Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Neck Sizing Question

I'm not a gunwriter, but have been reloading for 50 yrs. IMO and IME, it's not about neck sizing vs. FL sizing, it's about run out, concentricity. I use a Sinclair run out gauge to measure and a TruTool http://www.trutool-equipment.com to tweak all my rounds. Seating dies aren't all the same, no matter how well the case is sized. You don't know until you check concentricity. Seating dies, bullet ogive, seater fit, etc. another discussion.

Loading the straightest ammo you can is the way to go. Often a FL die oversizes the neck and as the expander is pulled thru the neck, the case can end up silghtly crooked, the thinner side of the case with more stretch than the thicker side. It take a really good case to have the same exact thickness all the way around.

The Lee Neck collet neck sizer is a unique design, imparting no stretch on the case. The problem with neck sizing, the round can get harder to chamber as the case stretches. And they gonna stretch,. Throw away the Lee Collet die set up instructions, use Mathman's instructions and don't look back. I think that info is on the link above.

Redding makes a great body die, but not cheap. The cheapest and best way to go, IMO, is getting a Deluxe Lee die set with the collet neck sizer and FL sizer. Their FL die makes a great body die with some Dremel work. I've had to use worn grinding tips to fit inside a .22 cal die neck. That steel is really hard and takes some work to cut enough so that the case neck doesn't touch. The decapper makes a nice punch with retaining nut removed. I guess one could say the Lee Deluxe die set is a MacGyver starter kit...

I mounted my TruTool on a a small board. To me a perminant bench mount gets in the way. I can put this set up on a shelf when not being used.

DF