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OK, I have reloaded quite a few straight walled pistol and M1 carbine cartridges, but am now starting to work on .223 This is my first experience with bottleneck cartridges. I have a good quantity of used cases that I have decapped with a Lee universal decapping die and have them all cleaned up nicely with wet tumbling using SS pins. After lubing a batch, I ran a few through my Lee sizing & decapping die that is supposed to full length resize the case and expand the neck enough to permit a bullet to start. I ran about a dozen cases through the die and tested them with a Hornady 55 grain .224 dia. bullet for fit. I could only get about a third of them to accept a bullet to start. I disassembled the die and it appears to be in good order. I measured the expansion/decapper rod and it is .223. A couple of the cases internal necks measured .219 - .221 after resizing. I am guessing the expansion/decapper rod is not thick enough to properly expand the neck. All my dies and single stage press is Lee. I bought these dies used, but they appear to be in very good condition. What say you that are experienced with bottleneck cartridges?


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Bottleneck case dies don't flare the mouth, so you shouldn't be able to "start" a bullet into the case unless it has expanded the mouth way too much. The chamfer on the case mouth is usually sufficient to get a bullet positioned for entry into the case.

Brass springs back about .001, and since your expander mandrel has a .223 dia it should leave you with a case neck I.D. of .222, which would give you .002 of neck tension which is a good number. You are seeing anywhere from .219-.221 for .003-.005, and .005 is too much. I don't know what lube you are using, but get some inside the neck, as a dry mandrel can get sticky and give inconsistent results. Polishing the mandrel works well too. Just don't remove too much material.


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Thanks for the reply. I am thinking of ordering a flaring die.


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Lyman makes an "M" Die for flaring casemouths that could work, but it's really not necessary unless you want to shoot some lead bullets at some point.


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OK, I ordered a new decapping/sizing pin from Lee for my die. Tried it out this evening with 3 different .223 used case brands: Federal, Winchester, and Lake City. Before running the cases through the die, I relubed both the cases and the inside of the die with a mixture of lanolin and alcohol. I did this both with the original pin installed and again with the new pin installed in the sizing die. After each run through, a Hornady .224 bullet will not start at all in the case. What am I doing wrong or failing to do here? I do now have a universal case neck expanding die that I could use, but that just adds yet another step. I know others do not have this issue. Again, this is my first experience with loading bottleneck cartridges. I have loaded sizeable quantities of pistol ammo with no such problems. Frankly, I am baffled. Please advise. Thanks!


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I'm thinking FC363 is right, you need a tool to put a small chamfer on the inside of the case neck.
Link here

The neck is sized as a straight cylinder and it has to be slightly smaller than the bullet so that neck tension will hold the bullets in place.
The de-burr tool shaves off the square shoulder inside the neck and lets the bullet start.
Check your brass for a sharp corner on the outside of the brass as well and notice the tools for removing it.


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