Full length or neck sized

johnnyjr

Well-Known Member
Courious to know if you shooters are using full sized or neck size for your cast bullets. I am going to load 10 rounds each. Same load and bullet. Full sized and neck sized to see what the difference will be. Testing will be 50 yards. Any advice on this will be appreciated. Thanks, john
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
when i neck size i'm focusing on neck tension amount.
especially if i'm using a compressed load, then neck tension matters even more and i've had to go to .005 [or even more] to hold everything in place.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Always neck size so as to avoid wear and tear on the brass, unless there is a reason to FL size. I have never found FL sized to shoot better than neck sized that I can recall, but I have seen FL sized shoot worse than neck sized.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I Neck size..... after 6 to 10 shooting ( depending on caliber) I will then anneal and FL size. After I shoot the FL sized brass
I start neck sizing and shooting for groups! Then after 6 to 10 times fired I repeat! I always Anneal before FL sizing so the brass gets worked before shooting again.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
Neck size here too .

While I don't have the fat chamber that new , factory, and FL brass literally rattled around in , I do have a couple of barrels that are almost the next caliber up .
 

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
I never neck size. If you are sizing the brass correctly you don't need to neck only. I bump my shoulders back 0.001"-0.002" As long as they stay in that range I am happy. On my serious attempts for all out accuracy I size with the expander removed and then use a 21st century expander mandrels to open to the size I want. Right now I only have the 223 kit. But for my other rifles with cast I have RCBS neck expander dies and mandrels. Plus ones I made to work on the RCBS die. Ian turned me onto the RCBS ones years ago and they work awesome. I have ones from 0.310"-0.3135" in 0.0005" increments.
 
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Rick H

Well-Known Member
I partial size like Tomme Boy. Just bump the shoulders back a thou or three. Sizing the case all the way to the stops just works them too hard. The only issue is when you have 3 or 4 rifles in the same caliber then you either bump them to the smallest chamber or load different lots of ammo for each rifle. I know, I have five .223R/5.56mm rifles and have done it both ways. I size the 3 semi-autos the same and load for each bolt gun individually.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
Fl size with RCBS X-dies. Especially, with calibers known to grow after each firing............243 Winchester is one of those offenders. Initial trimming and never again. My experience with them, with moderate cast loadings, is around 20 reloads before necks start to split..............and I don't anneal, anything, ever. Quite possibly, the same life with J-words but I've never shot that many jacketed bullets.

I also use the X dies in 270W, 308W and 338W.............best thing since sliced bread, IMO.
 

MW65

Wetside, Oregon
Full length size for me... straight pull, or other action types requiring that sizing technique. Gallery loads typically don't need it... other than a wipe down, de&reprime, flare, etc... but I typically give them a full or partial size.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
Tomme been hanging out at Accurate shooter... LOL
seen that answer yesterday over there.
 

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
it works fiver. I answered over there but not as deep as I said here. I don't like to have to force my bolt handle closed. The only cartridge I really neck size is my 762x54r russian. But I still never FL size like the makers say to do it when I have to. I bump the shoulder about 0.001" and that is it. The brass is too expensive to FL size. I have not had to trim any of that brass yet since I started doing it that way.
 
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Spindrift

Well-Known Member
For any cartridge where a Lee Collet die is available, I neck size using the LCD. Mainly because it cuts down on the workload. I particularly appreciate not having to clean and dry brass.
Neck sizing works well for me, even in my 30/30 levergun (with moderate cast loads).

I modified a .30-06 LCD die, so it leaves the case mouth unsized. It uses a slightly reduced .303 Brit mandrel, that leaves a suitable neck tension for .310 bullets.

In the .35 Whelen (no LCD available), I size with a FL die, set to 0,002in shoulder set-back.
For my .44 AutoMag bolt gun, I size with a .308win FL die, as it works the brass less than my .44AM Hornady die.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Bump the shoulder .002" or so, size the neck about .003-4" smaller than the bullet on the inside, then expand to .0015" smaller than the bullet after springback for consistency. Rarely anneal. Whatever tools or methods accomplish this is what I use: Bushing neck dies, Lee Collet dies, honed-out FL dies, FL neck bushing dies, shoulder bump bushing dies, mix of calibers within a cartridge family (.358 Win for .308 and neck size with a collet die, for example), and so on.

Where people screw up most often is using an FL die in any capacity to resize the necks of modern, high-pressure brass cartridges that are thick, hard, and and are fired in rifles having generous chamber necks. FL dies overwork the brass necks terribly and when using an expanding tool to prevent crushing the soft, cast bullet, the necks get stretched off-center and the generous chamber gap allows this to chamber. Bullet gets started crooked to the bore and doesn't fly well or consistently through the air. Don't resize your necks too small in the first place and this doesn't happen.

The reason the .30-30 Winchester has such a good reputation for being "cast bullet friendly" has to do with several things, the most important often overlooked. Sure, the long neck is nice, the thin brass doesn't apply much misalignment force to the bullet, the small capacity and inherent velocity limitations are in a cast bullet's wheelhouse, the large rifle primer is a great breech-seating device in the small case.......but more than anything look at the chamber and brass drawings at SAAMI and see how little tolerance there is around a loaded case neck. The setup is inherently tight, tolerance stacking low, and regular production FL sizing dies don't screw up the brass nearly as much as with other chamberings.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
i don't think a lot of people understand a shoulder bump, or why they'd want to do it with something other than a full length die.
or why a simple thing like neck sizing is best done as a multiple step process.