Hello:

I recently bought some once fired .223 brass via the internet. Some of the case mouths had good sized dings in them. I forget which semi-autos tend to do this.

I took apart my RCBS die and looked at the button. Called them and their "Q" die has the gentlest contour neck size button. Excellent customer service, that company. Redding has a tapered one. Lee or Lyman have a new fancy one. It would seem to me that expamding badly-dinged case necks with a standard button and standard dies would wreck havoc with bullet/case concentricity.

Does anyone make a hand tool or die that could "pre-treat" such dings? A taper for "one size fits all" or parbola/ellipse perhaps for cartridge specific ones. Sorry, no metal lathe here, nor machinist friends. Perhaps insert a Sierra 175 gr. Match HPBT into a wooden handle? On second thought... a 7MM for the pre-treat, let the die do the rest.

I've started to neck size only, no button, on my .308 bolt loads. Yet such a tool may also help here with rehabiltating outsourced (i.e "dinged") brass.

Regards-Dave

www.midsouthshooterssupply.com has a Hornady expander assembly-comes with eliptical expander-spindle-deprime pin-collarlock-carbide expander that free floats on the spindle

that will screw right in to you're RCBS die for you're caliber- part# 005-044691

Bambam:

Thanks, printed and on the to-do list. I just found this website today. Whaddya do when it is rain/snow here in NY in April. Solid info on the site, it seems, and little politics. I know midsouth as I did business with them in the past.

Regards-Dave

Also Sinclair intl. has neck expander mandrels in standard and oversize that are tapered and fit in the expander die and neck turning devices that work well for straightening neck dings and making the necks the correct size for many neck turning devices....they work well for both applications....hth..good luck and good shooting-loading!!

R.W. Hart in N.Y. I believe advertises a tool for just purpose. Their tel. no. can be found in P.S. magazine.