I'm loading for my 300 WM, and am looking to get rid of my neck run out from my redding type S die .006-7"! How do you like the collet dies I hear good things. If that doesn't work I'm going to try a honed Forster, than a Wilson hand die in an arbor press. I'm using a Forster co ax press
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From what others say on this forum about a Co-Ax press it should automatically remedy any and all reloading problems ... and ... cure cancer, solve world hunger and negate all the bad juju from Obamacare.
If you are getting that much runout it sounds as though something is not set up properly. The press is supposed to be self-centering to a degree and the thinking is that helps minimize runout. Have you tried a different lock ring on your die? The Lee Collet Neck Die will work fine. I used to use one on the 300 Win Mag before I sold the gun. The neck on the 300 WM is short and small process anomalies add up real fast. Did you check your brass before and after sizing?
If you are getting that much runout it sounds as though something is not set up properly. The press is supposed to be self-centering to a degree and the thinking is that helps minimize runout. Have you tried a different lock ring on your die? The Lee Collet Neck Die will work fine. I used to use one on the 300 Win Mag before I sold the gun. The neck on the 300 WM is short and small process anomalies add up real fast. Did you check your brass before and after sizing?
I use the Lee collet neck sizing die in conjunction with the Redding body sizing die, and I get very little, if any, runout.
Do you body size before or after the lee CD, im guessing before?
I LOVE AND DEPEND on my collet die for my .300 win mag. I've got 4 presses so I line up a redding body die, a lee collet die and my redding combo seater die. I've got my Lee die set (with a lock nut that has an Allen slot to tighten) so I can just put it into the press and go to work.
I use imperial wax then bump the shoulders back 3/100's , then hit the lee collet die, and sizing wise I'm done.
I always tell people a Lee collet die is the best die out there got the. $.
Another tip... Don't just run your brass threw it once. I turn mine 3 times and slide it threw. This helps get rid of ALL run out
This is what I do, run a case lubed with Imperial through a body die, clean it, and then go to the collet die. It is easy on the brass and makes consistently accurate ammunition.
A study by German Salazar shows that, for unturned brass, it is better to neck size first then body size. For neck turned brass, there is no particularly significant advantage to one method over the other. Here is the link:
The Rifleman's Journal: Reloading: Two-Step Sizing and Concentricity
Is there any way to keep the load the same from each firing. I find I have to do another powder charge test each time I go from 0 firings to 1x, or 1X to 2x. What causes this?
Maybe from the change in neck tension from the brass work hardening?
I haven't heard anyone claiming the change from firing to firing was noticeable, though.
Joe
I started off with the Redding bushing die and was banging my head against the wall with the runout I was seeing. I even tried resizing the necks in two steps, and it helped out some, but runout was only about 50% better from ugly. I finally got a Lee Collet die and runout, if any, is negligible and easily corrected on my Hornady concentricity tool.
I am still on a factory barrel, and there is plenty of neck diameter clearance in its chamber - approx .008". I am wondering if the bushing neck sizers do their magic with custom barrels/chambers that have closer tolerance neck diameters. That way, the brass doesn't have to have near the amount of resizing done to it like factory barrel/chambers would require.
One thing I learned to do with my Lee Collet die, is to wipe a little case lube on the tapered section of the fingers where they go up into the mating top cap about every 100 neck resizings. I unknowingly ruined my first collet die from lack of lube on top of those fingers. If this upper section of the die doesn't work properly, you will mess up some case necks.
I am still on a factory barrel, and there is plenty of neck diameter clearance in its chamber - approx .008". I am wondering if the bushing neck sizers do their magic with custom barrels/chambers that have closer tolerance neck diameters. That way, the brass doesn't have to have near the amount of resizing done to it like factory barrel/chambers would require.
One thing I learned to do with my Lee Collet die, is to wipe a little case lube on the tapered section of the fingers where they go up into the mating top cap about every 100 neck resizings. I unknowingly ruined my first collet die from lack of lube on top of those fingers. If this upper section of the die doesn't work properly, you will mess up some case necks.
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Mine is a custom chamber and I was only sizing .0045" with the bushing and seeing .006" total run out. I'm just going to use it as a body die for now on.. Hopefully it's good for that.
Well I measured my norma brass on my new sinclair run out tool and at the neck it had .004" run out, this is probably from the K&M expander i used on them to neck turn im guessing? Do you think the lee will fix that or will I have to fire it and size it again to fix that?
I don't know if this will help or not but I bought a book years ago named Handloading for Competition writen by Glen D.Zediker and it has been one of the best books I have bought.There is a whole chapter in it about runout and how to check all of your equipment if you are having this problem and diagnose it.Wished I could post the whole chapter.
Unlikely the Lee die will correct the runout. It will only downsize the neck against the mandrel and there is no forcing mechanism to "correct" misalignment of the neck to the body of the case.
If you have any major runout on the case after shooting, you will have to anneal, full length resize. Most likely your brass needs to be soften and is not responding to your dies.
He is using Redding dies in this article, which are nothing like collet dies. The reason he uses the two step process is because he is reducing the neck size more than .005 from fired to sized diameter. I use collet dies myself and have learned to deprime with them and not screw the die in all the way so that it reduces the neck size only half of my intended diameter. I then body size, then tumble/clean the brass, then run it back through the collet die with it screwed in all the way so that it gets me to my desired neck diameter. Its a 3 step process but I have never had a case with more than .002 runnout on any caliber.
