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Neck Sizing Problem

Precisions

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 19, 2012
20
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35
Albany, NY
After neck sizing my once fired 308 Lapua brass in my Remington 700, it will fit in my chamber perfectly, and the bolt will close no problem withought the bullet seated. After seating the bullet to 2.8 the bolt will not close! I'm stumped. If I use my fl resizing die, it works no problem. Any suggestions?
 
Short cut chamber? Did you try seating the bullet deeper in the case?

If case loads and won't with seated bullet, it stands to reason that your loading them

too long.
 
2.8 works when fl sizing, and i did try to seat it even deeper with the nick sizing. also no marks on the bullet itself. its hard to see any marks on the case because there used
 
Are you using a bushing in your neck-sizing die?

Perhaps you are getting "doughnuts" at the neck/shoulder junction by using a bushing

That is too small? I think I used a .332" bushing for Lapua 308 brass.


The doughnut can make a round hard to fully chamber.
 
Still having this issue with my neck sizing die. I have figured out that its the extractor that is being a pain to slip onto the brass. When I slide the bolt in it will stop short. If I pull it back out from there, the round will not come back out. If from that position of the bolt stopping on the way to close, I give it a bump in, I can pull the round out or fully chamber it to close the bolt with no issue. I have taken measurements on the neck sized brass, and confirmed that the brass itself is not to expanded or anything for the chamber, and the bullet is seated to 2.8 with no marks on it after chambering. Why there is an issue with this, but not when I FL resize, I have no idea.
 
Try unscrewing and adjusting the neck die upward, your neck die might be "short" and pushing on the shoulder and causing the case to mushroom and bulge. Use a black felt tip marker and see if the case is rubbing at the case body and shoulder junction.
 
Why there is an issue with this, but not when I FL resize, I have no idea.

Because a full length die compresses the entire case and the only direction brass can flow is upward into the neck. A "short" neck sizing die or "short" shell holder and a neck sizing die can cause the case to bulge.

The illustration below shows how on a full length die the brass can only flow upward when sizing. A neck die can cause a case bulge and is why many prefer partial full length resizing and controlling the entire shape of the case.

shouldersetback_zps59bf1b04.jpg
 
You can chamber an empty neck sized case.

You can chamber a full-length sized case with a seated bullet.

But, after seating a bullet (regardless of depth), the neck sized cartridge will not chamber.

Right, so far?

It sounds like you should mic the necks on both to determine how much of the neck is being resized. You have not answered the question about the type of neck sizing die; assume it is not a bushing type die, right?

You might be able to blacken the neck/shoulder area, attempt to chamber the loaded round, and when withdrawn, you can see where the tolerances are?

On the other hand, this information is decidedly murky > "When I slide the bolt in it will stop short. If I pull it back out from there, the round will not come back out. If from that position of the bolt stopping on the way to close, I give it a bump in, I can pull the round out or fully chamber it to close the bolt with no issue." HUH?

But, aside from the problem, what's the reason why you want to neck size? BB
 
Pull the bolt, and with a wooden dowel check the flexibility of the extractor. This is a check for foreign matter behind the extractor.
 
I should have posted that I'm using RCBS dies. no bushing. for both FL and neck sizing. The reason I wanted to start using the neck sizing die, is because its new and my FL die gouges up my cases. Not fixable, just too many cases through that thing. Buzzboss, What you're saying is mercy is the only way I can think to explain it. I wish I could post a video for you to see. I guess to make a long story short, When I give it a bump to force the round to chamber, what I'm feeling is the case being pushed into the extractor(brand new extractor). Bigdep, I have tried what you are saying, but still the same.Its just weird that I can chamber the neck sized case with no issue untill I seat the bullet, and there is no sign of marks on the bullet If I force it in!
 
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Have you mic'd the necks before loading, after loading and after shooting just to see the difference for the hell of it
 
I have to ask. How did you mess up your full length die? Dirty cases, or what? Generally, a hardened die doesn't wear out if treated with even a small amount of respect. I have dies over 40 years old that still size cases like when they were new, and yeah, a hell of a lot of them. I couldn't come close to estimating how many 45ACP I have sized after having been flung in the dirt and mud. You have to clean your brass before sizing, this is pretty basic stuff so, I'm not understanding what's going on? The FL sizing die actually has gouges inside, caused by what?

