neck expander plugs

porthos

Active Member
what size expander plugs do you guys use in relation to the cast bullet size? for example: 18 bhn bullet sized to .310. probably going to quit using lyman neck expanders and go to NOE style
 

Ian

Notorious member
What Ben said. Magnum handgun cartridges loaded full-tilt may need more tension (smaller expander) and 9mm/.40SW will almost assuredly need an expander the size as the bullet or larger with softer than COWW alloy.

Why quit Lyman for NOE? The business part of the tools are identical.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
I have three NOE M-type expanders that utilize the Lee die body. Dimensions are spot on, but they are made of stainless and do not asily slide out of the case mouth, unlike whatever kind of steel RCBS and Lyman use. It's not till the ram is almost all the way up, and then with a wee bit of effort, do they come free.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Most of the NOE tools I've seen pictures of are rough as a cob and need a final sanding and polish.

RCBS cast bullet expanding spuds are made out of sintered unicorn sparkles, polished to 5 millionths of an inch grit size, hardened to 300 Rockwell C, and nitrided. They be smooooooth.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
I'll give them a rub down with Mother's Mag Polish.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
My expander spuds are Lyman, RCBS (they ARE nice!) and Buckshot's Lyman clones, with are best of the three. I like .0015" TO .002" smaller than bullet diameter, and use fairly hard alloys.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
0,001-0,002in. I use NOE-plugs. Necks sized with Lee collet die, so tension is moderate in the first place. I have a nylon brush mounted in my bench with a little tumble lube on, so I can give the neck a little lube inside if plug extraction is less than smooth.
 

Ian

Notorious member
...so tension is moderate in the first place.

Ah, yes! Very important to keeping those bottle necks concentric. Collet neck dies, bushing neck dies, or simply honing out the neck of a full-length die for cast bullet use is extremely helpful to accuracy and case life.