Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Run-out discussion ? ...

All of this in spades^^^. Over the years, I have found various combinations of brands and types of dies to be "the best" for various lots/brands of brass.

An example, after years of PFLR sizing different lots of WW brass for a particular 270, and performing two sizings before having to trim, this new lot of WW brass stretches like a sumbee when I keep the shoulder in the same place or bump it back a 'thou. No matter what I tried I couldn't prevent it. So I switched to a Redding body die and LCD and it solved my problem.

It's interesting that some others are having best success with Forster sizing dies. My Redding sizing dies have beat out the Forsters every time I've compared. Sometimes by a very small amount, sometimes by a bunch........

A Forster FL die I have in 308 Winchester had a way too tight neck section. I got them to hone it out to my spec and now it's super with thicker brass like Lapua, Federal and Lake City.

I use my Hornady FL die in 308 Win in two stages: size w/o expander and then push the necks over the elliptical expander. This produces very straight brass. So, why don't I use it all the time? It reduces the case body diameter and taper from head to shoulder to like new dimensions. Ok then, so why do I use it at all? It trues up new "bag brass" that is sometimes dinged up and out of round, and it's great for making brass from one rifle fit another.

This...

John

Saw this - just something to think about pertaining to runout .

I can't see youtube right now.

What's the quick rundown?

I'd appreciate a brief summary too.

A guy is showing how putting a lot of pressure on the handle of a press - when the ram is at the top the linkage pushes the ram sideways creating 10K radial runout .

Don't slam or manhandle the press. Don't pull the handle like you're playing an old style slot machine.

The bullet seating operation doesn't require much force. Let it gently slide into place, ideally with one finger bottoming out the handle. No need to put any pressure on the handle when it stops. Treat your press like a lady.

CGPaul ,

Saw a guy using your bullet seating technique while ago - giving it the ol handle jigglewiggle - he was getting 1K runout max , appeared to work real well .

Good video, but the title is misleading. It was more about technique than press style. I prefer a press that doesn't cam over, because it is easier to adjust the resizing dies.

This is an interesting thread. But I have a question. I was reading JB's "Gack I" the other evening and he talked about how inconsistencies in neck wall thickness plays havoc with group sizes. Since the Lee collet die uses a different method for neck sizing, does it eliminate this concern? Or, even if using the LCD, do necks still need to be turned for consistency? My guess is that inconsistencies in neck wall thickness also affect neck tension, but that's just a guess on my part. Y'all can tell me if that's the case.

Thanks.

Mike ,

Some people claim they have turned case necks that were way out and got no improvement , others swear by neck turning . The neck expands when the round is fired and the thicker part of the neck presses against the side of the chamber before the thin side so ? . Turning the neck surely couldn't hurt . I'm seeing more and more the reasons to use high-end brass if consistent small groups are something you need for that rifle.
No on the LCD it presses the neck around a mandrel - if brass has thick spot in neck it'll still be thick after running it through a LCD .

Appears the Hornady Gauge ONLY measures finished cartridges - not good for tracking down brass problems - don't mean to sound like a broken record either .

That's what I figured. Thanks for the confirmation.

I noticed with my 450-400 and using a Lyman M-die for expanding, that the M-die seemed to work a heck of a lot smoother than using the expander in the sizing die. I checked to see what happened with the runout between the two, the M-die definitely won that experiment. I picked up a new 7-08 here, just finished setting up new brass for it, used a Sinclair universal expander on the new cases rather than running them into an fls or neck die to round out the case mouths. Once I have them fireformed, I'll run it again with seeing what the difference is between the Forster neck bushing bump die and the regular RCBS neck die with and without the expanders, and using the Sinclair expanders on it. I'l run them all in a Rockchucker with and without an o-ring, and in a Coax. Be interesting to see how much, if any, difference it all makes. I'll use motor mica lube on all them as well.
The Sinclair expanders only needed mica lube about every 5th case, but, they were new, clean cases. Usually on dirty cases they only need to be lubed about every third case with the expander ball, we'll see how the Sinclair expanders work out with those. I didn't know to look there at the time, but, K&M has a kit of expanders from .002 to .0035 for 70.00, which works out to a better price I believe, and more versatility than a bushing die. Tough call to make unless you go thru all the experiments to see what works, or if it is even worth it.