CAN ANYONE GIVE INFO ON SETTING A FULL LENGTH DIE TO NECK SIZE ONLY?IS THIS POSSIBLE?

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Originally posted by sll:
CAN ANYONE GIVE INFO ON SETTING A FULL LENGTH DIE TO NECK SIZE ONLY?IS THIS POSSIBLE?

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Short answer/NO/not possible...BUT you can partial size the case and stop before the shoulder is set back beyond what YOUR GUNS CHAMBER needs. this is for bolt guns and most single shots,not autos, just take a fired in your gun case and smoke the neck/shoulder area with a candle ect and back the full length die off the shellholder touch position a full turn and size a lubed case and look where the lube and dark smoke area line is located, it should be above the neck/shoulder area,on normal bottleneck cases, when the line from the die is almost at the neck/shoulder junction then stop and set the die at that point, this will acompllish almost the same thing as a neck sizing die, if the loaded shell won't fit into the chamber without forcing the bolt handle then your gun won't take the partial resized brass, this is rare on a factory type chamber...hope this helps and good luck and good shooting!!!

sll
If the case is one of the older tapered ones it is possible to size quite a bit of the neck before the body is touched. The .300 H&H and the .30-30 are good examples. The straight walled cases like the Weatherby and almost any "improved" cases are about impossible. The partial sizing extrudes the shoulder forward. (That may be one way to correct excess headspace.)
Ross

I have found that the best method for setting your sizing die is to buy a set of Stoney Point headspace guages. They are fairly inexpensive and attach to your dial caliper. You then measure your fired case to find your rifle's headspace and then continue to measure the case while adjusting your sizing die. I would recommend setting the shoulder back .001 - .003". The reason for this is the same reason that I don't care for the "smoking the case" method. While this method can be effective, often times (more often than not!) your expander ball will pull the shoulder forward a bit. You will think that you have sized the entire neck (and technically you have), however the wretched expander ball will pull your shoulder forward. This will really piss you off when you go to the range with a hundred rounds that won't chamber because they are too long. Only an accurate reading from a guage will ensure that the case is the dimension that you want it to be.

Hope this helps,

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RC

[This message has been edited by rcasto (edited 08-08-2001).]

Yes, you can essentially neck-size only, depending on the tolerances of your chamber and the tolerances of your FL dies. But if the chamber is "fat" and the FL dies are "tight" then some, even though slight, reduction of the walls will take place.

The methods described in the above posts will work, but seem unnessarily complicated. Do this: Back the die off of the shell holder about .12 inch or so. Resize. Try the sized brass in the chamber of your gun. Adjust the die downward until (1) the brass chambers freely, but with just a bit of resistance, or (2) you have sized enough of the neck to suit your needs.

Unless you have a very obese chamber, #2 will happen before much, if any, of the case body is engaged.