Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Resizing without the expander ball

That should work, but the only way to find out is try it out.

I suspect the practicality might depend on the cartridge.

[quote=Mule Deer]That should work, but the only way to find out is try it out.

I suspect the practicality might depend on the cartridge.



MD - I gave my die adjustment proposal a try yesterday for 7mm-08. Since this was un-tried, I only used 5 cases.

Sized the cases in the bare die, and all seemed good. Screwed the stem back in and proceeded. Ended up having the decapper extending 3/4 inch out of the die, which left the expander also partly out. Used an O-ring on the stem above the die, and the stem definitely had some freedom to follow the case neck.

Everything went as planned, expander went smoothly into the neck, cap fell out, and expander came back out with very little resistance. Necks didn't get resized down again.

Loaded the cases as per usual, and bullet seating felt normal. Results were mixed, got 3 straight rounds and 2 with small but significant wobble on a glass plate.

So I guess I'm not sure that pushing the expander into the neck is far superior to pulling it out. Anything I might have done different? May try a larger batch to see if this run was a fluke.

Pushing the expander into the sized-down neck isn't always far superior to pulling it out, but it's one trick for standard dies that often works. As does setting the expander ball as high as possible inside the die.

Over the decades since I started fooling with bullet run-out in my handloads, I've run into a bunch of solutions that work, the reason I've never claimed any single one is The Answer.

MD, doesn't "the right solution" depend on your rifle's chamber and the size of your fired brass vs the internal dimensions of your die and thickness of the brass you're using?

And a few other things I'm sure I left out.


Never mind, I went back and saw that mathman beat me to it........

I've been telling my buddies for years that the expander ball is pulling their necks crooked. One of them has finally listened. The ball is good for pushing stuff to the outside before you neck turn and maybe straightening out dinged-up necks. That's about it. For dedicated hunting rifles, I have honed dies from both Redding and Forster. The last time I had this done, however, they wouldn't do it to my "specs" but rather would only do it if I supplied once-fired cases. The engineer told me, over the phone, that he was smarter than me and knew more about reloading and not to second guess them. I haven't had any honed since then!!

This is a good idea but neck wall thickness variance is an enemy when doing that

Agree.

I think that would be for BR and target shooters with highly refined brass, turned necks at a constant thickness...

I'm not that serious a shooter. The Lee Neck Collet sizer is about as high tech as I need/want to go, maybe add Wilson seaters, Sinclair gauge and TruAngle.

I can load ammo that's more accurate than I can shoot. No need to climb higher up that mountain.

Not for me, anyway.

DF

Have done the honed die deal, and also lucked out a few times with inexpensive dies being just right for the brass I had on hand. As Ted pointed out, the brass has to have consistent neck thickness to work well. I got good results by sorting brass, but these days the reject rate is a little high with some brands.

With brass that tends to be a less consistent in neck thickmess, either raising the expander ball, or using Forster or Lee collet dies works better.

I am curious as to how long your bench is. Or perhaps, you have two or three. I have two, but I tend to use a smaller table in the office more than the other. Over the years, I ended up with four SS presses in the office, and three in my reloading room. The smartest addition I bought was a bench grinder stand. I put a Rock Chucker and a Lubrizer on it. The stand is in my office.

The grinder stand sits beside an old 3x3 table that's in my office. The table once held a table saw. Some equipment migrated to the office because I would be working in my office and needed to try something. In many cases, it was convenient to have a press by my office desk.

I suppose I could have bought a multi-stage press, but I had two Rock Chuckers and a Redding Boss. It was easier and cheaper to use them. When Lee brought out their universal decapper, I installed that on an old Lee 2001 press.

I am going to invest in a tool cabinet like this for the office. Right now, I'm using traditional shelves. They take up too much room.

Good advice Steve. Need a "How long is your bench"? thread with photos.

I went to setting up multiple single stage presses as I am not a high volume re-loader but eventually I will get turret presses. The main advantage for me is the consistency as I can screw up almost any setup up each time I unscrew them. I have put witness marks on the screws and always have dummy rounds but Murphy can still sneak into the reloading room in spite of my best efforts.

I'd be scared a "How long is your bench" thread would turn into fight over which brand is best.

Any "how long is your___" thread here won't end well...

DF

Just can't let it get cluttered...

DF

My primary bench, set up in our garage/shop, is 18 feet long. Right now it includes:

At the left end, an RCBS Trim-Pro power tool, along with several manual powder measures set up to clamp onto various places on the heavy shelf running along the left side of the bench. Above the Trim-Pro are shelves holding the 50 or so sets of dies currently in use.

Next, from left to right:
A Redding T7 turret press (my primary rifle/handgun press for many years).
Lyman's new 8-hole turret press, because I'm still testing it.
Lee's simplest single-stage C-press, mostly used for pulling bullets with an RCBS collet tool, and priming oddball cases.
A plywood platform where I interchangeably C-clamp several tools--28, 20, 16, and 12-gauge shotgun presses, a Gracey power case trimmer, a power grinder, whatever's needed--or being tested.

Also have another 8-foot bench in the basement of our house, primarily for the rare occasions when the winter weather's too cold for the Ashley wood stove in the garage/shop. At one end is Eileen's press, a Redding Ultramag, along with the dies for all her cartridges. At the other is my second Redding T7. In between is a Forster manual case trimmer. There's a shelf underneath for various components.

I always found that when I was writing, it was easier to explain something, or take pictures, when I used a table in my office. That was before a laptop appeared in the house. There are times when I wish that my office and shop were on the same floor. It would make things easier, but as things grew, I adapted to the changes.

I have to re-organize and clean up again. It seems to happen a couple of times a year. Things get spread between the two places and disappear for a time.