Hi all,

I recently read an article "Factors In Accuracy, Part II: Handloads" on this Web site: www.24hourcampfire.com...ading.html

Got me thinking.....what do you guys do?

Later, D

Howdy. I will full size new brass then fire form them and neck size from there on out, i don't know how much of a difference it makes but i get good results from it.

All of my dies are full-length ones and I resize only enough to permit the case to easily chamber in a particular rifle. A little drag on the bolt handle when chambering the cases is OK. Sometimes I use several rifle of the same caliber and in then I lightly full-length resize all cases of that caliber. Hope that is clear. I do not own neck-size dies. I obtain the same effect by backing off the sizing die a fraction of a turn from making contact with the shell holder. All the best...
Gil

GilMartin wrote:

All of my dies are full-length ones and I resize only enough to permit the case to easily chamber in a particular rifle. A little drag on the bolt handle when chambering the cases is OK. Sometimes I use several rifle of the same caliber and in then I lightly full-length resize all cases of that caliber. Hope that is clear. I do not own neck-size dies. I obtain the same effect by backing off the sizing die a fraction of a turn from making contact with the shell holder. All the best... Gil

I resize my brass exactly the same as Gil. It has worked great for me for more than 25 years. I do not own any neck sizing dies either.

For my bolt guns I neck size until it seems to drag too much on closing the bolt. The 22-250 requires neck sizing as it was chombered when 22-250 was pure wildcat and has a radiused shoulder, use a Lee collet die for it. Some of my bolt guns need neck sizing for best accuracy.

The Contenders need to have the shoulders pushed back about a thousandth in order to get uniform closure of the action. Full length size for the Contenders.

The 308 model 70 has such a huge chamber that neck sizing is about the only option.

I do both, neck and full length sizing, as mood and necessity require.

Gary

akroxy wrote:

Hi all, I recently read an article "Factors In Accuracy, Part II: Handloads" on this Web site: www.24hourcampfire.com...ading.html Got me thinking.....what do you guys do? Later, D

Whooo! I just read the article. Good information, but a bit much for my taste. I used to smoke the shoulder and neck, but now, I set my sizing die to minimum dimensions with a Wilson Case/headspace gauge, and verify with a Stony Point H'space gauge and caliper....once. If I could, I would weld it at that setting. I try to center the dies, per a couple of articles I have read, and use Hornady tungsten carbide expander.

I only full size if it's brass that's new or hasn't been fired in my rifle. With brass that's been fired in my rifle I don't want to upset the dimensions. Supposedly a fired rifle case conforms to your chamber and should be concentric. Therefore I prefer not to touch it, merely size the neck to hold the new bullet. This can be iffy with the suspect chambers in todays new rifles, but should be ideal. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Further to what Cal said.....if you really want to keep your cases conformed to your chamber, try this.......with a black magic marker, put a dot at the edge of the base of the case and when you place the round in your rifle to be fired, orient it so the mark is at the very top. After you have fire-formed it and re-loaded and are ready to fire it again, orient the case with the dot at the top again and you will have the case back where it was when it was fire-formed. If there is any mis-alignment between the case centerline and the barrel centerline, this will eliminate it (as far as this round goes anyway). If you make this mark on all your rounds (that you neck size only,) you will have a perfect fit on all your cases. Of course when you are in a hunting situation and feeding from a mag, it won't do you any good, but for shooting paper and developing loads, it will work.

Blaine

Neck size? No, never have. Might be able to shrink groups by a bit, but when you start out at MOA with a hunting rifle it just doesn't seem worth while.

I know the argument about longer case life. When I first started reloading the 7mm Mag I was getting 4-5 reloads before I got case-head separation. Backed off the load and went 18 before I got my first one. Now I toss the brass at around 12.