Sizing brass advice

[Heym SR20]

Personally I have never got on with neck sizing as it does make rounds hard to chamber.

I always full length size making sure that the shell holder makes firm contact with the mouth of the resizing die.

Brass, being mostly copper work hardens - every times its bent, hammered, stretched, squeezed etc it gets a bit harder. And some brands are harder than others.

Cull the brass after a few firings. You can anneal it to resoften. Easy enough to do. Take a gas flame - cooker, camping stove or a blow torch. Hold the case by the head in your fingers, and twiddle the case in the flame fir several seconds. If the case head gets hot in your fingers you have gone a touch to far. Let it cool slowly.

There are of course an infinite number of ways of doing the annealing in a more scientific manner and it growing arms and legs.

 

[Ginc]

Usually I use body (Redding)+Lee collet neck sizing. FLS only for semi auto rifles. I don't like Hornady FLS dies, they undersize neck to much.

 

[25 Sharps]

I measure case resizing amount with Hornady Headspace comparator, not just blindly turn +0.25 or 0.33.

Not denying that you do, it just doesn't work with some lee FL dies, others on here have found the same, they are designed to put the shoulder back to SAAMI spec, which is what they do.

 

[MTheaded but happy]

I measure case resizing amount with Hornady Headspace comparator, not just blindly turn +0.25 or 0.33.

Lee dies are designed to be on the top end of SAAMI spec , @25 Sharps is on the money .

Lee Precision, Inc. - Full Length die adjustment Full Length die adjustment

 

[Ginc]

This is exactly where chamber of my Bergara is. Strange, because my other two rifles in exact the same calibre have even bigger chambers. Looks like calibre specific problem.

 

[MTheaded but happy]

This is exactly where chamber of my Bergara is. Strange, because my other two rifles in exact the same calibre have even bigger chambers. Looks like calibre specific problem.

They could all be in spec , look up the SAAMI chamber diagram . SAAMI specifications list a headspace measurement to plus 'x' thou' .

 

[paul o']

Full size without the ball and use a mandrel all that pushing brass around then pulling it back up is madness.
Also nothing wrong with Lee dies if set up correctly?

 

[25 Sharps]

Lee dies are designed to be on the top end of SAAMI spec , @25 Sharps is on the money .

Lee Precision, Inc. - Full Length die adjustment Full Length die adjustment

Yep.

This section is exactly what I’m talking about, if not wound in far enough, even with the shell holder touching with no case present once the case is in you’ll get a gap and it won’t close any further or size the case.

“Lee dies are designed so that the shoulder of the case is not sized until the very top of the die has been reached. This is done for two reasons; first, we do not want the die to overwork your brass and second and more importantly, we do not want to invite headspace problems. Pushing the shoulder back too soon can create a situation that can eventually cause case separation and a dangerous situation.

If you notice that your Lee Die does not appear to push the shoulder of your case back, ensure that you are adjusting the die so that there is no daylight between the top of the shell holder and the bottom of the die during the sizing process. If you see daylight at the top of the stroke, readjust the die downward and repeat sizing until it disappears. If your case is still difficult to chamber, simply color the case with a black sharpie, and chamber it, there will be a shiny spot where it’s rubbing. This will indicate where the problem lies. At this point reach out to Lee Precision, send us the colored case and the die back to us with a once fired case and we can modify the die to minimum SAAMI specifications.”

I’m not making it up!!

 

[Mike1979]

Full size without the ball and use a mandrel all that pushing brass around then pulling it back up is madness.
Also nothing wrong with Lee dies if set up correctly?
View attachment 473839

What make of Mandrel do you use mate?

 

[Demetrius]

A good belt and braces check for when you think all is OK and you have a smoothly chambering case and easily closed bolt:

Stick a bit of masking tape on the case head and trim round any overhang with a blade, then try chambering it.
An increase in resistance when closing the bolt means that your case shoulder was within a thou or less, ie the thickness of the tape, of touching the chamber shoulder.
No increase in resistance means you have a clearance more than the thickness of the tape.

