Does anyone use the Redding S FL bushing die for the .223? I got one last week from Brownells along with three bushings .245-.246-.247 , the .246 bushing bullets drop through into case .245 seems to work with LC brass ,does anybody use the same bushing with LC brass or other ??

Due to the variance in thickness of case necks, you will have to use the appropriate bushing. For this you must try to get a tube-micrometer to measure the thickness of case necks. It is better to standardize on one brand of case for your reloading. Then also you need at least 0.002" tension on the bullet to keep it from being pushed inside the case during recoil of the rifle. Therefore it is bullet diameter of 0.224" plus say the wall thickness of the case neck of 0.012" X 2 = 0.248. Now to get neck tension of 0.002" you need to use the 0.246". Hoping this makes sense!

.244" bushing.

quote:

Originally posted by Reloader270:
Due to the variance in thickness of case necks, you will have to use the appropriate bushing. For this you must try to get a tube-micrometer to measure the thickness of case necks. It is better to standardize on one brand of case for your reloading. Then also you need at least 0.002" tension on the bullet to keep it from being pushed inside the case during recoil of the rifle. Therefore it is bullet diameter of 0.224" plus say the wall thickness of the case neck of 0.012" X 2 = 0.248. Now to get neck tension of 0.002" you need to use the 0.246". Hoping this makes sense!

lC brass I use .245 , .246 bullet are too loose why? I was using a rcbs .223 die (still am)to much neck tension I believe no t consistent neck tension , I'm using the Redding for proper neck tension more consistency

quote:

Originally posted by 243winxb:
.244" bushing.

what type of brass?

And all this is why 99.9 percent of reloading dies use
the Inside expanders which are slightly under bullet diameter. Using neck sizers only, mandates that ALL your brass necks must be Exactly the same thickness. And there is no way anyone can tell you which bushing to use without measuring all of your brass. I assume you have uniformly turned all your necks to the same wall thickness; otherwise you will never get a uniform bullet pull.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Using neck sizers only, mandates that ALL your brass necks must be Exactly the same thickness.

I still use the expander ball, but I like to have control over how much the brass gets worked. The stock RCBS stuff seems to REALLY work the brass. Take a fired case, measure the neck OD. Remove the decapping rod and expander from your RCBS FL die, size the case. Measure the neck again and you may be surprised.

A good rule of thumb is to measure a loaded round and use a bushing 0.002 or 0.003" smaller. You could go more than this and use an expander to not worry about inconsistent brass, and you'll still be working the brass a lot less than a standard die.

True, but without uniform neck wall thickness, you will never get uniform bullet tension, is my point. Unless you do both operations, as you suggest.
I won't be surprised.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
And all this is why 99.9 percent of reloading dies use
the Inside expanders which are slightly under bullet diameter. Using neck sizers only, mandates that ALL your brass necks must be Exactly the same thickness. And there is no way anyone can tell you which bushing to use without measuring all of your brass. I assume you have uniformly turned all your necks to the same wall thickness; otherwise you will never get a uniform bullet pull.

Thanks for that. I never thought of it that way.

Which is why, bench rest shooters use these neck bushings to minimize case over working, BUT, rest assured, they have turned their necks all to have exactly the same brass wall thickness.
And also is why they are of less benefit on hunting loads. And using Lake City brass, without neck turning, in factory chamber, is a waste of effort, for me. No offense meant to the OP. I get enough hate mail now.

quote:

Originally posted by scoutsout:
Does anyone use the Redding S FL bushing die for the .223? I got one last week from Brownells along with three bushings .245-.246-.247 , the .246 bushing bullets drop through into case .245 seems to work with LC brass ,does anybody use the same bushing with LC brass or other ??

My Forster .223 bushing bump die came with : .247", .245", and .243" bushings. And the .245 is what I use with non-neck turned Lake City brass. And the .243 bushing with turned LC brass and use a Sinclair expander die with both methods.

Note, my standard Forster non-bushing full length die will produce far less neck runout. I bought this die with the intentions of having Forster hone the neck but this die only opened the neck .003 so I did not send it to Forster.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
And all this is why 99.9 percent of reloading dies use
the Inside expanders which are slightly under bullet diameter. Using neck sizers only, mandates that ALL your brass necks must be Exactly the same thickness. And there is no way anyone can tell you which bushing to use without measuring all of your brass. I assume you have uniformly turned all your necks to the same wall thickness; otherwise you will never get a uniform bullet pull.

And there is a reason why Redding bushing dies come with expanders. And this is for people who do not turn their necks.

And below Kevin Thomas of Team Lapua USA uses Lapua brass and does not neck turn and uses full length bushing dies with a expander.

So neck turning depends on the cases neck thickness variations and is not mandatory with a bushing die.

To the OP, are you relatively new to reloading? If so, there are a couple other things to consider regarding neck tension. What you really want is the force required to pull the bullet from the case to be consistent. This has two components: how hard the case is gripping the bullet and what the friction between the bullet and case is.

People have found that super clean cases like you get with SS pin tumbling or ultrasonic cleaning increases the friction, as compared to cases with a little carbon in them or cases intentionally lubricated with graphite, MoS2, etc. Going the other way, military bullets sealed with tar or the like with have more friction, as the bullet is somewhat glued in the case.

The "grip" that the case has on the bullet has to do with how strong the brass is and how much it's stretched or crimped. The strength has to do with how thick the brass is and it's state of hardness. As you work brass it gets harder, and will have more "grip" until it cracks (look into annealing brass). Obviously thicker brass will have more grip, as will crimped brass.

So, some extra things to consider.