Friends-

I want to buy a Forester neck sizing die in .300 WSM. I have contacted the following companies without any success:

Forester - Out of stock; twelve week lead time before they have any more.
Natchez
Mid-South
Lock, Stock & Barrel
Graf & Sons
Sinclair
R.W. Hart
Cabelas

All of the above are out of stock.

Any other suggestions?

For an alternative try a redding. They make FL, Neck and FL bushing dies for the 300WSM. I use the FL bushing dies with the expander removed and am firing cases 10 times and still no cracked necks or other problems.

If it must be forster, sorry I can't help.

Whatever you wind up doing, don't buy anything direct from Forster. You'll end up paying much more than you would from any of the vendors you listed.

RSY

Go Redding. Get the Titanium Nitride coated bushings. I use them for .308, .223, 300 Win Mag, .270, and 300 Whisper.
Very good quality.
JCN

I would go redding also. I love Forster seater dies, but as far as sizers go, you can't go wrong with redding (of course nothing wrong with Forster). As stated by RSY, you can upgrade the expanding unit/buttons as well.

Order from Graf & Sons or MidSouth. They both back order and will probably get the dies before you would direct.

The die to start with is the Redding "S" type FL die. Order the bushing after you know what your loaded neck measures.



The old style neck sizing dies are obsolete. They don't line up the case and worst of all they iron the necks too much.



Make sure you chamber is round before getting any kind of neck die.

Friends-

Thanks for the info.

KevinNY, JohnCharlieNoak and Shilen30-

All of you recommended Redding resulting with the following questions.
#1. Would you go with the Competition Bushing Neck Sizing Die?

#2. Would you go with the Type S Bushing Die?

#3. Or, would you go with the regular Neck Sizing Die?

Thanks in advance.

You might try Midway

Forget the competition die. It isn't any better than the S die and you'll probably never use the enhancement for which you have to pay extra over the S die.

Only suggestion I have is to get a couple or three bushings from the gitgo. You'll ulimately need others based on variances of neck walls. I'd start off with two that measure .002" and .003" MORE than your neck diameter with bullet seated.

Go with the Full Length bushing die, Order the bushing that is 2 thousandths SMALLER than the measured neck of a loaded round to start(correction from above posts information) You will probable find this works just fine. Also DO NOT use the expander ball, they give you the parts to do it either way. That way you don't have to lube the inside of the case necks and won't stretch your cases. READ the directions, especially about having the bushing float a little bit.

Bob338 is right on the money. Go with the S die. I would suggest getting norma brass also so hopefully neck thickness doesn't vary as much from case to case and you will not have to purchase AS many bushings, plus, for the 300WSM, norma is affordable and by all means excellent brass. Also listen to Kevin when it comes to removing the expander since you won't nead it with the S die.



I would have to say to go with the forster seater though since the redding is a copy of the forster, and redding's came out very shortly after forsters patent ran out, and you pay a lot less for the forster.

I agree with my esteemed colleagues: Get the type S FL die. I also always get a carbide conversion kit for the neck expander assembly. I always run new brass through the die with the neck expander in place. After that I use the TiN bushing. It is hard to predict what size bushing you need, so don't get excited if your have to get more than one. Bullet diameters do vary between lots and brands. Also, moly coated or XLC Barnes bullets often require a tighter bushing to get enough neck tension to hold the bullet securely. I prefer to FL size my brass each time because I feel that I get a more consistent result that way. A competition shellholder set from Redding is handy also. I makes it easy to control how much you resize the case. I like to bump my case shoulders back .001" - .002" in bolt guns, and .003" - .004" in semi-autos. In full auto guns (.223 and .308) I always bump the shoulder a full .004".
JCN
PS Just read (and follow) the instructions that come with the dies and shellholders and you will have good results.

Friends-

Thanks again for the information.

KevinNY, JohnCharlieNoak, Shilen30 and Bob338

I went ahead and purchased Type S Bushing Dies both in full length and neck sizing versions. I haven�t come back around to full length resizing quite yet but, I see the benchresters are going back to full length resizing. I will probably remove the expander ball or at a minimum take it out and give it a good polishing with 600 grit wet and dry; makes a huge difference.

