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No More Neck Sizing for Me

Pathkiller

Pathkiller

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 10, 2020
101
125
Previously my process was to full length resize all fired brass and all was well but it was a bit time consuming having to tumble twice to try to clean off the lube and even then the unique left my cases looking like hell.

Well, I decided to cut some time and just neck size with my Lee die, check the case in a gage and let it fly. Loaded up a couple hundred rounds easy peasy. Such an easy process and no mess to deal with.

Went to the range this morning and the first round I had to nudge a bit to chamber, still not a big deal. The second round was a bit tighter and I should have just stopped there but I chambered it anyway. Sure enough, it stuck and I didn't bring a rod to remedy the situation so my day was over.

When I got home I tapped the spent case out with a cleaning rod and dead blow. Then I went through about every tenth round that I had loaded trying to gently chamber them, about 90% were too tight.

So now I have to figure out how to resize these without screwing up my precious primers.

Any suggestions?
 
Break them down, and use either one shot or some other lube that is primer safe. Remove the recapping rod or tip, then size as normal. Towel off the lube from the loaded rounds.

Some people say it’s ok to gently decap and reuse live primers. I don’t mess with it.
 
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Just run them through a body die.
Neck sizing can be incredibly easy and fast but it has limitations.
Don’t neck size for competition or hunting!!!!

Depending on your brass, chamber and pressure you can usually neck size 1-3 shots before you must also run it through a body die as well after annealing.
Don’t do this and your big hit is going to shit!

If you hot roddin the shit out of it(high pressures) neck sizing ain’t for you.
If your brass is harder than shit neck sizing ain’t for you
 
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10/4, I've also found that my chamber is much tighter than my gage.
 
I'm in the process of breaking down 200 rounds now.

IMG_2656_heic-X2.jpg
 
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Pathkiller said:
Previously my process was to full length resize all fired brass and all was well but it was a bit time consuming having to tumble twice to try to clean off the lube and even then the unique left my cases looking like hell.

Well, I decided to cut some time and just neck size with my Lee die, check the case in a gage and let it fly. Loaded up a couple hundred rounds easy peasy. Such an easy process and no mess to deal with.

Went to the range this morning and the first round I had to nudge a bit to chamber, still not a big deal. The second round was a bit tighter and I should have just stopped there but I chambered it anyway. Sure enough, it stuck and I didn't bring a rod to remedy the situation so my day was over.

When I got home I tapped the spent case out with a cleaning rod and dead blow. Then I went through about every tenth round that I had loaded trying to gently chamber them, about 90% were too tight.

So now I have to figure out how to resize these without screwing up my precious primers.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

This is why when I size the necks only, I always bump the shoulders only with my Forster Bushing Bump Neck Sizing Die (without the busing and without the spindle and expander ball). Once I forgot to bump the shoulders after neck sizing but was able to do so with this die on my fully loaded cartridges as there was no spindle in the way.
 
O that sucks!! Been there done that when i loaded my first batch of 223 for my very first AR, Sized them but did not get shoulders bumped back enough, rounds would chamber and fire, But the lock up was tight, could not extract a live round sometimes after it was chambered. Did not find i had the issues as i always shot the gun dry, Found the issues during a 3 gun match...... lucky for me i was able to get a bushing shoulder bump kit and was able to run the ammo and bump them back a few thousands. Had about 1200 rounds.......

Now for ANY of my ammo loading, even lots of 50 or 100 round batches for hunting, If any part of my process is changed, New rifle in same caliber, dies, seating depths, new shell holders ext, I load up small test lots and shoot them. I do often use case gauges witch may or may not give you a false security.
 
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straightshooter1 said:
This is why when I size the necks only, I always bump the shoulders only with my Forster Bushing Bump Neck Sizing Die (without the busing and without the spindle and expander ball). Once I forgot to bump the shoulders after neck sizing but was able to do so with this die on my fully loaded cartridges as there was no spindle in the way.
Click to expand...

Could you please explain how this process (separate neck die then body die each time) is different or preferable to regular full length sizing?
 
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Pathkiller said:
Previously my process was to full length resize all fired brass and all was well but it was a bit time consuming having to tumble twice to try to clean off the lube and even then the unique left my cases looking like hell.

Well, I decided to cut some time and just neck size with my Lee die, check the case in a gage and let it fly. Loaded up a couple hundred rounds easy peasy. Such an easy process and no mess to deal with.

