Which case neck expander mandrel

[nowler]

<chuckle> With respect, there's a whole community of long range shooters that disagree with your position. Case concentricity is a whole other topic, that is often over hyped as

I’m well aware of what many are doing, I’m just saying that it doesn’t make sense to me from an engineering perspective. Sizing your necks down to then expand up, exceeding the elastic limits each time is an additional step and is stacking tolerances. How concentric ammo needs to be is up for debate but I’d rather mine was straight going in than have the chamber force it straight when I close the bolt.

There are lots of different loading practices that people can get to work and get good results with consistently. It doesn’t mean it’s the best way or most sensible way to do things. We’ve had the emperor’s new clothes on many occasions through the years. If I’m one of the minority not using expander mandrels then I’m happy to be in that camp.

And with respect, this isn’t my first rodeo with long-range shooting.

 

[MarinePMI]

I’m well aware of what many are doing, I’m just saying that it doesn’t make sense to me from an engineering perspective. Sizing your necks down to then expand up, exceeding the elastic limits each time is an additional step and is stacking tolerances. How concentric ammo needs to be is up for debate but I’d rather mine was straight going in than have the chamber force it straight when I close the bolt.

There are lots of different loading practices that people can get to work and get good results with consistently. It doesn’t mean it’s the best way or most sensible way to do things. We’ve had the emperor’s new clothes on many occasions through the years. If I’m one of the minority not using expander mandrels then I’m happy to be in that camp.

And with respect, this isn’t my first rodeo with long-range shooting.

You're obviously allowed to have your own opinion, and yes, there a lot of differing reloading practices. I'm just saying, that many (even most) long range shooters adjust neck tension using a mandrel. It is well tested and proven to be a solid, repeatable way to set neck tension. So much so, that mandrels can be hadin sizes differing as little .0005". Neck turning for absolutely consistent neck wall thickness is an option, but has been proven to not be worth the time, for the benefits gained. If you've got the time/desire on your hands to do it, by all means, knock yourself out. I'd rather spend my time being out shooting personally, since learning wind calls will have a much greater effect on hitting the target successfully, than neck turning brass. JMHO

WRT to case concentricity, if you have a chamber straightening out a bullet, you've got a lot more issues going on, than neck tension.

Yeah, not my first rodeo either...