I remember reading in Ken Howell's book how he sizes his brass and then only minimally expands just the mouth of the case to accept the bullet. This would minimize runout.

I guess, in theory, if one used boat tails exclusively, that would eliminate the need to expand necks wouldn't it?

After I read this I tried the trick, and then next hunting season I forgot what I did, wondered what happened to my expander, got lazy and put the expander back in the "S" neck die.

Any thoughts? experiences?

I use a universal decapping die with no sizer in the "S" die at all. I decap my cases and then size them in the "S" die and seat bullets in them.

I've experimented w/ several dies and measured run-out while doing so.

IMO the Redding body die for PFLR follwed by the Lee collet die to size the neck is the best way to size brass w/ very little run-out. This commonly produces loads w/ very little run-out if any.

The only expanders that I've personally used that were run-out friendly were the ones that have the least resistance while pulling the expander back through the neck like those found in Forester dies and even the Hornady expanders as well. Most other brands have to much drag when you pull the expander back through.

Some folks turn down the expander a bit but you have to be really carefule that you don't get things out of line.

Good Luck

Reloader

i use a universal decapping die, then expand neck with a lyman "M" die. its made for cast bullets but you can reduce the diameter of the expander plug to the diameter you need, in essence getting the right fit for the bullet diameter your using.

I have done this with my 416 Howell which has an oversized expander. I remove the expander when sizing, and then put it back on and slightly bell the mouth to facilitate seating the bullet.

This results in a very tight, very uniform pull. I then crimp given the heavy recoil of this cartridge. Kudude

I do.
I deprime with a RCBS universal deprimer and then resize after tumbling with the expander removed from my dies. When useing BT bullets you don`t need to expand the necks, the bullet will do it as it seats. For FB bullets I run the expander back through the necks after resizing. For some reason I get better run out when the expander opens the case mouth from the top rather then when pulled back through from the inside.
I read about trying this as a way of improving runout in a artical in Handloader, as I remember. I believe John Barsness wrote it.

Uniform your neck a bit by turning and use a bushing die.