Neck tension problems

Druid

Well-Known Member
OK, so I am full length resizing, once fired (not by me) Federal 25-06 cases.

the dies are LEE.

out of 100 cases 32 are so loose that the bullet nearly falls into the case. I have tried again to no avail and have tried with the decapping rod removed to see if that did anything but there is no difference.

Am I looking at Federal Brass being rubbish? I know lee dies are cheap before anyone starts on that one, but the other 68 cases are fine.

thanks for any ideas.
 
Good question! I will check. I only have a vernier caliper available but will see what I have.
 
Nothing too obvious there, there were a few slack cases with a slightly thinner wall thickness but only 1 or 2 thou, but the bullets are very loose so I don't think that is it.
 
Dunno. I was just thinking that, as the neck-sizing happens by the neck being squished in from the outside by the die and then opened up by the expander in the central pin, if the brass of the neck is too thin the reduction of the external diameter might not result in a sufficient reduction of the internal diameter.
There'll be a point where a thou or two makes such a difference, I imagine.
 
You did check it was the case mouths and not the bullets which were awry?

It wasn't the last 32 cases of the batch?...Have you stripped and cleaned the die recently? There is not a build of lubricant on the centre pin causing it to open up the mouth too much?

If not, then the brass thickness does sound most likely.
Alan
 
Last edited:
It's not the bullets. I have not loaded all the cases yet and have offered up the same bullet to most of the cases and have sidelined the loose ones. I have taken the dies apart and have run both good and bad cases through again to no avail.
i honestly do not know how old the brass is.
 
Brass work hardens and refuses to remain sized after a while. Same LOT of brass?? IF so, find someone who anneals brass on the next go round and have all the cases cleaned and annealed before reloading.~Muir
 
Could be hardened brass.
Measure necks before and after sizing and you'll get a sense of what is (or isn't) happening.

I'm not overly familiar with Lee dies but could they do with a clean and lube?
 
Had exactly the same problem with 6.5x55 brass. Asked the same question and got the same answers. Bought 100 new Lapua brass and the same thing happened. Bought some Redding dies and the problem stopped.

Everyone on here seems to love Lee dies but in my experience they are not that good. They are cheap and if you have a good one that's great but there are lots of stories about bad ones. If I were you I would buy yourself a decent set of dies and save a lot of heartache.
 
That's nonsense I've had bad dies (and other equipment) from every maker. Last month I had a bad die from Forster, gunshop in the city exchanged it for a new one no questions asked. Bad equipment slips through the cracks quality control is not 100% but their customer service should be.
 
That's nonsense I've had bad dies (and other equipment) from every maker. Last month I had a bad die from Forster, gunshop in the city exchanged it for a new one no questions asked. Bad equipment slips through the cracks quality control is not 100% but their customer service should be.

Apologies for the aside but the customer is now the quality control in my experience.
 
Had exactly the same problem with 6.5x55 brass. Asked the same question and got the same answers. Bought 100 new Lapua brass and the same thing happened. Bought some Redding dies and the problem stopped.

Everyone on here seems to love Lee dies but in my experience they are not that good. They are cheap and if you have a good one that's great but there are lots of stories about bad ones. If I were you I would buy yourself a decent set of dies and save a lot of heartache.

but if the dies were faulty then I surely not see the same result in the same brass on the second run through.? I think it is likely to be the brass, bought as once fired but who knows. Is it likely that this brass could be crap after just one firing? I've always liked Federal ammo so would be suprised to hear that their brass is not much good.
 
its not that its not good
its that it's too hard
hard can be a good thing....just not in necks
get them annealled by any one of the very handy mail services on here
transforms them
 
Agreed, Personally I would aneal the cases and rather than looking too closely at which manufacturer of dies are the best, why not do a concentricity check to negate cases that are beyond help and then consider using a crimp die ?
Good luck
 
but if the dies were faulty then I surely not see the same result in the same brass on the second run through.? I think it is likely to be the brass, bought as once fired but who knows. Is it likely that this brass could be crap after just one firing? I've always liked Federal ammo so would be suprised to hear that their brass is not much good.
I know what you are saying but it is random. I can only speak from my experience. I too was told to aneal, change make of brass, alter depth of die. All still produced erratic results as you describe. I changed my dies and hey presto never a poor neck again. In my opinion Lee dies are cheap for a reason.
 
I know what you are saying but it is random. I can only speak from my experience. I too was told to aneal, change make of brass, alter depth of die. All still produced erratic results as you describe. I changed my dies and hey presto never a poor neck again. In my opinion Lee dies are cheap for a reason.
Fair enough, you have the experience with the same issue.
anyone got a set of non Lee dies I can borrow to prove the theory? :D
 
Back
Top