I went and ordered a Redding Competition Bushing Neck die set for reloading 30-06, along with their Instant Indicator Headspace & Bullet Comparator for same, from "Lock, Stock, and Barrel". I went ahead and ordered bushings in 76300 for the comparator, and in 76.330-.336 for the neck sizing. Not having reloaded in 30-06 before, and not having fired this rifle yet (no scope mounted yet). I miked a couple different factory rounds, and came up with a loaded neck size of anywhere from .334-.335. Figuring as the Redding Catalog says to subtract .001, I figured I'd be safe with the 6 bushings I ordered. So I was wondering what you guys are finding necessary?

Phil

You will find that the decision you have to make is how far to neck down the case to get proper neck tension. I have heard a variety of recommendations. I think I would take several fired cases and neck them down with all the bushings you have and then do a pragmatic test of neck tension by trying to push the bullets back into the case. When I thought I had the minimal amount of neck tension to hold the bullets I would seat bullets in a couple unprimed/unpowdered cases and then combine them in the rifle's magazine with factory ammo on top. I would then fire the rifle several times and see if any of the bullets moved in the cases under recoil. This would be a practical way to get adequate neck tension. I would be curious just how much you finally have to reduce the necks to get good tension.

In general, I think it is true that your chance of producing runout increases as you decrease the bushing size. Redding used to recommend a bushing size of .002" below loaded neck diameter. These days, they have reduced their recommendation to .001" - apparently in an attempt to minimize the chance of runout.

I personally think you'll be fine with .002" below loaded neck diameter, but if you want to be sure, you'll have to measure your sized cases to see if you actually introduce any runout in your sizing operation.

It seems to be common practice with the BR crowd to use neck constriction as high as .002 - .003", the rationale being that VV N133 sems to perform best in 6mm PPC with quite a bit of neck tension.

I don't think you'll have problems with bullets moving with .002" neck tension, but as Old Elk Hunter mentioned, you'll have to try how your bullets seat. Can you push them in by hand??

Other alternatives for you would be a Lee Collet Die, which, although it does not allow you to control neck tension, does produce amazingly straight ammo for very little cost, or have either Hornady or Forster modify one of their FL sizing dies to provide you with a specified amount of neck tension (maybe 20$ on top of the cost of the die?). Some people claim they get better results (runout wise) when eliminating the bushing system in favour of a fixed die setup with a particular neck diameter (no expander needed)

- mike

Grey, I load sevral calibers using the bushing system and find that for the .308 I use about .002 and possibly .0025 tension to shoot well and stay together. My 6 PPC does it's best at .001 and VV130, not the VV133 so popular these days. My 6 Rem and .243 AI and 6.5/284 and 6/284 all get individual treatments.





A little trick I learned was to leave just a slight amount of space (looseness) for the bushing to travel side to side in order to creat a self centering attitude. All dies, chambers and brass create to some extent their own runout, and it can be an issue which with dillegence can be controled. Good shooting