I have a lee 30-06 FL die that does not quite put as much neck tension on the case as I would like, it does seem to size pretty consistant but I would like the bullet to be held just a tad more securely in the brass, is there anything I can do to help this happen??

Remove the expander ball and use a universal decapper. You might find run out improves also....

Put the expander ball in a drill and spin it against some fine sandpaper. It will take enough off to tighten the neck tension.

Both of the above are excellent suggestions. Personally, I just unscrew the expander/decap assembly from the FL sizing die and throw it away. Better neck tension, less run-out, and I never have to crimp. Never collapsed a case neck during seating either.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

thanks for the advice guys, I first tried no expander at all, this worked however you could see a mark on the case neck where the bullet had expanded the neck then went back in where the bullet stopped, this didn't look right to me, so I tried the drill and sand paper and took off about .00125 off the expander, put it back together, I now have just the right amount of neck tension I want

That is the best bet. Some dies actually size the neck way too much to seat a bullet without expanding the brass. In that case I lap the die to reduce the amount of sizing. I want good tension without the expander doing much at all. If the expander is too large, the only solution is to polish it down. You can eliminate it if the die sizes to the right dimensions.
Oversizing and then over expanding is a sure way to bend the shoulders.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
...In that case I lap the die to reduce the amount of sizing.

How do you lap them?? Do you do this with dies of all brands??

I regularly have Forster modify their FL sizing dies to a specified neck diameter for me. But I did not realize this could be done DIY... I once asked at RCBS whether they offered the same modification service, but they declined - I think they were worried either about the hardening of the die or the neck getting out of round??

Ah, I found the reply from RCBS, they strictly speaking did not refuse to hone a die, but put limitations on the job. Here is the reply:

quote:

RCBS does not hone existing hardened dies. We can polish the neck no
larger than .003 of the existing neck size. If any larger, it may become
rounded or distorted and soft.

We need 3 to 5 fired cases to modify and check die.

If you have a local machine shop, they possibly could do the job.

We do offer custom made dies to fired cases.

Please, no go between vendors.

- mike

quote:

Originally posted by cummins cowboy:
thanks for the advice guys, I first tried no expander at all, this worked however you could see a mark on the case neck where the bullet had expanded the neck then went back in where the bullet stopped, this didn't look right to me, so I tried the drill and sand paper and took off about .00125 off the expander, put it back together, I now have just the right amount of neck tension I want

You already did what I was going to suggest-reduce the diameter of the expander button a little.....

The elastic limit of a case neck is .001 ~ .002" change in diameter.

Once the neck has been sized for at least that much interference with the bullet, that is the limit of neck tension.
Some additional elastic limit, and therefore additional tension is possible from working hardening the brass while expanding and sizing or firing and sizing.

Most dies make ~.006 ~ .010" interference, so you already have the maximum tension for a straight neck.

If you want more grip, you can:
1) crimp into a canalure with the seater die.
2) Lee factory crimp for rifles is a collet die.
3) Bond the bullet to the brass with sealer.
4) Size down factory 35W brass to get thicker neck walls


I have noticed that inertia bullet pullers work just fine against the maximum neck tension, but crimps or sealer make the work too hard for that type of puller.

Hmmm. Interesting. I have used .450 Alaskan cases w/o using an expander plug in order to see if the bullets would stay put against the recoil without being crimped. The powder charge (64 grains of IMR 4064, 400-grain bullets) was sufficient to keep the bullets from collapsing into the case, and the tight necks proved sufficient to prevent the bullets from moving out of the case due to recoil. (Pretty tough recoil in a 7-pound M71 Win. with a 400-grain bullet at 2400 FPS MV. I had to epoxy-steel the receiver sight on and the magazine tube/forend to the barrel to keep them from flying away!) I decided that, loaded that way, crimping the bullets was not necessary. I used a .45 COLT pistol neck expanding plug to bell the case mouths so the bullets could be started in the tight necks.