Went to the range this morning and the first round I had to nudge a bit to chamber, still not a big deal. The second round was a bit tighter and I should have just stopped there but I chambered it anyway. Sure enough, it stuck and I didn't bring a rod to remedy the situation so my day was over.

When I got home I tapped the spent case out with a cleaning rod and dead blow. Then I went through about every tenth round that I had loaded trying to gently chamber them, about 90% were too tight.

So now I have to figure out how to resize these without screwing up my precious primers.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

It can be a few things rather than neck sizing. Why would you load a couple hundred rounds without first checking you were okay with the first few.
 
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TheOfficeT-Rex said:
Could you please explain how this process (separate neck die then body die each time) is different or preferable to regular full length sizing?
Click to expand...

A body dies is not what I'm referring to. That Forster die I referred to is a neck sizing die that also bumps the shoulder. It's designed to use a bushing and expander ball to size the neck and bump the shoulder and does nothing to the body. I don't use it as it was designed to do and size my necks with a Lee Collet Die then bump the shoulders with this Forster die.
 
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Goathead1096 said:
I think he's talking about loaded rounds. Unless I'm missing something, you are going to have to disassemble every round and then remove your decapping pin.
Click to expand...
Unless you have a Redding Body Die. You just lube the loaded cases and run them through the die. Will F/L size the case and fix the issue W/O having to disassemble the ammo.
 
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Culpeper said:
It can be a few things rather than neck sizing. Why would you load a couple hundred rounds without first checking you were okay with the first few.
Click to expand...

Well, I just chambered a decommissioned case that wouldn't before but slides in easy now after a full length resize.
 
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There is nothing wrong with neck sizing cases with a Lee collet die ifnyou are not an idiot amd fully understand reloading.
I have personally reloaded 308win Lapua palma brass with 40.7 grains of AR-COMP with 178amax four times without issue but you have to pay attention fo the brass and what its doing.
Its no different with any other caliber and lazziness or lack of experience doesnt change the variables.
Pay attention to what the brass is telling you based on chamber pressure or full length size every time if you cant interprit the results.
 
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XLR308 said:
There is nothing wrong with neck sizing cases with a Lee collet die ifnyou are not an idiot amd fully understand reloading.
I have personally reloaded 308win Lapua palma brass with 40.7 grains of AR-COMP with 178amax four times without issue but you have to pay attention fo the brass and what its doing.
Its no different with any other caliber and lazziness or lack of experience doesnt change the variables.
Pay attention to what the brass is telling you based on chamber pressure or full length size every time if you cant interprit the results.
Click to expand...

That's all very interesting, perhaps your rifle's chamber has different tolerances than mine.
 
Pathkiller said:
That's all very interesting, perhaps your rifle's chamber has different tolerances than mine.
Click to expand...

I have had many different rifles with many fifferent chamber specs, my point was if you arrent skilled enough to read and understand them you should just full length size as a base line.
Not all rifle and chamber specs lend themselves friendly to normal dies or neck sizing espially when it comes to neck sizing only.
 
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XLR308 said:
I have had many different rifles with many fifferent chamber specs, my point was if you arrent skilled enough to read and understand them you should just full length size as a base line.
Not all rifle and chamber specs lend themselves friendly to normal dies or neck sizing espially when it comes to neck sizing only.
Click to expand...

The difference between my rounds sticking and functioning is around three hundredths of an inch, yeah I'm not skilled enough to see that.
 
Pathkiller said:
The difference between my rounds sticking and functioning is around three hundredths of an inch, yeah I'm not skilled enough to see that.
Click to expand...

Seriously three hundredths of an inch is beyond cold war russian i got to stoned to know what day it is let alone this is the best fucking vodka ive ever drank.. 🤣🤣🤣
 
XLR308 said:
Seriously three hundredths of an inch is beyond cold war russian i got to stoned to know what day it is let alone this is the best fucking vodka ive ever drank.. 🤣🤣🤣
Click to expand...

:ROFLMAO: Yeah. . .it doesn't help one's credibility when one misspeaks like that. :eek:
 
I would grab body die before I pulled down 200 rounds. i would also not listen to anyone who suggests neck sizing only. There is no way to "pay attention" to all your brass in a way that makes the neck sizing process any faster than just FL sizing the fucking things and moving on.

You could pull the decapping assembly and have the neck reamed on a die also. A die will probably be cheaper than the 200 bullets that will be so so after pulling.

