Resizing after pulling heads?

Why re-size if you haven't fired the round? atb Tim

depends on the amount of neck tension your die gives,most off the shelf dies will give quite a bit so pulling a bullet carefully and reseating another isn't a problem,if you use busing type dies where you only use 1 thou of neck tension pulling and replacing a bullet isn't such a good idea as the tension on the neck will be lost
 
What about the unfired primer?? Surely, unless you take out the pin from the sizing die, something's gonna go bang!
 
Last edited:
What about the unfired primer?? Surely, unless you take out the pin from the sizing die, something's gonna go bang!
Having had to deprime many live primers I have yet to have any detonate and all have been re-used without fail. atb Tim
 
dies don't give neck tension
necks do, thick necks, thin neck, hard necks, softs necks, long ones short ones

unless you are running 30mm cannon shells pretty much all necks will expand to accommodate the bullet and leave you with a neck bore 1-2 thou smaller than the bullet when pulled.

unless your brass is very hard you should be able to shoot them without resizing BUT....not all bullets are the same size.
Remove an oversized one and refit an undersized one and you could probably do it by hand!

pull your decapper or get a collet die or a crimp die
 
If you want to try reloading & seating the cases after pulling a bullet from an unfired round, it may be fine to do so without re-sizing the case. Just test & see how well a bullet holds in place after it’s replaced, however, I think you’re unlikely to retain consistent neck tension.

In my view it’s best to start over. But, if you choose not to, the primer may be saved as JCS said, by sliding the de-capping rod & pin upward away from the case head, so it can’t de-cap the primer, but the expander ball can still function correctly on case extraction from the die. So you end up with a correctly sized case & consistent neck tension with the primer ‘saved’.
You could potentially doing this, end up with unreliable rounds due to contamination, whether from case lube or other matter.

If you pull all the bullets from the selected cases, my view would be to size as if the case had been fired, but carefully & gently while re-sizing, de-cap the unfired primer.
This can be done in relative safety if you must do it.

The best alternative is to just fire off the ‘primer only’ cases and start a ‘fired case’ re-sizing scenario correctly.
ATB
 
If you want to try reloading & seating the cases after pulling a bullet from an unfired round, it may be fine to do so without re-sizing the case. Just test & see how well a bullet holds in place after it’s replaced, however, I think you’re unlikely to retain consistent neck tension.

In my view it’s best to start over. But, if you choose not to, the primer may be saved as JCS said, by sliding the de-capping rod & pin upward away from the case head, so it can’t de-cap the primer, but the expander ball can still function correctly on case extraction from the die. So you end up with a correctly sized case & consistent neck tension with the primer ‘saved’.
You could potentially doing this, end up with unreliable rounds due to contamination, whether from case lube or other matter.

If you pull all the bullets from the selected cases, my view would be to size as if the case had been fired, but carefully & gently while re-sizing, de-cap the unfired primer.
This can be done in relative safety if you must do it.

The best alternative is to just fire off the ‘primer only’ cases and start a ‘fired case’ re-sizing scenario correctly.
ATB
Not forgetting to clean the rifle bore after doing so.:)
 
dies don't give neck tension
necks do, thick necks, thin neck, hard necks, softs necks, long ones short ones

unless you are running 30mm cannon shells pretty much all necks will expand to accommodate the bullet and leave you with a neck bore 1-2 thou smaller than the bullet when pulled.

unless your brass is very hard you should be able to shoot them without resizing BUT....not all bullets are the same size.
Remove an oversized one and refit an undersized one and you could probably do it by hand!

pull your decapper or get a collet die or a crimp die


http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/reloading-neck-tension.html
 
Last edited:

that is all very interesting, especially the bit at the bottom:

"All I'm saying is that the nominal bushing size is not really a satisfactory indicator of the true amount of neck grip on a bullet, or the force required for release. TRUE GRIP () is a much more complicated phenomenon, one that is affected by numerous factors, some of which are very hard to quantify."
some of which he lists :

"1. Neck-wall thickness
2. Amount of bearing surface (shank) in the neck
3. Surface condition inside of neck (carbon can act as a lubricant; ultrasonic cleaning makes necks "grabby")
4. The springiness of the brass (which is related to degree of work-hardening; # of firings; time between annealings)
5. Time during which the loaded round has sat prior to firing"


If you size two cases to .306 and .305 internal bore and seat a .308 bullet in each
pull the bullets and they will both have .307 inner bore give or take a 10 thou!
You can size to .304 if you want, unless using soft bullets your resultant inner bore will be 1 thou less than the bullet, otherwise either the bullet won't fit or it will be deformed

its simple physics, you are effectively resizing the neck with the bullet.
The tension comes from the brass and the contact surfaces
You are just making the seating more difficult if you go to a smaller than -2 thou bore
 
that is all very interesting, especially the bit at the bottom:

"All I'm saying is that the nominal bushing size is not really a satisfactory indicator of the true amount of neck grip on a bullet, or the force required for release. TRUE GRIP () is a much more complicated phenomenon, one that is affected by numerous factors, some of which are very hard to quantify."
some of which he lists :

"1. Neck-wall thickness
2. Amount of bearing surface (shank) in the neck
3. Surface condition inside of neck (carbon can act as a lubricant; ultrasonic cleaning makes necks "grabby")
4. The springiness of the brass (which is related to degree of work-hardening; # of firings; time between annealings)
5. Time during which the loaded round has sat prior to firing"


If you size two cases to .306 and .305 internal bore and seat a .308 bullet in each
pull the bullets and they will both have .307 inner bore give or take a 10 thou!
You can size to .304 if you want, unless using soft bullets your resultant inner bore will be 1 thou less than the bullet, otherwise either the bullet won't fit or it will be deformed

its simple physics, you are effectively resizing the neck with the bullet.
The tension comes from the brass and the contact surfaces
You are just making the seating more difficult if you go to a smaller than -2 thou bore

hence why I
1.neck turn
2.use bushing dies
3.dont ultra sonic or stainless media clean
4.anneal ever firing
5.resize brass the same day its being loaded
6.load just enough for a couple of weeks shooting so there not sitting around
 
Back
Top