You can either feel around in the dark with this puzzling neck die problem or just buy another FL die and forget about it....or send it back to RCBS and they might send you a new one? BB
 
After neck sizing my once fired 308 Lapua brass in my Remington 700, it will fit in my chamber perfectly, and the bolt will close no problem withought the bullet seated. After seating the bullet to 2.8 the bolt will not close! I'm stumped. If I use my fl resizing die, it works no problem. Any suggestions?

Full length resize your brass. If your full length resizing die is done, buy another one. Regards JCS
 
Buzzboss, once again I'm puzzled on how to respond to your input. you are a confusing Fu*%#r to deal with. as we all know, gouges and scratches in the dies come from dirt... Yea I'm guilty of resizing cases that aren't perfectly clean but so what. apparently you are too. Maybe your's aren't messed up because there 45 acp, and resize a little different than bottleneck cases? Maybe there made of adamantium? I dunno. Sure I can just forget about it and go buy new dies, and not worry about it. Thats pretty simple but I WOULDN'T HAVE STARTED THIS THREAD. If you want to ramble with me about shit that does not solve my question, that's fine. But if you're going to get flustered, at least keep it on the original topic
Full length resize your brass. If your full length resizing die is done, buy another one. Regards JCS
One at a time bub
 
I'm very sorry to confuse you, hon. I make an honest attempt to "write to the question", with clarity. Years ago, I was taught that in school and it has always served me well.

Specifically: I do not resize dirty cases; never said that. I SAID I clean dirty cases before I resize. You appear to have a comprehension problem?

Why don't you just buy another die and quit wasting everybody's time? And, I am not attacking a newbie. You are welcome. BB
 
BB, I'm not going to bother quoting whats already there. Go back and read it. I honestly feel like I'm arguing with a fifth grader. You personally make a choice to take your time and post on a thread with a question, that you have no answer for. Then say to stop wasting time... LOL! You cant make this stuff up
 
Listen, chump. I know what I'm talking about and it is painfully obvious that you don't. You should probably find a less complicated hobby.
 
Precisions

Buy a shotgun cleaning mop that fits snugly inside your full length resizing die, use a short section of cleaning rod, the shotgun mop and chuck it in a drill. Apply some oil and J&B bore paste, fine valve grinding compound, car rubbing compound, etc to the mop and polish the inside of your scratched die.

If this doesn't fix the die then use a slotted cleaning tip and fold some fine wet and dry sand paper and place it in the slot. Oil the sand paper and the inside of the die and again polish the inside of the die. You can also roll a cut section of sand paper and turn by hand, just go slowly and inspect the die until the scratches are removed.

I have firearms that throws perfectly good brass away and when they hit the ground dirt and grit can become embedded in the brass. From the slow hand method of using 0000 steel wool, to vibratory tumbling with walnut media to wet tumbling with stainless steel media will remove any dirt or grit from the brass.

Your not the only person who has scratched your dies and will not be the last, good luck.
 
Listen, chump. I know what I'm talking about and it is painfully obvious that you don't. You should probably find a less complicated hobby.

BuzzBoss915

Drop the attitude, people come to forums for help, advice and information and the rest of us don't care who has a big red S on their chest and can jump reloading dies in a single bound.

I'm retired, have been reloading for over 46 years and still manage to scratch a die once in a while. No tumbling method is 100 percent in removing dirt and grit when a case hits the ground and shit happens.

Lighten up and leave your ego on your side of the computer screen.
 
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[MENTION=37563]bigedp51[/MENTION], you helped me in another thread and I'm grateful. But while I don't have even 1 year experience in reloading (how about "not one month"? :)), I'd be reluctant trying to fix a scratched die with sandpaper. Considering the cost of "normal" non-competition type dies, it seems that the advice to buy a new one would be the soundest course, especially for an inexperienced practitioner.

In defense of [MENTION=61798]BuzzBoss915[/MENTION], he offered what I consider pretty sound advice given the circumstances, and did not loose his cool until the OP pounced on him:
BuzzBoss915 said:
It sounds like you should mic the necks on both to determine how much of the neck is being resized. You have not answered the question about the type of neck sizing die; assume it is not a bushing type die, right?

You might be able to blacken the neck/shoulder area, attempt to chamber the loaded round, and when withdrawn, you can see where the tolerances are?

A simple caliper could provide some useful data. If I had the same problem, I'd sure tried to measure the necks and figure how big the difference there is, and why...

