I've used several brands of 6.5x55 brass of which most has been European manufactured, mostly Norma. I picked up 100 Win cases a while back. No problem loading up the new brass. When I went to load the once fired brass I found that the necks on the Win brass were much thinner than the Norma brass. So much thinner that after running the once fired Win case through the FL size die the neck was not reduced enough to hold a bullet. I ended up decapping the Win cases in the 6.5x55 die then sized the necks in a 6.5 REm die. Has anyone else run into this? Anyone have any input as to which brand of die has the tightest dimension in the neck area.

I just measured neck wall thickness. The variation in thickness is from taking measurements on the same case in different spots.

New Winchester .011" to .012"

nny .0095" to .014"

FC .011" to .0126"

Norma .010" to .014"

Bosnian .009" to .012"

PMC .0095" to .012"

CBC .010" to .012"
Hope this gives you some insight. roger

You have an easy fix. Merely take your depriming/resizing spindle our of the die and chuck it in a drill motor and buff the resizing ball down a bit with fine emery cloth or steel wool. I'd do it in a couple of goes so you don't get the neck too tight.
I've never tried it but some folks take the resizing ball out completely.
Why did you decap the brass?? You could have removed the depriming pin from the die and resized the necks without a problem.

quote:

When I went to load the once fired brass I found that the necks on the Win brass were much thinner than the Norma brass. So much thinner that after running the once fired Win case through the FL size die the neck was not reduced enough to hold a bullet. I ended up decapping the Win cases in the 6.5x55 die then sized the necks in a 6.5 REm die. Has anyone else run into this?

This sounds like a die problem. I have the dimensions for a lot of 6.5 dies.


6.5X55 RCBS FL 0.2860
6.5x52 Carcano RCBS FL 0.2850
6.5X55 RCBS FL 0.2850
6.5x53R Dutch Mann RCBS FL 0.2845
6.5x52 Carcano LEE FL 0.2840
6.5X250 SAV. RCBS FL 0.2840
6.5X55 LEE FL 0.2840
6.5x54 Mann-Schoe FORSTER FL 0.2835
6.5x53R Dutch Mann CH/4D FL 0.2830
6.5 JAP LEE FL 0.2830
6.5x54 Mann-Schoe RCBS FL 0.2820

As you can see there is not a very large spread.
What diameter and brand are your dies?

I would not grind down the expander ball as you may want to use it with Norma brass again.

I would just remove the expander ball or replace with a sub caliber expander and see how this works. If the case neck is thin the sizing die might just be enough to do the job without causing problems.

In the 6.5X55 my favourit brass is Lapu - exceptional quality.

Thanks for the input but no one answered the question I have. I just measured the neck thickness on 3 brands of brass. The win cases have necks .012" thick. Rem cases measured.0145" thick and the NNY measured .016". When I run the NNY cases through my die the expander ball leaves the OD of the neck @ .290". The Rem comes out @ .288" with slightly less pressure required to pull the case out of the die,over the expander ball. The Win cases come out at .286" and the expander ball doesn't really touch the case neck. So no I don't think I will bother reducing the expander in size. Now what I wanted to know was want brand of die sizes the neck of 6.5x55 brass to the smallest diameter. Likely something in the .280 to .283". If anyone is sizing some 6.5x55 cases I would be interested in the outside diameter of the case neck with the expander removed.

Snow man the numbers I gave you should answer your question. The numbers you've just posted are surprising.
with the expanders removed;

Lee die OD=.280"

Lachmiller die OD=.288"

You can`t really go by what someone measures after sizing a case as to what a specific brand of die will do. There is a tolerance involved in the manufacture that will show from expander to expander and, there also is the brass it self. Brass work hardens with use and depending on the annealling done while manufacuring it the amount of spring back will vary considerably between some new cases.

Snowman,
No one knows what every 6.5X55 die set on the planet will do.

The numbers I posted are pretty represenative of 6.5 dies in several makes and calibers.

We really can't spoon feed you.

One option is to spend the money on a Redding bushing die set and get the right bush size to suit your brass. My 6.5X55 rifles were a Sako & a Winchester Mod 70 & I stuck to Norma & lapua brass. I had no issues with RCBS dies.

Bartsche Thanks for the measurements from your dies. That was exactly what I needed. I picked up a set of Lee dies and with the expander removed the OD of the sized cases comes out @ ,2805 on my caliper. Pretty close to your .280. When sized in the Lee die my Winchester brass holds the bullets just fine. The Lee die may work the thicker necked brass a little more but that will not be a problem as I will only use the Lee die on the Win brass. I will continue to use the Lyman die on the thicker necked brass..

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
Bartsche Thanks for the measurements from your dies. .

You're welcome roger