I just had some 1x 223 that I turned 20 Practical. I thought it passed the plunk test. No dice to the range, fired one, had to mortar the next round out. Loaded and fired had the same shoulder measurement. I pulled the bushing out of my redding type S and sized all the ammo to bump the shoulders back. Three rounds in I am mortaring out another live stuck round. Then I realized i was an idiot and it was the body diameter sticking it. Luckily a loaded 20 Practical fits through the neck in my RCBS Small base X die. So I pulled the the decapping assembly sized the 95 rounds left. Hit the range and put 10 shots at 1 MOA.
 
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19Scout77 said:
If you even consider neck sizing then you are clearly visiting SH only for the witty banter and fashion tips.
Click to expand...
From the “witty banter burger meister meister burger”...
Full length resize everything, even a guy like David Tubb works his brass using the method.
 
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FLIGHT762 said:
When you stick a case in your chamber and have to beat your bolt handle open with your Didgeridoo, post up a photo.
Click to expand...

I never had to do that. Like mentioned before if you're not an idiot and don't abuse it there is nothing wrong.
 
Pathkiller said:
Well, I just chambered a decommissioned case that wouldn't before but slides in easy now after a full length resize.
Click to expand...

Okay, than measure a neck size case, a neck size fired case, than FL size and measure again. Do the same with seated dummy rounds neck sized vs FL. I'm not saying it isn't your problem but it will rule out shoulder bulge during seating. Even a little will cause the same problem. A little may go unnoticed FL sizing.
 
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I'm glad we solved this guys problem and we can get back to arguing about neck vs full length sizing again.

I want to try neck sizing only, what bags are you guys using to carry your didgeridoos to the range? I don't want to be caught without the didg and stick a case, but I still want to look tacticool.
 
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Upper tier competition shooters don't neck size, never did, and has always been common knowledge. A recent couple of Internet videos got 90% of SH members erroneously believing not neck sizing is going to improve their shooting, lol. We are talking about the same dude that also has a video showing how to chase the lands without saying "chasing the lands". So, stop saying chasing the lands. Here let me pull a rabbit out of a hat.
 
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TheOfficeT-Rex said:
I'm glad we solved this guys problem and we can get back to arguing about neck vs full length sizing again.

I want to try neck sizing only, what bags are you guys using to carry your didgeridoos to the range? I don't want to be caught without the didg and stick a case, but I still want to look tacticool.
Click to expand...

What is this "We" shit?
 
SFree said:
From the “witty banter burger meister meister burger”...
Full length resize everything, even a guy like David Tubb works his brass using the method.
Click to expand...

Even a guy like Tubbs? Bad grammar but don't matter I know what you mean. You're not Tubbs, never will be, not even close. Loading 200 rounds without checking first was the problem. It is not evidence that neck sizing has been an evil practice for decades, lol.
 
The new Lee Collet Neck Dies have a one piece decapping neck mandrel. The decapping pin can't be removed. in the conventional manner. I've though of buying a second mandrel and cutting off the decapping pin and using that one if needed to re-neck size the brass. It's an inexpensive solution if you only have one set of dies for that caliber.
 
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But in support of not neck sizing I will say if you are annealing brass than you probably should not neck size. When some other guy came out with a video about how great annealing brass was it got 90% of members to improperly rather than properly annealing brass for FL sizing and the practice has only increased. Annealing incorrectly and then neck sizing is stacking one problem on top of another. The latter being not the real problem but just a comedy of judgement error.
 
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supercorndogs said:
I would grab body die before I pulled down 200 rounds. i would also not listen to anyone who suggests neck sizing only. There is no way to "pay attention" to all your brass in a way that makes the neck sizing process any faster than just FL sizing the fucking things and moving on.

You could pull the decapping assembly and have the neck reamed on a die also. A die will probably be cheaper than the 200 bullets that will be so so after pulling.

I just had some 1x 223 that I turned 20 Practical. I thought it passed the plunk test. No dice to the range, fired one, had to mortar the next round out. Loaded and fired had the same shoulder measurement. I pulled the bushing out of my redding type S and sized all the ammo to bump the shoulders back. Three rounds in I am mortaring out another live stuck round. Then I realized i was an idiot and it was the body diameter sticking it. Luckily a loaded 20 Practical fits through the neck in my RCBS Small base X die. So I pulled the the decapping assembly sized the 95 rounds left. Hit the range and put 10 shots at 1 MOA.
Click to expand...

Too late, I already pulled them all. It was a pain in the ass but I think the bullets will be okay, they were soft seated and I pulled them with the press and a creedmoor grip, most have no marks at all.
 
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