All in all, while a teacher should have outgrown his ego long ago - it is never appropriate for a student to use improper language in teacher's presence.
 
Buzzboss, once again I'm puzzled on how to respond to your input. you are a confusing Fu*%#r to deal with. as we all know, gouges and scratches in the dies come from dirt... Yea I'm guilty of resizing cases that aren't perfectly clean but so what. apparently you are too. Maybe your's aren't messed up because there 45 acp, and resize a little different than bottleneck cases? Maybe there made of adamantium? I dunno. Sure I can just forget about it and go buy new dies, and not worry about it. Thats pretty simple but I WOULDN'T HAVE STARTED THIS THREAD. If you want to ramble with me about shit that does not solve my question, that's fine. But if you're going to get flustered, at least keep it on the original topic

One at a time bub

You're outta line. If anything, like usual, another OP with inadequate info.

We know little about your rifle, any mods, etc. You mentioned a new extractor, and although I mentioned an extractor check, you blew past that, without indicating that you have indeed checked it.

We tend to quit caring about OPs problems, once they get snotty.
 
[MENTION=37563]bigedp51[/MENTION], you helped me in another thread and I'm grateful. But while I don't have even 1 year experience in reloading (how about "not one month"? :)), I'd be reluctant trying to fix a scratched die with sandpaper. Considering the cost of "normal" non-competition type dies, it seems that the advice to buy a new one would be the soundest course, especially for an inexperienced practitioner.

You can get wet and dry sandpaper in variety packs that goes from 800 to 1200 grit and when you get that fine your actually polishing and not sanding. And even after wet tumbling with stainless steel media I had a case with embedded grit that scratched my .223 full length die. Shit happens.

Scratched dies are not the subject and full length dies are not the subject, the subject is "Neck Sizing Problem" and getting the die to work. Just because someone likes to use full length resizing dies doesn't mean they can change the subject and insult the OP. I just gave the OP instructions on how to polish his dies and remove the embedded grit and scratches from the die without being insulting.

The object of this posting is to get the OPs neck sizing dies to work and not critique his scratched full length dies.

Lets all stay on topic, keep cool heads and solve the problem at hand.
 
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Listen, chump. I know what I'm talking about and it is painfully obvious that you don't. You should probably find a less complicated hobby.

That works two ways BuzzBoss915, you should join a Medieval Jousting forum and vent your frustrations. That way when you get knocked off your high horse you will also learn something. This forum isn't about just you BuzzBoss915 and it is about helping other people. Drop your attitude and needling people and you won't get angry replies to your insults.

And don't PM me again, I'm not your buddy and your bedside manner sucks in the forum and in your PMs.
 
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BuzzBoss915

I told you not to PM me again, and you turn around and send another PM and say F you.

So here is my reply to your adult behavior, calling me buddy and saying F you. Below is your PM that shows your real problem with younger members of the forum. It also shows you should see someone about your inner most problems and your view of the world that others don't share.

BuzzBoss915 said:
Listen, Buddy. I'm not here for the fucking ego boost. This guy is a spoiled brat and won't be happy until you go to his house, give him a big hug and fix his chickenshit little problem. And by coddling him, you are making it worse. His generation was never allowed to fail, at anything. I can see it in his writing.

Furthermore, you are way out of line to jump on me. If you cannot see that I am, (quite innocently) trying to help him and yet, he is hostile, not receptive to help; then you are the one with the problem. BB

So BuzzBoss915, your going to help the OP with tough love because his generation is worthless, I'm glad I didn't misread your posting and your intentions. And here is some advice BuzzBoss915, if you want respect from forum members you have to act respectfully in the forum.
 
BB was getting crapped on, and has responded correctly. Get off his back.

The topic is "Neck Sizing Problem" and it is none of BuzzBoss915 business if the OP has a FL die, it is none of his business if the OP has a scratched FL die and it is none of his business telling the OP to buy a new FL die when the "TOPIC" is "NECK SIZING PROBLEM".

On the other hand, this information is decidedly murky > "When I slide the bolt in it will stop short. If I pull it back out from there, the round will not come back out. If from that position of the bolt stopping on the way to close, I give it a bump in, I can pull the round out or fully chamber it to close the bolt with no issue." HUH?

