On options, don't forget neck-size + bump-only dies. (ie the die doesn't touch the case-body below the shoulder-line.) These used to be expensive custom jobs from outfits like Neil Jones, but Forster makes its 'Bushing Bump' sizer in a modest range of cartridges. They've never really caught on as far as I can see, but I'm a fan having used them in 223 Rem, 308 Win, 6.5X47L, and 284 all with excellent results.
All have been used in loading warm to hot loadings for 'minimum SAAMI' chambers and I've yet to need a full body-size on any case despite some getting up to around 10 firings. Chambering and extraction are as 'sweet' as with FL sized brass. It seems that the hard chambering / extraction encountered from neck-only sizing that is usually attributed to lower case-body expansion often comes from shoulders moving forward longitudinally creating a crush fit in the chamber rather than from radial expansion lower down. (This may not apply so much in 'slacker' factory chambers though - I've not used a bushing-bump type in loading for such a rifle - and a plain FL sizer may be better anyway for potentially marginally out of round or misaligned factory chambers.)
Bushing Bump Neck Dies - Forster Products
Issues over setting the die and measurement methods to get the right amount of 'bump' apply as per earlier posts - no difference with this type.
I'd never neck size only now for anything that is loaded to full normal or high-ish pressures. A single firing sees some case shoulders move enough to create noticeably harder chambering. (... and extraction too! If shoulder position makes final chambering hard, then primary extraction is equally affected - probably more so as the shoulder may have moved further in that firing.) What is also noticeable is that shoulder movement isn't necessarily consistent across all cases. I've been struck how much variance there is in a box of 50 common or garden type cartridges with 20-degree shoulders starting from new and neck-only sized for their second loading / firing. Just one firing at factory type pressures of around 58,000 psi sees maybe half chamber without resistance, quarter just produce a shade of resistance to final bolt closure, quarter have noticeably harder bolt closure. Crush case to chamber fit is known to affect pressures / bullet POI, so there is a potential effect on precision here. Neck only sizing often works very well though for modest pressure loads which apparently don't generate high enough pressures to move shoulders forward much or even at all.
Another alternative I use with some cartridges is two-stage sizing separating neck and shoulders/body jobs. A bushing neck-sizer such as Wilson types (or much easier and cheaper, the Lee Collet Die) is used then a Redding (or other make) body-only die. American and Canadian competition shooters, especially those loading 223 Rem for mid-range F/TR have taken to the LCD + body die process. Shame that Lee doesn't finish its collet dies as well as they once did - many have sizing tines as rough as the proverbial bear's rear end leaving deep grooves in the neck.
@Laurie how the hell do you know so much?!
