Bullets are loose in case neck. There is a little resistance but I can push the bullet in by hand and there is very little resistance in the press stroke. The brass has been used 2, 3 or 4 times. A friend gave them to me loaded to try in a new gun. The gun is a 300 WSM and the dies are brand new Redding. I have tried 2 expander balls, the one that came with the dies and a carbide replacement. Same with both. Is the brass wore out or some other problem? I am quite sure all the loads fired in these cases were max.

Necks were oversized by the expander button, or not sized down enough if they were reloaded with Redding neck bushing dies.

Necks have become hardened and no longer spring back to a nominal size.

PS - This is one of a long, long list of reasons to never ever shoot someones elses reloads. If your friend (not likely if you are dead) would have annealed those cases after the last firing they would have held a bullet securely. After all ask yourself "did he load them three times or four"...."how about five"

Hey Leo, Try leaving the Expander out of the Die on 4-5 cases and Resize them. Then Seat bullets in them and see if you can feel a difference.

It could be the particular Cases you are trying to use just have Thinner Necks than what you are used to, or perhaps your buddy "Thinned" the Necks and made them too thin.

Are your Redding Dies the Standard Set, or the type that requires a Neck Bushing?

Did a test with talc powder on neck, powder stayed on the neck after sizing. Called Redding, bad die (oversized)apologised, told me to return the die and they will ship me a new one ASAP.

skb2706: If the brass was hard wouldn't that make it more springy?. Anealed brass iis dead soft.
Good luck!

Correctly annealed brass is soft....it will hold its shape. After many firings it gets hardened and develops like a memory.....springy. So when you size it down it just springs back to the fired size. Happens often in my wildcat chambering that requires frequent annealing

Ooops that didn't come out right.......its the other way around. Definitely a case of typing on cruise control.

skb2706, Please read your three posts,and comment.
Take Care!

Brain fart....it happens

Leo M, I also had a set of Redding dies for 300WSM that had a defective sizing die. They had me send three fired cases and the die back to them and they promptly sent the new die and the three cases back with an apology. The new die works great and I would recommend Redding reloading equipment as they offer great customer service after the sale.

I would appreciate if someone can point me to the info on how to anneal the casing. I don't have this problem yet with my casings. But it is good to know, I guess.