Hey guys, need a little help... I'm running .308 brass, originally prepped and trimmed to specs, that have now gone through 5 or 6 firings on the same rifle with only neck sizing in between. I noticed on this last pass that the bolt seemed a little harder to open and close on a handful of rounds. Not by a lot, but definitively noticeable. I've often read here that if you bump the shoulders back by a couple of thousands each time you neck size, you can effectively avoid this problem altogether.
As background, I own a Redding T-7 press, Type S - Bushing Neck Sizing Die, Body Die, and Competition Seating Die. So far I've only used the neck sizing die and the seating die. I tried controlling the depth of the bushing on the neck sizer die by leaving anywhere from 1/16 of a turn for free play (as Redding recommends) to as much as a couple of turns for the bushing to move around. However, all this seems to do is determine how far down the neck is actually resized with the tighter adjustment not quite getting me to the point of actually touchong the shoulder. I've also tried screwing the main body of the die further into the press so as to increase contact with the shellholder - this also did not seem to help. Nevertheless, I may have been a little timid in how much contact I allowed as I did not want to apply excessive force to the die.
To further convince myself, I also ran a shell casing through the body die first and then the neck sizer. When I tried to chamber the empty casing it was just as tight as before it had been sized so I'm pretty sure that the problem is that the shoulder is still ending up too far forward. Suggestions and/or clearer explanations would be most welcome.
What am I doing wrong? Can the neck sizer die be used to bump the shoulder back a couple of thousands? If so, how? What else can I adjust?
Thanks,
As background, I own a Redding T-7 press, Type S - Bushing Neck Sizing Die, Body Die, and Competition Seating Die. So far I've only used the neck sizing die and the seating die. I tried controlling the depth of the bushing on the neck sizer die by leaving anywhere from 1/16 of a turn for free play (as Redding recommends) to as much as a couple of turns for the bushing to move around. However, all this seems to do is determine how far down the neck is actually resized with the tighter adjustment not quite getting me to the point of actually touchong the shoulder. I've also tried screwing the main body of the die further into the press so as to increase contact with the shellholder - this also did not seem to help. Nevertheless, I may have been a little timid in how much contact I allowed as I did not want to apply excessive force to the die.
To further convince myself, I also ran a shell casing through the body die first and then the neck sizer. When I tried to chamber the empty casing it was just as tight as before it had been sized so I'm pretty sure that the problem is that the shoulder is still ending up too far forward. Suggestions and/or clearer explanations would be most welcome.
What am I doing wrong? Can the neck sizer die be used to bump the shoulder back a couple of thousands? If so, how? What else can I adjust?
Thanks,