I bought a box of a 100 Lapua .308 cases and did a full prep on them. I have never owned a tight necked rifle so I've never bothered with neck turning. I made a dummy round which had a neck diameter of .337" so I bought a Redding Competition die set with a 335 bushing, .002" smaller than the neck diameter of the loaded Lapua case.

Now, after 8-10 reloads, I noticed the bullets are harder to seat so I measured the neck diameter which is now .340".

Is this normal?

What are my options; a neck turning tool, more bushings or a fresh batch of brass?

Thanks, Oilburner

First let me say that I'm "cheap" and hate to through away brass. So, I would get the turner and start monitoring the brass for impending seperation.
If you have a tight chamber and the brass get too thick, you could start to see pressures start to go up!! -memtb

Oilburner...before you start to turn necks, try annealing several of the necks and then run them thru your dies...betcha you're back in business. Your brass has gotten so hard it won't spring back.

I shoot a Lazzeroni and that brass is even more expensive than your Lapua .... my rule of thumb is shoot it 4X and then anneal...repeat as necessary.

How are ya Hot Core, it's been a while.

I am not clear on how annealing helps with the thickened necks. Since I have never attempted annealing I would appreciate and explanation.

The Winnie was traded for the "underdog", a Savage 16FSS. So far, my loads have shown a lot of promise. It does not like Sierra 168gr MK's or Speer 165gr soft points. On the other hand, it shows a preference for Speer 165gr HPBT's over Varget and 180gr BT's over H380. BLC2 has worked well with both bullets too. I have worked up some loads with Speer 150gr MagTips over BLC2 and will try them in a few weeks.

Your necks may not actually be thicker, it may be they just haven't been able to "spring back" because they have become work-hardened during all the previous 8-10 reloads.

Have you tried to measure the actual wall thickness of the brass neck's and compare it to new brass?

Well, if the neck diameter is larger with a bullet (same bullets as original measurement) seated, that says that the neck wall has to be thicker, right? And since the Redding Competition Neck Die uses a bushing only, no expander ball/plug, if the neck is thicker, then you necksize (which is sizing the outer diameter of the neck), the bullets are being seated into a smaller diameter neck - so they're harder to seat, correct? Please let me know if I'm missing something - we're really trying to correct this situation ASAP.

Oilburner and I are working on this together - I have the same issue with my 7mm brass. Using the same die type (Redding Competition Bushing Neck Dies) and the same bullets, after 3-4 reloadings, the bullets are getting slightly harder to seat. Measure the neck of a LOADED round, and it is now .310" vs. .308" with the brass when it was new. So I would think lke mentioned in a previous post - the brass is "flowing" to the neck, and to continue using the same bushing, the brass needs to be neck turned (Reading Reddings write-up about these dies, it seems like this is what they had in mind - these dies are meant more for the shooter with custom barrel/rifle with tight chambers and are meticulous with their brass prep - including neck turning).

Thanks for the help guys!

[ 01-15-2003, 04:30: Message edited by: TXRam ]

DB Bill/Hot Core,

I think I understand what you're saying - the brass hardening and then the neck sizing "really doesn't size it" (in other words, it doesn't hold the sizing and springs right back out after neck sizing). Am I understanding this correct? If so, then wouldn't the bullets be loose in the necks of the loaded rounds? If not please explain. Oilburner conned me into this expensive addiction, and I'm really trying to learn as much about this stuff as possible (and save spending money on stuff I don't really need).

TIA

[ 01-15-2003, 06:56: Message edited by: TXRam ]

Hey TXRam, Welcome aboard!

When you are first beginning to Reload, it is easy to over analyze certain aspects and draw improper conclusions. So, rather than confuse the issue further try the following:

Take a new unfired case and Neck Size it just like you and Oilburner are currently doing. Then seat a bullet in it and measure the case at the neck/shoulder junction using 0.0001" capable Micrometers. Turn the case between the anvils to locate a "high spot"(wider) and record that value as the Benchmark.

Now, load 3-5 of the cases you all have been using and take the same measurements. Compare the results to the Benchmark.

If the used cases are appreciably larger, pull the bullets, Turn, Ream or Trash.

In the future, you will still want to anneal the necks about every 5 shots.

...

Nothing at all wrong with trying to figure out what's going on. But like I mentioned before, sometimes over thinking an issue(when first starting to Reload) confuses the whole thing and you end up down the wrong path.

Best of luck to both of you.

[ 01-15-2003, 19:27: Message edited by: Hot Core ]