Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Full Length vs Neck Sizing

Lee collet for .243.
Never had problems but got maybe 5 reloads before primer pockets werent as snug as I like.
THAT makes me cull brass ( right or wrong ).

Just hunt, so not concerned w brass life.
Hell i scrapped all my old .243 as I couldnt tell on some how many loadings ( info lost on some boxes ).
Junked em and just started w new batch.

Norma and WW. See which ones start dropping out, in about 5 yrs LOL

Who pulls the expander ball when FLS and then uses the Lee collet die?

The LCD mandrel is not an expander.

Three different rifles, Three different size cases. What could possibly go wrong? A loaded round solidly stuck in a chamber is not a pretty situation.

I see no merit in that procedure.

Me either, but thought I'd ask.

i don`t need to brag about anything ,but if you need or anyone else needs help understanding loading ammo many of us will try to help . good luck,Pete53

I never paid any attention to how straight my rifle handloads were until about a year ago.
After reading posts on here and other researching, maybe a couple PM’s to JB too.
I went ahead and bought a Redding slant gauge. The only bottleneck rifles I load for now are a couple 223’s, couple 308’s, a 30-06, and a 338 win. And the only dies I had for them were RCBS and Hornady. After I received the concentricity gauge I started checking my loaded ammo. Let’s just say I was very surprised at how crooked some of it was, and I checked 100’s and 100’s of them. Some I wound up pulling.
So then I ordered all new Forster FL sizing and seating dies. (I really didn’t want to get into the bushing dies). The new Forster helped loading straight ammo tremendously. But some were still not to my liking. And that I blame on the brass I use, Winchester, Remington, and some Hornady.
I wound up making a tool to straighten the loaded ammo that wasn’t up to par, it worked good for the most part. Any ammo that doesn’t load straight I know is because of the varied brass thickness. JB recommend the RCBS concentricity gauge because it’ll check neck thickness too, but I didn’t listen. I do like the Redding slant gauge though, simple tool. And I have since bought a ball mic, any brass that doesn’t load straight it definitely caused by uneven brass thickness.
Now after reading this thread I went ahead and ordered sets of Lee collet dies. I’ll see how they work on uneven brass. If I had it to do over again I’d probably just buy nothing but Lapua brass. And who knows those RCBS and Hornady dies may have loaded straight ammo with Lapua brass.

Sometimes brass and dies don't work well together, even when both are good on their own. For example, the tightest necked 308 Winchester die in my collection is a Redding FL die. Used in the conventional manner it works very well with WW brass I have which has thin neck walls. It doesn't do as well with thicker brass like Lapua or Federal, even when my ball mic shows the necks to be good. Before anybody asks, yes I have the carbide expander ball and I do lube the inside of the case necks. For best results with thicker brass I need to remove the expander, size without it, install the tapered expander and push the necks over it in a separate operation. Even then the necks are being worked more than is necessary or ideal, though they are pretty straight.

many years ago a very dear friend made some very special concentric gauges for his ammo company he made 3 of them for worked and 1 extra and that went to me . i still use this tool and that taught me the difference in neck sizing and full length brass sizing . shooting competition at 100 - 200 yards also was a huge help , 600 FTR and 1,000 yds. winter money shoots all help , but the biggest help was Jonny Bell answering my questions about guns and reloading while we drove to go fishing or hunting over 20 some years and my Uncle Stan both engineers at Federal Cartridge and some other employees that worked there they all were a great help.

That's why you use a body die to bump shoulders when chambering gets tight. It's a very simple process.....neck size, bump shoulders as necessary. As mentioned before, I have rifle specific brass, and seldom need to bump shoulders at all.

This is excellent information right here!

Redding Body Dies are really versatile and give a lot of options. I've got some that have been converted to bushing dies and some that I've opened the neck area up to size to a specific diameter. They are great for necking down cases as they can get all the way to the neck/shoulder junction if need be.

Lots of ways to skin cats with dies...basic math and some thinkin' gets you most of the way there.

FWIW, this is a standard Redding 243AI full length die that I modified to take a bushing and size all the way to the neck/shoulder junction:









Redding Body Die....converted it to take a bushing to size to .060 ahead of the neck/shoulder junction:



Another bushing conversion....this started life as a Redding small base Body Die:

I feel so lame not having a machine shop of my own.

Yes, that certainly helps. But like most people, I got by for a long time just using what I had to work with and thinking things through.

But there's just no 'magic' in dies. The die mfgrs. have a to make a product that works to size almost anything with that specific chambering....not an enviable position to be in.

90% of the hunters and general reloaders will be well served with quality, off the shelf dies from a reputable manufacturer. Just taking some time and doing some homework before buying anything solves most problems before they start.

The chambers are the wildcard followed by the customers themselves. With so many basic misconceptions, poor setup/adjustments and the resistance of many, many reloaders to actually measure and find out what's going on....it's no wonder that there are 'problems'...either real or perceived. I'm amazed there aren't more issues that there are. Which in reality speaks to how a good a job most die mfgrs do with the dimensions of their products.

Good shootin' -Al

I understand. I have six FL dies for 308 and they all do something a little different.

True but I think it's closer to 99%.

For 2 of the cartridges I load for. Anneal as needed. Wash inside neck w/bore mop and PVC solvent to remove loose fouling, never more. Lee Collet for the neck, Redding bump for the body to achieve 0.0015-0.002 headspace. Trim necks to datum on shoulder so all necks same length. Uniform inside neck chamfer. That's how I do it to serve my needs.

Very likely. -Al

I've noticed this happening myself. ^