Partial neck resizing and brass life

[Rotortuner]

OK so im using a redding type S bushing die, have it all setup up but am only getting about 3/4 to 4/5 of the next resized. im ok with that since its a bolt gun. but im gettin ready to reload a batch of my 1k lapua brass. am i going to shorten the life span of this bras by only working a portion of the next after each firing? any weird donuts or anything to worry about?

Clardon

 

[ksthomas]

No, you'll be fine. You should be able to get a bit more resizing than this, so I suspect there's something that's misadjusted within the die. Take another look at it, and I'm sure you can get it straightened out to handle the entire neck. Take care not to bump the shoulders back by more than .001"-.002" and you'll be in business.

 

[TimK]

No, you'll be fine. You should be able to get a bit more resizing than this, so I suspect there's something that's misadjusted within the die. Take another look at it, and I'm sure you can get it straightened out to handle the entire neck. Take care not to bump the shoulders back by more than .001"-.002" and you'll be in business.

No, you can't. This is a common problem with Redding bushing dies. I've griped at them in the past with no results. It's less of a deal if your chamber is tight, but if you have a sloppy factory chamber it's very noticeable. It doesn't seem to hurt anything, though. It just looks ugly.

 

[Rotortuner]

No, you can't. This is a common problem with Redding bushing dies. I've griped at them in the past with no results. It's less of a deal if your chamber is tight, but if you have a sloppy factory chamber it's very noticeable. It doesn't seem to hurt anything, though. It just looks ugly.

thats what i figured, i made a thread on here about a month ago and was told it was my setup, but i have the die touching the ram and the top of the die is cranked all the way down there just barely out off the bushing and it just barely gets all the neck. of course this is bumping the shoulder way more than i need. so do you just live with it? i have 1k lapua brass and if this shortens the brass life at all, im not too excited about that. may just sell that die and go back to my two stages of using a redding body die and a redding neck die. Sucks, thats 1k more pulls of the handle

 

[Rotortuner]

I also decided to call Redding about only being able to swize 3/4 of the neck with the type S 308 Die. They told me thats normal and they are only designed to get 3/4 of the neck... So a little disappointed there. I like getting most all of the neck so the bullet is gripped well and no chance of deflecation on bullets that are loaded out long towards the lands.

CJG

 

[scudzuki]

Agreed, it's inherent to the design.
My only concern with this effect of the type S dies is that it may cause problems in a tight chamber, but I've yet to encounter that.

I have considered facing (or grinding, more likely) the bushings at one end until most of the lead in radius is gone then recontouring what's left of the radius into a full (but smaller) radius, but it would only regain a portion of the neck that's not being resized, and may cause problems with some cases hanging up on the edge of the bushing if the necks are sufficiently out of round.

Joe

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Leaving the aft portion of the neck unresized means that the unsized portion does not get work hardened and is probably helping its brass life, but that is immaterial because the mouth end is still getting worked.

However, the unexpanded portion of the neck centers the case in the chamber neck, and can give actual meaning to concentricity. I only resize about 1/8" of the neck's end with my bolt gun ammo, for hand feeding only. As long as one cannot spin the bullet with one's finger and thumb, and takes some care about hand chambering the cartridge, no harm is done, and it might even be beneficial to maintain such a minimal neck tension.

Greg