the inside diameter of the neck to exactly like I want. One of the best things I have bought for my reloading bench. The mandrel set also function as a kind of pin gauge when I change brass lots or manufacturers to see where I am at straight out of the FL sizing die.

This does work your necks a bit more than need be, but I shoot common calibers in rifle and seem to scrap brass due to primer pockets before anything else. Which reminds me, if you don't have a set of primer go/no-go gauges, they are relatively cheap and I love the set I have.

 

[Varminterror]

Wilson is number one.

I’m a cheapskate - I’ll spend money where it brings value to the process, but for seating, I’m with Jim - Wilson all the way.

 

[Walkalong]

When it counts, I tend to get good stuff, but that doesn't guarantee things will be OK.

Measure carefully at each step. If it is straight, you're probably good to go, that's whether you neck size FL size, use bushings, expander mandrels, expander plugs in a die, doesn't matter.

And, as this thread started, you have to control neck tension, and there are multiple ways to do so. Bushings and no mandrel with turned cases or cases where neck thickness is very uniform. Bushings and mandrels.....

 

[Yankee1986]

@Walkalong
Where would you suggest I look for Wilson dies in 6.5C?
Anyplace ever put those on sale or are they strictly order and wait?
TIA

 

[Walkalong]

Brunos, Creedmoor Sports etc., just have to look around. I have a 6.5 Creedmoor set, threaded sizer,
hand die seater, but forget where I got them. They are for loading for my older brothers rifle.

 

[JFrank]

I used to get mine from Bruno’s for about $59, probably went up a tad.

 

[Yankee1986]

I used to get mine from Bruno’s for about $59, probably went up a tad.

Bruno’s site is a little wonky, I think they just transitioned to a new one, so I couldn't check their price but I checked Creedmoor Sports and you are correct, not $59 anymore. Lol

 

[jmorris]

Hold the phone. Chambering issues are caused by "shoulder/body" issues? Can you elaborate?

Your die pushes them back far enough or not. Looks like this.

 

[Kaldor]

Check the expander ball diameter. If that checks out fine. Full length size. If there still is not enough tension. Try annealing if you haven't annealed them in some time.

Could be a neck tension issue with the brass as Al has pointed out, especially if it has multiple firings on it, it might need some annealing. Expander ball should measure at like .241, yielding .02 neck tension.

Get a Redding or Wilson bushing style full length sizer and be happy. Much better control of neck tension.

Edit: Or Whidden.

Throw in an expander for even better control. Sinclair, 21st century.....

Any full length sizing die for that matter. Hornady or RCBS also in the mix here for less $$$. The expander ball may be good enough, but if you want to go the extra mile, remove the expander and use a mandrel as Walkalong pointed out.

 

[Varminterror]

Expander balls attached to sizing dies do a job.

Expanding mandrels do that job, but right.

 

[Walkalong]

Heh......

 

[Walkalong]

Any full length sizing die for that matter. Hornady or RCBS also in the mix here for less $$$.

The RCBS FL bushing style sizers are nice, no doubt, I have one in .308.