Recommendation? Neck Sizer with bushings

[Ian]

Adjust the collet to size the neck however much, or little, you need. The key to consistency is having a press with a positive, repeatable, dead stop (such as Spindrift mentioned with the Lee hand press), otherwise there will be a lot of variances in final neck size by opting not to fully squeeze the neck down against the mandrel.

Another option for cast bullets is make a larger mandrel such as the one shown here closest to the cartridge case (also a good idea to rebate the mandrel so it doesn't drag the neck the whole way back out).

 

[462]

Okay, Doc, I'll search through my musty and dusty memory.

Lee's instructions went something like this: Screw the die in till it touches the shellholder, then some more (half turn, full turn, two turns?). Put a case in the shellholder and run it up into the die and apply 25-pounds of downward pressure to the press handle. Now, the case neck and mouth are sized to give jacketed bullet tension of some amount. Probably fine and dandy for jacketed bullets. (Hmmm . . . I'm a slow composer and Ian just posted the above ).

Ignoring all that, I just adjust the die down till it gives the tension I want, i. e. .3085" for a .310" cast bullet. I use a Lee Classic Cast turret with its positive stop, but got the same results with an RCBS Rock Chucker.

 

[Dimner]

Okay, Doc, I'll search through my musty and dusty memory.

Lee's instructions went something like this: Screw the die in till it touches the shellholder, then some more (half turn, full turn, two turns?). Put a case in the shellholder and run it up into the die and apply 25-pounds of downward pressure to the press handle. Now, the case neck and mouth are sized to give jacketed bullet tension of some amount. Probably fine and dandy for jacketed bullets. (Hmmm . . . I'm a slow composer and Ian just posted the above ).

Ignoring all that, I just adjust the die down till it gives the tension I want, i. e. .3085" for a .310" cast bullet. I use a Lee Classic Cast turret with its positive stop, but got the same results with an RCBS Rock Chucker.

Hey there... I like to hear that. Yes, I didn't mention the Lee collet because that's what I have been using in all my current cartridges.

What you describe is exactly how I do it now. I guess I'm going to buy another lee collet neck sizer for this new cartridge and just keep plugging away like normal. I doubt I'll ever compete in a match. I find that once you get to a group size of more than 3 people, especially in a competitive setting, normal friendly folk can take the fun right out of a hobby. However, I'm probably just an antisocial grump.

 

[462]

I find that once you get to a group size of more than 3 people, especially in a competitive setting, normal friendly folk can take the fun right out of a hobby. However, I'm probably just an antisocial grump.

Both those sentences are my reasons, too, but more so the second.

 

[Snakeoil]

I just went thru this exercise with the Lee collet die. This is what I like about the collet die. Ian's modified approach aside, I want the mandrel to control the final neck size. The mandrel removes any issues due to thickness variation. The collet gives where the case is thicker, and the ID is maintained round per the mandrel OD. For my situation, I use a .314 bullet in my 03 Spfld since the groove diameter is 0.312. The standard .30-06 Lee mandrel is 0.3055, which leaves the case ID about 0.3065-0.307. That's too much neck tension. So, I bought the .303 Brit die, faced 0.260 off the closer and used that closer and the larger 0.3085 mandrel with my .30-06 collet and that gave me 0.003 neck tension from what I've measured.

By coincidence, I just made 4 bushings for a friend who is going thru the same thing. I told him to buy a Lee collet die, but he's stuck on the Redding S die. We'll see how it works out for him.

 

[Rockydoc]

I use the Lee Collet neck sizing dies too. For those of us who don't have the equipment and/or skill to fabricate a custom mandrel, Lee will make you a custom mandrel for very reasonable cost.

 

[richhodg66]

I got neck sizer dies for the target rifles I shoot most, .30-06 and .308. I've been hearing so many good things about the Lee collet dies that I just picked up one in .308 so I'll do some testing and see if it makes a difference for me.

I'm not a match shooter, just enjoy chasing a better group from a couple of cast shooters on my 100 yard range here at the house, but this interests me. Might get more serious at some point.