6.5 Creedmoor Reloading help

[Bigjake83]

Hey guys I just have a couple of questions and wanted to see if there is any better ways to go about my brass prep other than what I'm already doing...

When doing my Precision loads I use two neck sizing dies, and I'll explain why. Most of the time your case necks get a few dents in them during your trips to the range. So my first stage is a good long Tumble I usually use a shaker with corn cob media, but I have the new style with the steel pins as well, but I haven't used yet, just seems like a lot of work. Next I use a neck sizing die without bushing, just expander ball
and decapping, that way I know the inside of the neck is concentric. After that I do the typical prep clean the primer pockets, trim the necks and deburr, and chamfer.

Next step I use my Redding Neck Bushing die and use a bushing that brings the neck down .002 from the diameter of a loaded round, then I'll use a q-tips to remove any excess lube or particles.

I Prime using a hand primer from RCBS so I can get a good feel for the primer pocket tension.

And that's it, if there is something I should be doing or I'm doing wrong please advise ....thanks in advance

Some of you may bring up annealing the brass but I just use Lapue brass and toss them once I start to see any cracks or loose primer pockets.

 

[Bigjake83]

Side Note...

All my expander balls are polished by hand to a mirror finish to reduce friction and I use a dry powdered graphite lube on the case neck when running it in the die so that I don't overwork the brass.

 

[MtnCreek]

I prefer to set head clearance each firing.

 

[padom]

Ok are you use a straight neck sizing die or a FL neck sizing die? for a semi you should be setting the shoulder back .003 from fired case headspace each firing.

also, no need for the first step, if you use your neck sizing die with expander ball that will squeeze the neck down and then the ball coming through on the up stroke will open it back up and make it nice and round.

1. dry media tumble.
2. deprime
3. size
4. trim
5. tumble
6. ready to load

 

[Bigjake83]

Ok are you use a straight neck sizing die or a FL neck sizing die? for a semi you should be setting the shoulder back .003 from fired case headspace each firing.

also, no need for the first step, if you use your neck sizing die with expander ball that will squeeze the neck down and then the ball coming through on the up stroke will open it back up and make it nice and round.

1. dry media tumble.
2. deprime
3. size
4. trim
5. tumble
6. ready to load

I use a FL die, And I also thought I didn't need that extra step, but!! When you neck size on the up stroke and pull it back through the expanded ball you loose your neck tension that you just set with the bushing.

I also don't do step 5 because I've noticed that it can damage your necks, especially when separating the media and brass.

 

[padom]

you loose your neck tension because your not using a small enough bushing. you have to use a smaller bushing with an expander to get .002 neck tension than if didn't have the expander button installed. some will say this is overworking the neck...

this is why most of us on here don't do this. we removing the expander and size .003-.004 under loaded neck diameter than use and expander mandrel to open it back up .002 which leaves you with .002 neck tension and concentric necks.

the other way to do it is to have. Forster hone a FL sizing die so it sizes the neck down .004 under loaded neck diameter than use a expander button or mandrel to open it back up.

step 5 does not damage necks. if it does your either putting way too much brass in your tumbler or not enough media. chamfer/debur after step 5 and load. single digit SD's and tiny little groups and necks thst haven't been overworked. I have 33 reloads on Lapua 6.5x47l brass following this process every time with SD3 and one hole groups. brass is still going strong.

 

[isofahunter]

I use a decaping die, tumble, size, trim, debur, chamfer, clean pocket, prime, powder, seat and shoot.

IMO you are working neck too much, but we all do it different.

 

[patriot07]

The expander is unnecessary. Just use your bushing die and it's good to go.

If you think the FL die with expander does a better job of fixing dents in the neck, then use it and forget the bushing die. There isn't a need for both under any circumstances that I'm aware of. The FL die will set about .002" neck tension by default, so you aren't really doing much by using both other than overworking the neck material.

 

[padom]

you have no idea what your talking about.

do yourself a favor and instead of talking about things you don't know remove the decapping rod from your FL die and size a piece of brass. tell me how much is squeezes that neck down compared to your fired case size. I already know the answer.

our honed dies or bushing dies sizing necks minimally are working the necks less than any other method out there.

I personally own every make and model die out there. I've done extensive testing with them all. the 2 methods posted above are used by many of us and they work the necks the least and make extremely concentric ammo showing runout of .0005-.001

 

[DrainTheSwamp]

@padom

After you size the neck down could you set final neck tension using a lee collet die? Or would you be better off to just get an expander mandrel? If so what mandrel setup would you recommend?

I ask cuz I have a collet neck die I never use. I just use the expander ball in my type s FL.

 

[padom]

no I woukd.use a mandrel or you can get different size carbine buttons for your die.

I use a 21st Century TiN mandrel

 

[domdoc]

You can certainly use the Lee collet/mandrel die. Check your loaded case runout, and seating force consistency. If they're not good enough, stop doing it. Or just do what Padom said.

 

[Bigjake83]

PADOM ..

I only use the double neck sizing die system on my AR's ... Like I said above I decap and and run the expander ball to make sure the inside neck in concentric.

And with the second neck sizing die I get the proper neck tension, usually .0004-.0005 smaller, this way I don't have to crimp. It just works well for me because I've acquired lots of bushing over the years. I showed a friend the same technique, he was just using the .0002 standard, I had him measure his OAL of his loaded round, and than chamber it by releasing the BCG like normal. We ejected the round and measure the OAL again and he saw how much the bullet had moved just from the force of chambering a round.

We did the same process sizing the neck down in .0001 increments and chambered them until we saw no growth in the OAL. And could chamber a round 4-5 time without any increase in OAL.

Now with my bolt rifles I use the just the one neck sizing bushing die with the expander ball, and it works perfectly.