I used to do this with small discs of shim, but have found that masking tape is just as good. The last thing you want is a case that's a bit on the short side.
As the firing pin hits the primer it can push the cartridge into the chamber shoulder leaving the primer momentarily unsupported so that it pops out a bit allowing hot gas to burn a nice pattern in your bolt face, or cause the case head to seperate, leaving the rest of the case well and truly stuck in the chamber..........not a good place to be at the start of a morning on the range after having paid your money already.

D.

 

[Demetrius]

And Lee collet dies are first rate, (as is their customer service.)
A light pressure on the press handle is all that's needed.

D.

 

[paul o']

What make of Mandrel do you use mate?

K&m mty

 

[Mike1979]

K&m mty

Ta

 

[25 Sharps]

A good belt and braces check for when you think all is OK and you have a smoothly chambering case and easily closed bolt:

Stick a bit of masking tape on the case head and trim round any overhang with a blade, then try chambering it.
An increase in resistance when closing the bolt means that your case shoulder was within a thou or less, ie the thickness of the tape, of touching the chamber shoulder.
No increase in resistance means you have a clearance more than the thickness of the tape.

I used to do this with small discs of shim, but have found that masking tape is just as good. The last thing you want is a case that's a bit on the short side.
As the firing pin hits the primer it can push the cartridge into the chamber shoulder leaving the primer momentarily unsupported so that it pops out a bit allowing hot gas to burn a nice pattern in your bolt face, or cause the case head to seperate, leaving the rest of the case well and truly stuck in the chamber..........not a good place to be at the start of a morning on the range after having paid your money already.

D.

So everybody that uses factory ammunition issue suffers with these issues regularly then?

 

[Demetrius]

Who knows? I haven't used factory stuff since 2007........too expensive, and I get through a lot.

D

 

[25 Sharps]

Who knows? I haven't used factory stuff since 2007........too expensive, and I get through a lot.

D

They don’t, and the factory ammunition is loaded to or around SAMMI spec. Reloaders have a habit of over complicating things and looking for problems where there aren’t any, myself included.

 

[Demetrius]

You can say that again.........there are some who quote their loads to tenths of a grain, and jumps to a thou !!..........
What they should be doing first is ensuring consistent neck tension
D

 

[MTheaded but happy]

I've long been of the opinion, the hardest part of reloading is correctly setting a full length die .

 

[NP435]

Hi all

Started loading about 2 years ago, initially just for 243 with a 2nd hand Hornady Lock'n'Load set, although the 243 dies that came with it were Lee.

I then bought a Hornady neck sizing die, but couldn't seem to get the shoulder bump right which meant the rounds were hard to chamber. I then reverted back to the Lee full length dies but for some reason the rounds I've been loading since are still difficult to shut the bolt on. Not as bad as before but not right, any advice on where I'm going wrong?

I also load for my 30-06, same press but using RCBS dies and have no issues with chambering the loaded rounds.

TIA
Alex

One problem is a neck sizer die does not move the shoulder; second problem is it is possible the case body is too big for the chamber the solution is the full length sizer die. Perhaps a bit more resize not much more than a bit more turn down. and try to chamber the brass checking feel as you go. Depending on how many times the brass has been resized it may be work hardened to the point of spring back and will either need annealed or tossed in the recycle bucket and you buy new brass or use once fired from your own chamber.

 

[Bowland blades]

Hi all

Started loading about 2 years ago, initially just for 243 with a 2nd hand Hornady Lock'n'Load set, although the 243 dies that came with it were Lee.

I then bought a Hornady neck sizing die, but couldn't seem to get the shoulder bump right which meant the rounds were hard to chamber. I then reverted back to the Lee full length dies but for some reason the rounds I've been loading since are still difficult to shut the bolt on. Not as bad as before but not right, any advice on where I'm going wrong?

I also load for my 30-06, same press but using RCBS dies and have no issues with chambering the loaded rounds.

TIA
Alex

The neck sizing is your issue ! You need to full length to bump the shoulders back and a neck sizer only holds the bullet in the neck .