But, aside from the problem, what's the reason why you want to neck size? BB

If BuzzBoss915 doesn't like the OPs choice of words then he should become a English teacher and stay out of gun forums. If BuzzBoss915 has something against neck sizing he should have stayed out of this posting and NOT INSULTED THE OP.

Buzzboss, once again I'm puzzled on how to respond to your input. you are a confusing Fu*%#r to deal with. as we all know, gouges and scratches in the dies come from dirt... Yea I'm guilty of resizing cases that aren't perfectly clean but so what. apparently you are too. Maybe your's aren't messed up because there 45 acp, and resize a little different than bottleneck cases? Maybe there made of adamantium? I dunno. Sure I can just forget about it and go buy new dies, and not worry about it. Thats pretty simple but I WOULDN'T HAVE STARTED THIS THREAD. If you want to ramble with me about shit that does not solve my question, that's fine. But if you're going to get flustered, at least keep it on the original topic

One at a time bub

I didn't like BuzzBoss915 changing the topic and rambling about full length dies and stroking his ego, the topic is "NECK SIZING PROBLEM". On top of this BuzzBoss915 checked the OPs profile, looked at his age and post count and decided to be a smart ass.

longshooter, you need to read the entire thread again and my PM quote from BuzzBoss915 and then ask yourself what he has against younger members here and why he thinks they should kiss his ass when he is rude and changing the subject.

BuzzBoss915 was out of line, changed the topic, insulted the OP and turned this thread into a pissing contest about age and his oversized ego.
 
FL sized brass works fine but neck sized only won't chamber.
If you have the neck die screwed down too far it could be crushing the brass at the juncture of neck and shoulder. That would be hard to see but would basically be making that area too large to fit the chamber correctly.
One question not asked was whether or not the brass you are trying to use was new, once fired in your rifle or once fired in a different rifle. If the later is true then your neck sized cases are just too large and need FL sizing, for the first time any way, in order to fit your particular chamber.
This is very hard to diagnose without putting an eye on the situation. Even pics would give us eagle eyed old reloaders some better idea of just how to help you with the problem.
 
I am gonna make this real simple for some of you turds that can't seem to "habla".
The topic is "neck sizing problem". Guess what scooter, the solution to 99.9% of all problems encountered by neck sizing is simple. It will require a full length die. I know that is not the most popular answer, and it sure isn't what some want to hear. Neck sizing is cutting edge and old guys like me are stuck in the past, a real bunch of Luddites. Don't be too sure about your assumptions.
If you don't possess the mechanical skill to hone a scratch out of a die with the methods so succinctly prescribed above, then you need to sell your reloading stuff.
Like a bunch of brats throwing a tantrum for a toy in a WalMart. No wonder I don't post much anymore.
 
Armor, havin' a bad hair day?

In reality, the OPs only problem is a weak wrist. A bolt action is not meant to be operated gingerly.

By the way, where is that mean talkin' OP?
 
If the OP's still around, maybe you've some thick brass and the neck needs to be reamed. Getting a full-length sizing die is not out of the question.

LE Wilson Inside Neck Reamer

Thick necks can cause high chamber pressures and erratic shooting. Neck reamers remove excess neck material to insure adequate clearance exists between the case neck and the chamber. Also, these reamers can be used when forming wildcats from a parent case. Reamers are used in the trimmers in place of the trimmer cutter. Standard reamers are sized for use on fired, unsized cases. Special sizes can be ground but will extend lead time.

Suggested Retail: $38.00 Standard Sizes
$48.00 Specials (Check avalibility)
$64.00 50 Cal (.5120 - .5125)
Or measure up and get a bushing that works
Neck Die Bushing

The Neck Die Bushing fits in the Neck Die and sizes the case neck to grip the bullet.

To figure out what size to order... Measure the diameter of a loaded round where the bullet sits in the neck (Ex. .268). Now subtract .002 to .003 from that number.

.268 -.002 = .266 Bushing

Another way is to measure your wall thickness and multiply by 2 and add bullet diameter. Then subtract .002 to .003 from that number.

.012 Wall Thickness x 2 = .024
.243 Bullet Diameter
Example: .243 + .024 = .267 Now subtract .003 (.267 - .003 = .264 Bushing)

Suggested Retail: $20.00

But whatever you do, measure everything (do you have a decent caliper?) so you can better diagnose the problem. And make damn sure that the case isn't so long that it hits the chamber lip with it expands (even temporarily) at the moment of ignition ... can cause unpleasant over-pressure.
 
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