Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Neck Tension problem...

I've got a 30-06 I'm loading for and today while seating bullets I noticed I could push and pull the bullets out of the case by hand.

This brass is new old stock Norma brass that has 2 firings on it. It's been full length resized, and I even tried sizing the neck minus the expander with the same results? Any ideas? Spring back maybe? Brass needs to be annealed even though it's brand spankin' new???

That very well could be necessary. Mule Deer related such a story here pretty recently.

You happen to have a link? I searched and came up empty.

New die set or an old trustworthy set???? I had a 300 win mag FL sizing die that was out of spec and left the cases with loose necks. I sent the die set back to RCBS and they replaced the sizer with a new one and never had a problem again...

Reliable. Fairly new Redding dies that I've used on 2 other 06s and even with some of this same Norma brass and had no problems. The brass did come out of a different box, so it could be an issue just with these cases???

May be brass necks are springing back. Sounds like a brass problem if that's a trusted set of dies...

I wish I could find that thread, but I am not able to do so. Maybe John will pop in here and give you the skinny.

What I recall about it was a well known individual was having accuracy issues and happened to be using brand new brass...the man ALWAYS used brand new brass and would never reuse it. He asked John what he thought could be wrong and John suggested annealing the brass. That solved the problem.

You might measure the neck walls too, could be a thin batch.

I believe John was talking about Charlie Sisk...but I often mis-remember such things.

I have a similar issue with my Redding 300 WSM dies and WW brass. I can't push the bullet in/out but neck tension is quite light. I called Redding thinking it was there expander die. They relayed to me that WW ran some WSM brass with thin necks and to try a different brand of brass. I haven't tried it yet but wanted to pass their thoughts on.

A couple of thoughts. If neck tension is fine without the expander ball but is loose after running the case through the expander ball, I'd suspect the expander ball. Mic the fired case neck, a resized case neck minus the expander, and a resized case with the expander ball. There should be 0.025" difference between the neck diameter and a the bullet. Second, try another brand of brass to see if the problem still occurs.

I'm betting its either a slightly oversize expander ball or thin necks on your Norma brass.

Let us know what you find.

I had the same problem with a Redding die. 3 days later I had the new one in hand.

If you came up with the same problem without using the expander you have eliminated that problem. I would doubt you could get enough spring back in the neck to cause this problem even with stiff brass. That leaves 2 possibilities. Either your necks are so thin that when the OD is sized down the ID isn't small enough to give you adequate tension or your bullets are too small.
Mic the ID after sizing and mic the bullets and let us know what you find.

The Lee Factory Crimp Die compresses the whole end of the neck around the bullet and will usually solve the neck tension problem if it isn't too gross.

Problems like these are why I anneal and use bushing dies.

Holy chit, the only time I've had these "problems" was when my die was out of spec. For you guys that have to use Lapua and Norma brass and anneal all the time and use special high dollar die sets, you have my sympathy....

I stopped into Cabela's today and grabbed some Remington brass. When I get back home on Sunday I'll see if this brass does the same thing, but I'm fairly positive this brass will be fine. We shall see...

If you have to change brass or lots of brass alot of times it changes neck tension which in turn affects accuracey. In my opinion annealing extends brass life and neck tension consistencey. Just my 2 cents

Good answer.

Same problem a few years back with a Redding 7X57 die. They asked me to send die, resized case, and a fired case. About 10 days later I received a new die ( I had made a tiny mark near the lettering on the old die). Problem solved.

...and the answer is: it was not posted here, it was in John Barsness's Big Book of Gun Gack, chapter 1.

I often remember stuff but not where I learned it, or I remember where I learned something but not the details of it. Sometimes Often I remember neither.