I have been reading my 3 manuals before I get fully into reloading, but can't seem to find anything that says anything except for the lyman manual that says they recommend full length resize. Which is best? I read that brass will last longer with neck sizing. What do most do? I am reloading 300 ultra, 22-250, 223, .45 acp. etc. Any help would be great.

Kyle

For break open single shot guns (Encore & Contender) and bolt action firearms, I neck size most of the time. For semi-autos, pump & lever action firearms or if the ammunition is to be used in more than one firearm, I full length resize.

Just as a general rule, I would recommend full length sizing for the most part.

I neck size a bunch of stuff that I shoot competition with and use for varmint hunting.

However, for any hunting rounds I would not consider only neck sizing.

The bench rest guys only neck size, but they have custom chambers.

There are few factory chambered guns that will shoot enough better with neck sized ammo to tell the difference. The difference in case life is not worth talking about. Most case failures when using safe and sane loads are neck splits anyway. (They just get brittle with use unless you aneal them

Just my opinion, RF

Thanks for the info. These will mostly be for predator, deer, etc hunting.

Would you guys recommend the lee pacesetter dies with the factory crimp die? If not what? I have read a lot of good, and not so good about their dies, but for the money and 3 dies it's hard to beat.

Thanks again

The only caliber I neck size for is my 264Win because with the full length sizer the shoulder set back is extreme. I tried to set the die so that the shoulder was barely set back but the neck of the cases weren't even touched. As to Lee dies, I am a firm believer in their FCD for semi-auto pistol but will not buy any more Lee die sets. I like Redding for rifle and RCBS carbide for pistol calibers. Yes, the Redding and the RCBS are more expensive to purchace but the joy of using a quality piece of equipment will stay with you long after you have forgotten the few dollars more you paid and vice-versa.

As a beginner...stay away from Lee dies...they can be really finicky. Also stay away from neck sizing till you really have a "feel" for sizing and how it chambers in your gun. If you are loading hunting rounds neck sizing is asking for trouble "in the field" where conditions are not as "sanitary" as the shooting range. Get some full length dies and try to get your sizing down to where you are barely moving the shoulder back and you will be good to go. Some people will call this "PFL" which stand for Partial Full Length sizing and calling it that is a joke....it's really full length sizing the way it should be....about .010-.020" short of what I will call "sloppy sizing". If at all possible get together with a good, experienced reloader and learn from him/her.

quote:

Originally posted by kraky:
Some people will call this "PFL" which stand for Partial Full Length sizing and calling it that is a joke....it's really full length sizing the way it should be....about .010-.020" short of what I will call "sloppy sizing".

Nothing wrong with a good joke!

Don't you mean .001 - .002"?

Personally, I would recommend getting Lee Collet Neck Sizers and Redding Body Die. Then he could neck size only or neck size and then body size to the PFLR resized case. The Lee Collet is really simple to use.

I guess we had to disagree sooner or later.

kpk,

My recommendation: go with full length resizing until you find a reason not to.

My personal experience: .350 Rem Mag in a Rem 673. I've reloaded a bit over 500 rounds of .350 RM last year. Somewhere in the midst of a reloading frenzy I thought I'd try neck sizing only.

I neck sized, trimmed, chamfered, and polished every case. Then loaded it up and all looked good. The majority of these loads I was using were actually a bit on the lighter side: 58gr. of IMR 4895 and a 200gr. Horn IL. I clocked 2650fps on them...

Anyway, the point is that the loads and brass I was using wasn't stretched or abused.

So imagine my surprise when I found that I was having a LOT of difficulty chambering the rounds! I couldn't cam the bolt down on a couple of them!

The result, as I found out: The cases had stretched just enough to not fit the chamber of the rifle as well as those that were full-length sized!

I've since gone back to FL sizing and my chambering problems went away immediately.

It's just one man's opinion, but unless you are shooting a rifle with a match chamber and super precise tolerances, the benefits of Neck Sizing are largely lost on the likes of common men like me.

Well thanks for the info. I don't want any of those problems. I will stick with the full length dies.

While we're at it. How are the hornady dies? Havce they fixed the decapper problem, or whatever?

I used to NS almost all of my cartridges, mostly because I HATE trimming cases, and NS helps avoid case length growth.

These days, I PFL size for most calibers, because I appreciate the smoothness of feeding a (P)FL sized case. The issue of case length growth has been alleviated by measuring the length of each individual chamber with one of these gizmos:

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=RESDTCL&type=store

It allows me to run my cases a good deal longer than SAAMI max - most (factory) chambers are well over SAAMI max case length in any event.

