Tell me about neck sizing...

[Bimmer]

Throat errosion will offset the brass growth.

I'm guessing that the anxiety is that if a case stretches lengthwise, then it won't chamber/extract easily... Bumping the shoulder back 0.002 or 0.003" would certainly fix that.

If I have problems chambering/extracting rounds, then I'll bust out the FL sizer... We'll see.

The folks who win trophies at short range benchrest moved from neck only to min full length on their brass decades ago as neck sizing only is inconsistent from case to case & could lead to galling of the lugs on high dollar custom actions. On my customs I will remove the firing pin assembly & FL size a little at a time until the bolt falls with no resistance. I also recommend biting the bullet on the bushing die to help save case life...over tightening the neck only to stretch it back out overworks the brass.

Lapua cases are a good investment towards accuracy & case life.

I'm guessing that the champion benchresters don't mind the extra work of lubing/de-lubing, but I'd like to avoid it.

Are the bushing dies easier than Lee's collet on necks?


I figured that I'll make up dummy rounds (dead primers, no powder) to make sure they fit in my gun. (No, I'm not going to cycle live ammo through it!)

And I bit the bullet and bought several hundred rounds of Lapua ammo... That was painful, but now I have a growing pile of once-fired Lapua brass, and the price of the loaded ammo ($1.40/rnd) didn't seem so outrageous when I saw what Lapau gets for virgin brass.

[markm]

I'm guessing that the anxiety is that if a case stretches lengthwise, then it won't chamber/extract easily... Bumping the shoulder back 0.002 or 0.003" would certainly fix that.

If I have problems chambering/extracting rounds, then I'll bust out the FL sizer... We'll see..

The least amount of sizing you can get away with, the better. I only run the body die on everything because we never know what gun we'll use for a given load. Neck sizing only is good if you have smaller batches and you know the brass will rechamber in a specific gun. I don't have that luxury.

Bad reloading processes can yield problematic case stretch (sizing dies with expander balls)... so I shouldn't say case length is never an issue in any circumstance.

[Artos]

I'm guessing that the champion benchresters don't mind the extra work of lubing/de-lubing, but I'd like to avoid it.

Are the bushing dies easier than Lee's collet on necks?

Unless you are going to reload very mild loads, you really should have a FL on hand...pay attn to tension when closing the bolt & keep them lubed. That tension tells you it's time to pay attention to the body.

I have no experience with the collets & primarily use Redding Comp bushing dies...the bushings put very little stress on the neck & here's a little read for ya. http://panhandleprecision.com/reddin...roper-bushing/ I normally use .002 under the loaded round as spring back can vary on brass.

if I had a 308 neck I would send it to you as I gave up neck sizing a long time ago.

[markm]

I'm guessing that the champion benchresters don't mind the extra work of lubing/de-lubing, but I'd like to avoid it.

Are the bushing dies easier than Lee's collet on necks?

For me, bushing dies were a f@#king nightmare. Especially in 308 where neck thickness varies widely between brass manufacturer. Then there's the dreaded donut from squeezing the necks back down into the shoulder. So to address that fiasco, you have to turn necks. Eff the hell out of that!! I'd like to spend time actually shooting.

Then, as if you haven't suffered enough, the neck runout sucks. There were two schools of though on those annoying bushing dies. 1. float the bushing, and 2. have the bushing tight in the die. Both sucked balls for me. The collet dies were SO much better and gave me almost ZERO runout.

[Artos]

I've had zero of the issues you mention using bushings mark...maybe it's a neck only or adjustment issue??

[Bimmer]

Unless you are going to reload very mild loads, you really should have a FL on hand...

No worries, I have one (Dillon's), I'm just eager NOT to use it...

(Hopefully I'm just saving it to load 7.62 for my M14-type, someday.)

Bad reloading processes can yield problematic case stretch (sizing dies with expander balls)... so I shouldn't say case length is never an issue in any circumstance.

For me, bushing dies were a f@#king nightmare...

No expander balls and no bushings for me!

[markm]

I've had zero of the issues you mention using bushings mark...maybe it's a neck only or adjustment issue??

I don't know. I spent a great deal of time methodically trying bushing dies. Accumulated a bunch of bushings in the process. The only upside is that you still have a body die if you ditch the bushing... so it wasn't a total loss.

The ammo still worked, but switching to collet dies eliminated the runout and the donut. The collet dies are still not perfect because they're LEE, and they're cheaply made. But they're cheap to replace too.

[Coal Dragger]

I don’t find lubing and de-lubing to be particularly difficult. I just wet tumble after resizing, trimming, and punching primers out. Warm soapy water, a bit of Lemi-Shine and stainless steel media for an hour after case prep = squeaky clean brass down to the primer pockets ready for final load after they dry.

[Bimmer]

I don’t find lubing and de-lubing to be particularly difficult. I just wet tumble after resizing, trimming, and punching primers out.

Lubing/De-lubing isn't the end of the world (I've done it for .30 Carbine), but if I can avoid it, then all the better.

I'll be doing stainless tumbling, too, but it would be nice to do it right after punching out primers, and then do everything else with clean brass.

Also, the Blue Press article says it's waaay easier to just neck-size in terms of force on the press...

[T2C]

I reload about 1,500 rounds of .308 Winchester and 30-06 for my M1 Garands each year. Processing brass takes time. I moved away from using spray on case lubes, because of the time and mess involved.

I visually inspect each piece of rifle brass anyway, so it gets done while applying Hornady Unique case lube and while wiping it off after resizing. If you lube 20 or 30 cases, resize them, then wipe off the cases, it doesn't take any longer than spraying on the lube and removing it.

I moved to using a single stage press for resizing rifle brass. I resized brass on my Dillon RL550B for a few years, then had issues with case lube fouling the primer feeder. I spent a lot of time cleaning Dillon spray on case lube from the primer feeder on my RL550B before being able to use it to feed primers reliably. It was less of an issue with Unique case lube, but it was still a problem.