I use a Forster FL die for my 6.5 Lapua. I set it up for a very light bump to the shoulder. I'm wondering what the effects of removing the expander ball from the die completely would be? I sized a few cases this way and the bullet seems to seat the same, nice and smooth. Seems to me I would be working the brass less this way. Thanks.
OK to remove the expander ball?
- Thread starter MDM
- Start date
Re: OK to remove the expander ball?
Remove it and resize a case, measure the resized neck, since there is only one choice for 6.5x47 it might be ok, if it sizes the neck too tight Forster will hone the die to your specs for 15 bucks, then the expander can be ditched for sure.
Remove it and resize a case, measure the resized neck, since there is only one choice for 6.5x47 it might be ok, if it sizes the neck too tight Forster will hone the die to your specs for 15 bucks, then the expander can be ditched for sure.
Re: OK to remove the expander ball?
What's the diameter after sizing without the expander ball? As long as you don't have a lot of neck tension with the ball removed, you should be ok.
What's the diameter after sizing without the expander ball? As long as you don't have a lot of neck tension with the ball removed, you should be ok.
Re: OK to remove the expander ball?
Those numbers are without the expander ball. Neck tension seems fine. They seat like butter. I can't tell any difference in the seating. The neck tension change if I go to a different bullet as I've read that the Scenars run a little narrow compared to others, but it seems like I should still be fine. Thanks for the help.
Those numbers are without the expander ball. Neck tension seems fine. They seat like butter. I can't tell any difference in the seating. The neck tension change if I go to a different bullet as I've read that the Scenars run a little narrow compared to others, but it seems like I should still be fine. Thanks for the help.
Re: OK to remove the expander ball?
The only issue will arise if you have a dinged case mouth. As careful as I try to be, I always have a few cases that get the mouth flattened a tad, either during cleaning transport or whatever. If you size without an expander, there isn't anything in your process to round the mouth back out except your bullet when you seat it. I don't like this idea, so....
I tune the expander in all of my dies to not produce runout(making sure it's centered), and I spin all the expanders down on some emory cloth til they provide extremely little to no contact with the case mouth on the extraction side of the sizing operation. This insures that I don't end up with a case with a mouth slightly out of round, that then depends on the bullet to true it up. By turning my expanders down such as I do, it does not alter the neck tension of the cases if they were to be sized without the expander, which I suppose, has been reduced to the roll of a 'case mouth truing device' as opposed to an actual expander.
Just an option for you, try it, you may like it.
The only issue will arise if you have a dinged case mouth. As careful as I try to be, I always have a few cases that get the mouth flattened a tad, either during cleaning transport or whatever. If you size without an expander, there isn't anything in your process to round the mouth back out except your bullet when you seat it. I don't like this idea, so....
I tune the expander in all of my dies to not produce runout(making sure it's centered), and I spin all the expanders down on some emory cloth til they provide extremely little to no contact with the case mouth on the extraction side of the sizing operation. This insures that I don't end up with a case with a mouth slightly out of round, that then depends on the bullet to true it up. By turning my expanders down such as I do, it does not alter the neck tension of the cases if they were to be sized without the expander, which I suppose, has been reduced to the roll of a 'case mouth truing device' as opposed to an actual expander.
Just an option for you, try it, you may like it.
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