The new Hornady dies are better than the old ones. The arrangement for securing the decapper has been improved compared to the old (smooth decapping stem) system. I like Forster dies a lot better, though. Their seater is the best for the $$$ and their FL dies can be modified to size without an expander for $10 (plus shipping) by Forster.

- mike

If you are in Dangerous Game country, then you need to Full Length Resize. FLR properly done causes the Case to be "slightly loose" when setting in the Chamber(reduces the chance of a Jam during High Stress Cartridge Cycling). That means it has Excess Headspace, which causes the Case to stretch at the Pressure Ring on every firing, and thus shortens Case Life. You need to check for Insipient Case Head Separation after each Firing with the old "L-shaped" Feeler Gauge. (You need to do the Feeler Test on the other Methods too, but not as often.)

A lot of folks use Neck Sizing and do well with it. They typically don't have to Lube the Cases if they have a Neck Sizing Die because it doesn't touch(Resize) the Case Body. This feature makes it unaminously prefered by the Ultra Lazy who don't like Lubing and de-Lubing Cases. The Case changes slightly from shot to shot, because Contraction is normally Less than Expansion. That causes the Case to be in a slightly different position in the Chamber each time it is shot. Some of these same folks go to great extreems to reduce Run Out on the Case Neck and really don't understand that by Neck Sizing they are still not getting the Best Possible Accuracy potential.

That brings us to good old, time proven, never fail(in Bolt Actions) P-FLR with a Full Length Die which has Zero Headspace, long Case Life and the best possible opportunity to achieve the utmost accuracy with a specific Load. The reason for this is quite simple, but apparently too difficult for some mentally challenged people to grasp. P-FLR forces the CenterLine of the Case to align closer to the CenterLine of the Chamber than any other Resizing Method. That causes the Bullet to be closer to a perfect alignment with the Bore than any other Method or Magic Dies.

The best thing of all about any of this is you can try it for yourself and see which provides the very best accuracy for you. Then use the Method that meets your needs.
-----

If you have the chance to shoot with me to see who buys the BBQ, then I'd encourage you to use any Method "other than" P-FLRing.

Dang, Hot Core, you just had to tell 'em, didn't you. Now all the gadget heads and die salesmen are gonna be mad at you. And the "I spent more money for my stuff than you did" crowd ain't gonna like you very much either.

You never know, he may find the Gizmo Dies work as good as the stoney point "thingy".

What HotCore said!!!

P-FLR +1

Has anyone recommended bushing dies? My recommendation would be for a Redding Type-S bushing FL resizer and a Forster seater. Straight ammunition and longer brass life. If you want a better process, this combo will give it to you. No micrometers; just good design.

When I posted above about being .10"-.020" short of sloppy sizing I probably made a confusing statement. I meant that if your sizing die is set right (and barely bumping the shoulder) you will be stopping probably .010-.020" short of following the instructions with the sizing die which tell you to touch the shellholder. IN other words...in a lot of cases if you follow the directions with the die you'll be oversizing possibly by .010-.020". Hope this makes more sense.....sometimes my mind visualizes things but the words don't match!

My vote is full length resizing, but my wife would settle for just necking.

quote:

Originally posted by Duckear:
My vote is full length resizing, but my wife would settle for just necking.

I've been there too.

I would just like to say I have found Lee dies to be very serviceable . They are not as pretty as RCBS or Redding .My "go-to" dies are RCBS but each brand has advantages and disadvantages.All will make good ammo .The only thing I recommend to new reloaders is buy a good "cast iron" press .Most manufacturers offer them .The aluminum presses work but I think you will be glad you bought iron.

You probably don't shoot the 300 ultra much, so FL or PFL size those cases. For your 22-250 and 243 varmint cartridges, I would recommend the Lee collet neck sizer...although eventually they too will need the shoulder set back with a FL die. I like the Forster competition seater die for the utmost precision.

There is no neck on the 45ACP; run them in all the way. Straight-sided pistol rounds rarely grow in length, and since it headspaces on the case mouth, a taper crimp is easy on the brass, unlike the harsh roll crimp used for revolver loads to keep them from backing out and locking up the cyclinder.

Gents.

We have a new reloader asking for guidence.
My strong recomendation is to learn the very basics first That is full length resize following the manuals' instructions.

When the new reloader is comfortable and conffidant following the basic reloading techniques, then we can fill his head with our advanced reloading techniques.

muck

this is great !! these are all querys that I needed to know because of my "newness" to reloading, cus you know I am oh so pretty and I need no blow-up!!!lol

i have done alot of reading and most say if you are going to shoot your ammo in the same gun and it is a single shot or bolt action,than neck sizing is ok and your brass will last longer. but if you plan on shooting the ammo in different guns or auto's than you should full lenth size them