I have a problem with the neck tension, it's fine the first loading, case neck has .0035" dia increase after seating bullet. Problem is there is double that tension the next time loading the same cases.

It seems my .335" bushing is leaving necks .335" the first time(virgin cases) and .3325" after firing once. I have to use the "dreaded" expander to open them back up just to load them now. The only other bushing I have is .334" so...guess I need to get a .338" bushing or turn the necks for my already loose chamber.

Anyone else have these problems too.
It seems the spring back is alot less after only one firing? Everyone recomends a .002-3" smaller bushing than loaded dia, but it only worked once like that...

Thanks for the help.

[ 01-23-2003, 12:32: Message edited by: Brent Moffitt ]

Neck tension is affected by work hardening of brass and by the annealing at manufacture. Also, without a ball micrometer the neck thickness after turning will show a bit thicker using a tubing micrometer or caliper because of the 'ridges' left by the turning. When I started using the bushing dies I found I could never get by with less than minimum of 2 bushings. It ended up I had to acquire a range of bushings covering about 4 or 5 sizes for each caliber. I also found it essential to anneal after about 3 or 4 reloads because of the work hardening of the necks as you have discovered.

You probably need bushings through a range of about .004". You'll ultimately need them, so prepare to purchase. Incidentally, I found my best accuracy with light neck tension. I settled on .002" as optimum for me in most of the larger cartridges. This is light enough to hold the bullet accurately in the magazines, yet light enough for accuracy, even in some heavier recoilers in light rifles.

[ 01-24-2003, 00:30: Message edited by: Bob338 ]

I think Bob's pretty much got it. In my experience, spring back doesn't change THAT much, but your necks could well be getting thicker.

Buy the additional bushings. It'll only hurt for a little while..... LOL! Dutch.

This sounds like a large necked factory chamber. (if not you can say so) These bushing dies work predictably with tight necks and therefore sizing the brass only small amounts. But with some factory chambers the brass blows out so much (in the neck area),with each firing that when you attempt to size them back down the bushing that should work dosen't give you the correct amount of sizing. This dosen't mean you can't use these dies for factory chambers, just that you must experiment with different bushings untill you get the desired amount of sizing. You can also use the expander ball with this die, and that will solve your problem, but that kinda defeats the purpose of the bushing type die. ...ol blue

.check redding web site, trouble shooting-- if the fired case you are sizing needs to be sized down more than .010" , sometimes a bushing . 355" will give you a tighter/smaller neck than you want, maybe as much as .352"

It is a factory chamber, sorry I should have said. Thanks for the advice, I knew I followed the recomended procedure, but figured the results would be consistant for a few loading at least. I bought a .334" bushing at the same time just in case bullets weren't holding on recoil, but I'll get a couple more bigger for now to make things work.

Thanks for the tip at the Redding site too, I'll go check it out. I'll make good use of the 30 cal bushings, good caliber to learn the hard way with, as I'll be using them in many other down the road I'm sure.

No way I'm going back to expander balls from here, even though I'm using it now just to keep shooting. I can get hold of some locally from a smith in Anchorage.

Thanks again.

Yeah, but for the price of one bushing, you can buy a collet die that works every time .

PS Brent, the barrel is still bravely fighting back....... lol! Dutch.

Dutch~
I'll disagree on the collet dies from my own experience. I tried a couple and could never get them to work right. Not enough tension on the neck. Sent it back to Lee once and it was no better. Finally I returned them to Lee for my money back. They were as good as their promise. I know many reloaders use and love them but I'm not one of them. Maybe I'm "mechanically challenged"!!!

Bob, don't know what to tell you. Never had a problem. No lube, no turning. Life is good. Dutch.

All of the Redding 'S' type bushing neck or FL dies I have seen, come with an expander button on the decapping pin. Unless you neck turn your cases to insure the same neck thickness on all cases, you need to leave the expander button in place in the sizing die or you will have neck tension problems. I measure case neck thickness for my rifles that I use for 1000yd BR shooting before neck turning. On a single case, the neck thickness can vary as much as .0015 as you go around the neck. Cases from the same bag of 100 can vary as much as .003 from case to case. Personally, I find the bushing type sizing dies a waste of money unless you take the time to neck turn your cases. With factory chambers or even SAAMI minimum dimension chambers, there is not much to be gained from neck turning or using bushing dies because there is too much clearance around the neck in the chamber. With a BR rifle where a 'tight neck' chamber is used, the clearance between the cartridge neck and the chamber is usually held to .001 or less. In this case you MUST turn your case neck to guarantee that the case neck can expand enough to release the bullet. This is not practical in a hunting rifle where any brand of factory ammo may be used.

Here's 3 shots at 1000 yards, first group with this load. 180 Ballistic Silvertip at 92.5gr RL25. Only great accuracy will do here. One went off the steel. 26.25 moa and first shot slammed center.



Another one with 180 Sciroccos, same load. Not quite the accuracy but consistant enough for some fun.



I'm wish it were a tight neck but I'll have to make do for now. I will turn to true up the necks so the expander isn't needed to keep the inside dia consistant.

Dutch,

You let me know when you get that thing to let go.