i'm loading .308 bullets in my 7.62x54R. i bought a set of rcbs dies with both .308 and .311 expander balls. i installed the .308 expander and resized 20 cases. i noticed that the expander ball was barely touching the case neck as it was pulled downward out of the die. it seems that the die is not resizing the neck enough for the .308 expander to open the neck back up to the right size. the bullets are pretty loose so i crimped the 20 that i loaded to hold the bullets tight enough.

my question...is this normal with rcbs dies? if so, i don't see the need for a .308 expander ball if it doesn't expand anything. or..is my die defective and not squeezing the neck down small enough as the case is pushed up into the die? please advise...bud

budiceale-
I ran one of my cases thru my RCBS die (expander removed)and it sized it to an i.d. of .309. I hadn't noticed the problem as my shootin' iron takes a .312 bullet. What are you shooting them through?
Sam

sjhark...i'm shooting a 91/30. i know that it would be better to use 310-312 bullets but i have a bunch of these 308 bullets and have read that there is a chance that they will shoot acceptably in my rifle. i assumed, if the die set came with a 308 expander, then the die would size the case down far enough for that expander to have the proper effect. if your rcbs die only sized you brass down to 309 ID then maybe this is normal for rcbs dies. thanks for the reply...bud

Some brass can have a thin neck wall diameter. Does all brass do it?

.308 expanders dont' always touh when the case is designed for .311 bullets.. if it barely drags (.309) that's the die sizing the neck ID ...

if the case was crumpled, the .308 would make a diff....

since the case is sized by the die, the expander would only make a difference if you had thick brass... so you are "stuck" with the neck size from the die, and consider the expander as a deprimer

jeffe

the only brass i have is winchester so i don't know about other brass. sounds like i'll either keep crimping with 308 bullets and see how they shoot, or go to some bigger bullets. thanks to all for the help...bud