Reloading Techniques - Neck vs FL Sizing; Tumbling vs Just Prime Pockets/Neck Brushing

[cperazza]

Various school of thoughts:

• Sizing Brass
  • Neck Sizing neck 100% vs 50-75%
    • Stabilizes bullet but stays centered to chamber with 25-50% expanded neck
    • Only stress necks during sizing, annealing will help live of brass
  • Full Length Sizing
    • Needs to be perform at one point or are there more benefits FLS Everytime?
    • More stress on the body of the brass
    • Can still apply half sizing neck concept
    • Adding Neck Turning tight Chambers and consistentcy
• Cleaning Brass
  • Tumbling vs Just Neck Brushing/Cleaning Primer Pockets
  • If you stainless steel tumble for too long might weaken brass?

Some advance Techniques but good discussion for some experienced and newbies to the game. Accuracy is achieved through consistency!

Give us your facts...looking forward to your responses.

 

[Onyx Z]

FL size every time. When only neck sized, the brass expands a bit more each time it is fired. This is why after a few firings of only neck sizing, the bolt gets harder to close on a round. This also means the internal brass volume increases.

When FL sizing each time, you are providing the round consistent internal volume for combustion each ad every time.

I'm sure there has been plenty of success when only neck sizing, but consistency is key IMO.

Not to mention FL sizing provides reliable feeding as well.

 

[918v]

When neck sizing you also provide consistent volume for combustion. There is no difference in regard to consistency which is controlled by case quality. The difference between the two techniques is that in neck sizing the brass does not have to expand to seal and in fl sizing it does. So you get a little less velocity because some of the energy of combustion is used to expand the case.

With neck sizing cases last longer. With FL sizing bolts last longer and your rifle is more reliable.

 

[Supersubes]

With a tactical precision style of rifle, functioning properly with its ammo is the first priority. I think FL sizing is a necessity, along with loading to sane pressures. I never experienced a loss of accuracy when switching to FL sizing, quite the opposite actually. Brass life has been very good.

I got the same old tired advice when I started handloading in the early 90’s, “you must neck size for accuracy”. Total bullshit, and I was done a disservice. I think there’s a much stronger case to be made for getting a straight FL sized cartridge to align in the chamber, than there is for a neck sized cartridge.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I refer to my benchrest shooting friends. They clean the outside of the neck with fine steel wool. They resize the case and use a bushing to resize the neck. They don't want any interferance when closing the bolt.

 

[odoylerules]

I think one thing that gets lost on guys new to reloading... the term FL (full length) sizing doesn’t mean sizing the cartridge down as far as the dies can take it. You can use a FL sizing die and only “bump” the shoulder back. How far to bump the shoulder is a matter of debate, but I’ll say 2-4 thou is a good round number that ensures easy bolt closure. Excessive sizing of the shoulder can lead to early failures like work hardening and even case head separation.

 

[Milo 2.5]

Varies school of thoughts:

• Sizing Brass
  • Neck Sizing neck 100% vs 50-75%
    • Stabilizes bullet but stays centered to chamber with 25-50% expanded neck
    • Only stress necks during sizing, annealing will help live of brass
  • Full Length Sizing
    • Needs to be perform at one point or are there more benefits FLS Everytime?
    • More stress on the body of the brass
    • Can still apply half sizing neck concept
    • Adding Neck Turning tight Chambers and consistentcy
• Cleaning Brass
  • Tumbling vs Just Neck Brushing/Cleaning Primer Pockets
  • If you stainless steel tumble for too long might weaken brass?

Some advance Techniques but good discussion for some experienced and newbies to the game. Accuracy is achieved through consistency!

Give us your facts...looking forward to your responses.

Today I FL size, it is just easier, but setting the die the after the first firing for a consistent bump challenges me at times. I still feel neck sizing after first firing and getting all brass to the same length never hurts in the long run, then set your FL die.
I myself do partial neck treatments too, but I always take the whole neck down to a certain number, then do a partial with a bushing. Leaving a goiter on the neck that builds up from firing and then sizing down is begging for chambering issues.
There are certain steps I refuse to take, neck turing, weighing primers and bullets are a few. A skim pass on necks a good idea but if your runout is under .002" most of us will not see a difference at distance. Knowing how uniform your case capacity is can help you weed out problems, so I do check water weight.
As for cleaning, I tumble in corn cob, I anneal each firing, so carbon on the outside of necks does not help, it is easier tumbling 300 cases than cleaning with steel wool. I tumble again after annealing to remove oxidation from the necks. I feel you get a way more consistent bump with clean and properly lubed brass, just less drag.

 

[Drvred]

I am new to reloading, and have been struggling with sizing.
My factory ammo bases look fine, but my reloads had ejector tears. I bought a L E Wilson case gauge, and my fired reloads stuck out of the gage, and my sized cases were at the minimum.
Factory ammo was flush at max length, so I backed the sizing die out to match.
Am I on the right track?

 

[cperazza]

@Drvred pm'd you some links on Wilson Case Gauge.

 

[Carlos Danger]

I refer to my benchrest shooting friends. They clean the outside of the neck with fine steel wool. They resize the case and use a bushing to resize the neck. They don't want any interferance when closing the bolt.

I decided to scotch bright some of my cases when I didnt like how they came out of the ultrasonic. Now I tend to do it on most of my cases except .223. Leaves a great finish. I'm going to see how it holds up after some firing and reloading cycles.
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[cperazza]

Thanks for your replies...Good inputs and discussion. Keep it coming.

FLS and NS: Done both. I have experienced good accuracy with both methods. NS has shown better SD numbers consistency on my 338 LM. Definitely understand that when NS, at one point you will have to FLS.

Stainless Steel Tumbling vs Primer/Neck Brush: Done both. No difference noted so far. Wet tumbling might have softened some brass by leaving it too long. Thoughts? Currently, just primer pocket and neck brushing cleaning.

Some of you added to the discussion annealing. Up for discussion...Annealing every time or after 3-4 firings?