Bear with me if this is pretty basic...I have an '06 that has become increasingly inaccurate and also requires more effort to chamber a round. I always adjust out my FL die to only resize the neck and trim as needed. Is it possible that brass has flowed into the neck, thickening it and causing irregular bullet pull? I've seen no pressure signs and am on my 6-7 reloading with win brass. I have not annealed (prob. should). I don't have the proper trimming equip. and only have a dial caliper, can I assess/fix the problem (if it's a potential problem) with only these tools? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

When you try to neck-size only with a full-length sizer die, you may be pushing the shoulder foward. The best way to neck-size only is to buy a neck sizing die. A FL die sizes the body down, which pushes the shoulder foward. When the case contacts the shoulder of the die, it should push the case shoulder back to the proper length. This requires some precise adjustment, not just screwing the die down until it touches the shellholder. That will usually size the case excessively. When you try to neck size in the FL die you size down the bodyand push the shoulder forward slightly, but skip the last part where the shoulder is set back to the proper location.

The most precise way to adjust the FL die is to use a Stony Point or RCBS case gauge. Take a once-fired case that will still chamber easily, and adjust the die to set the case back about .002". That will give you easy chambering and cases should last well. You can also take the same once-fired case and smoke the shoulder with a candle or match until it has a good layer of soot all around. Then adjust you die until it just touches the shoulder (you can tell because the soot is rubbed off where it touches the die). You will probably find after a few loadings that this is not quite enough, so adjust the die in about 1/16 to 1/8 turn and lock it. You may have to do this 2 or 3 times before you get the proper adjustment. Once the die is adjusted, leave it alone. Bob Hagel's book "Game Loads and Practical Ballistics for the American Hunter" gives a much more detailed description of how to do this. This method will size the cases just enough to fit your chamber without excessively working the brass. I quit counting after 15 loadings on one batch of 6mm Rem. brass, and it still works fine.

Howdy Snowcat,

Try this: take your calipers and measure in two or three places along the neck your reloads. If my extimates are correct, you should measure about .340 to .345 inches. Now, do the same thing for factory ammo. If your reloads are significantly thicker than the factory ammo, your problem COULD BE necks that are too thick.

After you have measured, post again, and we'll go from there.

Coach

Howdy again Snowcat,

Just an update, my .30-06 reloads average .339 to .341 inches in the neck. My Winchester factory rounds average .336. I've not experienced problems yet because my chamber can handle the larger necks.

Let us know what you find out.

Coach

Problem I had once. The expander ball was pulling the shoulder out and threw off the head space. I had to polish the ball and make sure the inside of neck was lubed. If you are not FL sizing it wouldn't take much .

I think the others have you on track, you most likely are going to have to bump your shoulder back to cure the problem.
You say you don`t have a case trimmer but do have a caliper? Is the lenght OK? I assume your cases are still under max lenght? I suspect you`re going to have to trim your cases pretty soon. You don`t need a trimmer to load but I believe they are a must if you plan on loading cases more than a couple of times. There are a lot of different trimmers out there and some are better than others. If you need one and money is tight, look at the Lee trimmer. ( I think you can get one for ~$10) The tool works well and can be adapted to use with a power screwdrive or dremal tool. They are non adjustable you get one for the cartridge your loading so you can`t over trim. you don`t even need a caliper to check your cases, just run them through the trimmer and you`re set.

snowcat, one quick way to tell if your necks are too thick is to try to hand seat a bullet in a once fired case. If the bullet goes in by hand you`re alright. I`ve a 270 win with a tight chamber (~.003 neck clearance on a loaded round) that is quite tough to get a bullet back in and it still has enough room to release the bullet. I say it`s the shoulder that needs setting back.

Even when using neck sizing dies, after a few loadings, especially with hot loads, you will need to run them through a FL die to bump the shoulder back .001 or .002 inch. A neck sizing die will only size the neck, but the shoulder will still grow over time. Using the FL die to neck size is quite a common trick to keep from buying a separate die, but as was mentioned, it does size the body a small amount. But either way, you still need to bump the shoulder back every so often. The tell-tail signs of a grown shoulder after repeated neck sizing is just as you described, difficulty chambering. If case length is OK, neck wall thickness (check described above bullet in fired case) is OK, then you most likely have a grown shoulder.
Last, getting rid of the expander button in the sizing die and switching over to a Lyman or similar RCBS neck expanding die will also help stop shoulder growth. The expander button on the sizing die expands the neck as the case is withdrawn from the die, and this can cause case lengthening, shoulder included. The M die expands the neck on the way in, so it eliminates case stretching due to neck expanding. Of course, you will need to de-prime with a separate universal deprime die, about $10. The M die is about $13.

Thanks to everyone for the help--I think you are right about the shoulder moving forward despite (because of) partial FL resizing only. Should have come up with that myself. I'll go through the steps described and see if that does it. A collet die and Stoney Point gauge and a copy of the book mentioned are going to get bought also. BTW--I of course have a conventional case trimmer but not the neck thickness trimming equipment. One final question--how much does residual lube inside the neck affect bullet pull? I've found that I had to lube the inside of the necks inorder to resize easily--probably due to work hardening and a rough expander ball in retrospect. How does one remove lube from inside the case necks uniformly following resizing? I really do appreciate all the help with this one, guys. One of these days I hope to be in a position to give some too. I've got the rifle in for a recrown job (stab in the dark) and will run the above mention operations when it comes back.

[ 01-21-2003, 08:56: Message edited by: snowcat ]