Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Full Length vs Neck Sizing

Neck sized for about 40 years for all manner of cartridges and have never had to bump shoulders. If it came out of a chamber, it always goes back in. All cartridges, however, are rifle specific. Once had a pair of 270's and a cartridge cross over could go one way but not the other.

This is how I do it too in addition to I guess 98% full length sizing (die just backed off very slightly to offset the case stretch with the web resizing by bumping the shoulder back a very slight amount. I’ve recently started to anneal more regularly as well. Works great for me ymmv.

For every round I send after a big game critter, I may shoot a 100rounds at the range. I pick up my precious brass. This year I killed 2 bulls and 2 pronghorns, and by golly found all the brass laying on the ground.

Don’t own a CM, but I’ve yet to find factory ammo loaded with a suitable big game bullet (especially a suitable elk bullet) that I can’t beat with my handloads.

Somewhere in the world such ammo might exist......

I never allow my brass to hit the ground. Head thing with me!

This is where I'm at. "Partially sizing" for 6 .250 Savages here. I DO keep my brass separate for each one. Three .270's. Same deal. Multiple .22 centerfires (even in same caliber) likewise.

I DO FL size for the 4 .30-30's here, and do not dedicate brass to a gun. Reasons should be self evident.

My great concern with this video was that someone just getting into reloading will take the misunderstanding conveyed (cultivated, actually) in the film that shoving that brass all the way into a die every single time is the gospel now for accuracy.

Most here have learned that is NOT true,

I appreciate all the participation in this "firestorm" I did not expect!

I have always FL sized with the cam over method as the die instructions taught when I started reloading 30+ years ago.
I am able to get most hunting rifles to shoot well under 1 inch groups and most into 1/2 inch groups.
I only neck size in my 300 win mag because when I got it close to 30 years ago my uncle who shot magnum rifles told me to.
I have never FL sized that brass and I can't even guess how many loadings it has.
Just how I do it and it has worked very well for me.

+1, but - read about Mule Deer setting the dies to leave just a slight 'smash fit' and did that for a few years. Lately I started watching the Youtube videos from Eric Cortina and have now switched to a slight bump. To be honest, both worked just fine and I can't shoot good enough to tell any difference. I'm still going with the slight setback .002-.003 as they to chamber easy and always and accuracy is good.

I’m going with the world champions advice.. Besides I been full length sizing since I started reloading 25 years ago..

So we can expect you at the next F class shoot?

So the same BS video about the pros has to be posted twice. How many on this forum go to the regional, national and world championship BR matches and place in the top 20? How about top 30? Top 50?

No BR matches but i do participate in NRA and CMP sanction mid range prone/high power shoots. Along with NRA regionals mid range up here. I missed last yrs 800,900,1000 NRA sanctioned match.

I neck size for all my rifles (mostly factory chambered) using bushing neck dies. When I feel resistance on a case they get a shoulder bump to feed like butter again. Spoke with Whidden yesterday about a die for my 25 BR Ackley and the dies they make are set up to minimize touching the base of the case. I guess you could say they are PFL instead of Fl.
GreggH

I learned decades ago what applies to BR shooting with minimum spec'ed BR rifles and the loads they use doesn't necessarily apply to a factory style hunting rifle and hunting loads.

Although competition improves the breed, I know better than to put Goodyear racing slicks on my 3/4 ton pickup.............

I didn't see where anyone here asked about bench rest shooting, yet several of you keep referring to it.
Eric Cortina, who made the video, is a Lapua team F Class and PRS shooter.
Nobody ask about loading for bench rest.

Sigh.......
You’re being kind’ of literal here.

F-Class, BR, etc.........

What crock of schit! Those are some of the best shooters/ smiths in the country, so i'll take there advice all day long over someone with a $20 Lee die set. Hopefully the newbies DO see it, and understand it's most certainly the best way to size your brass period. Why size your brass 3 to 5 times one way, and then have to FL size to get it to fit RIGHT again? I want uniform everything... everything the same everytime!

What a crock........period.

Neck sizing with a good die will most of the time produce less neck runout than conventional FL sizing dies for our hunting or varmint rifles.

The BR shooters (and most other of the competitive shooters) are using Wilson style dies cut with the same reamer as their custom, lapped, minimum spec chambered barrels.

Do you have barrels and dies that are reamed to minimum specs?

Competition improves the breed, but attempting to mimic some parts of the competitive shooters regime while not doing everything else is like putting a wing on our pickup and expecting to compete in the Indy 500........

I can make as good or better accuracy by making straighter necks by Nk sizing with a LCD or conventional Nk die--no lube, no stretch, no trimming--and make brass last exponentially longer than when FL sizing for my hunting and varmint rifles.

There is a difference between pushing the shoulder back and FL sizing.

Please explain the difference.

So much wrong thinking in that post if accuracy is your goal. Bullshcit on the the most BR shooters using a custom cut Wilson die to size. The reasoning behind that is guys using a custom reamer to shorten or lengthen the body or neck on a proven cartridge in an effort to create a better mouse trap. The Wilson die you referenced is in fact a neck die. What kind of concentricity gauge are you using to measure runout? Most guys who own one will tell you it's collecting dust. Any shooter worth his salt will tell you that as long as your runnout is .003 or less you'll be hard pressed to see it on paper. Those same winning BR shooters are far more likely using Redding bushing dies to size cases, and almost everytime a runout problem is discussed on a BR forum the word bushing is involved.
I've won my fair share of local factory gun BR matches including 6 in a row, and there wasn't a neck die used to do it . Pony up for Forster FL dies and move on. You can even have them hone the neck out to your specs allowing you to work the brass less. I'm done arguing about this though, as I know neck dies will still have that hardheaded following. I'll take the advice of someone who has shot 1,000's of precision rds a yr every yr vs the average Joe who fires 1-200 shots thru his hunting rifles a yr. The best part is we are free to choose whichever we want.