As for Norma brass, I have 100 rounds but, I will tell you the Winchester Brass for .300 WSM is incredibly uniform both in terms of weight and neck wall thickness. I purchased it right after the WSM�s came out. I guess this was an early run before the dies and equipment starting wearing.

I hear some complaints that the Norma brass is too soft. What are your thoughts?

I bought 50 cases of each a while back to form for a 338WSM. My lot of WW cases certainly wasn't uniform. Variance was significant and not at all predictable. I hate neck turning but had to do it on these and the results showing on the cleaned necks were astounding. In some cases the thick, turned off portion, was as thick as .016". The nominal neck wall thickness on them was .0135", many cleaned on one side only and not touched on the other. Some with much cleaning near mouth and base, nothing in the middle. VERY irregular. The dry weight disparity was significant also. Most cases weighed near 229 grains with water capacity at 84.6 grains at minimum trim length, but the dry weight variance was about �3g.

The Norma cases weighed 250 grains, with water capacity at 83.1 grains at minimum trim length. The neck wall thickness was .015" with little or no variance. Dry weight variance was less than �1.5g. In cleaning the necks, the only place the cutter touched was in the donut area near the base. That came from expanding to 338 caliber from the 30 caliber. The walls were quite uniform.

I've annealed the WW cases three times now and Norma cases once. No primer pockets are loose on either though the WW cases are beginning to be easier to seat at 11 reloads of pretty hot loads. Norma is still tight but with only about 5 reloads (without checking records,) there's no indication of "soft" brass.

I also use Norma brass in 338 Win Mag and the rumor of soft brass from Norma is only that, a rumor, in my experience. I've totally discounted it in all the applications where I've used Norma brass. It is VERY good brass and much preferable to our domestic stuff. If that's the only knock you hear, then forget about it.

Exactly what Bob says, exactly. Norma brass varies from lot to lot and caliber to caliber in softness, but don't worry about it. For the 22-250, my friend bought 400 norma from a lot that varied ZILCH, nearly 0 in dimensions. It is a good price for the 300WSM and you can't go wrong. But hey, if you have a good bunch from winchester you're OK for a while. Measure wall thickness FROM 1 SIDE OF THE CASE NECK TO THE OTHER on them though because as was stated, material can be removed from 1 side and not the other when neck turning the less expensive cases: NOT GOOD! Get yourself a neck wall thickness gauge from sinclairs if you haven't already. I must say you did good on the die selection though. Me personally, I would buy 300 norma cases at a time so you get them all from the same lot. I have bought cases from different lots 3 years apart and the weight and case capacity on average was different and loaded different.

Bob338 and Shilen30-

Thanks again for your responses; they are very helpful. My first entre' into the WSM's was my 6.5 WSM. The only brass available at that time was WW in .300 WSM. So, I purchased 200 rounds; again, this was as soon as virgin brass was available. The first hundred rounds, I necked down to 6.5 WSM; a very tedious process, and neck turning was an absolute necessity in with a .296 neck. Then when Norma brass was first available in .300 WSM, I purchased 100 rounds. I de-burred the flash hole and cleaned up the primer pockets with my White Tail tool and set it aside to neck down to 6.5. Well thanks for procrastination, I now have a .300 WSM added to the battery and Norma brass almost ready to go. I will measure the neck wall thickness and probably clean up the necks with my K&M Tool.

I will tell you that this early WW brass is pretty darned good in terms of weigh variation +/- 1.5 gr and neck wall thicknesses pretty consistent at .016. I did clean up the necks with my K&M Tool and will tell you that the majority required some removal just aheat of the neck/shoulder junction. I went to the WW brass first in my load development for the .300 WSM. I was able to get several sub-MOA groups, so either way, WW or Norma I feel like brass is not going to be a problem.

With the advent of .270 WSM there is a much easier way to make 6.5 WSM brass. I think I will get me some Norma .270 WSM brass now that it is available.

Sounds like a great idea. I really like the idea of the 6.5 WSM. I was thinking of that or just a 6.5-284. Of course that project is put on hold for a while since I spent my money on my custom 300WM early this year. I take it you use your 6.5 for BR, but I was wondering if you used it for hunting? I was thinking of taking a rem 700 standard action and putting a good synthetic stock on it along with a Broughton barrel with a #3 contour and make it a precision hunting rifle.