Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Resistance loading a shell in a rifle.

"Shot it all and then some".....right?

IMHO the bolded is key, it comes down to task and purpose which shapes your accuracy requirements. For instance, my 3gun ammo loaded on a Dillon 650, doesn't have the same requirements as my precision ammo.

I'm a fan of annealing, but I also like good chrono stats on my ammo used in precision rifles.

FL sizing will cure the headspace issues, but it will also shorten brass life if your chamber is oversized. I much prefer to size to fit a couple .001s under my chamber size.

Not going to claim to shoot 10s of 1000s of rds a year, but since we're showing pictures, this is my backyard:







I have 400 and 547yds off my back deck, full range goes out to 760yds.

My BC1000 can do around 300rds an hr.

Nice set up Chuck R. I have more than few .223's bolts and ar's I have found that using a case gauge on each case is the only way they will fit in any gun I own. Mb

THANKS!

It's been a work in progress for a while now.

And for those days when I don't feel like making the long commute:







Of course, it doesn't prove chit, I could just be plinking and only go through a couple hundred rds annually..

Shrap,
The reason I anneal is because it seems to make the springback more consistent, not always, but most of the time.

When you say FL, are you actually PFLR’ing?

Bob,

I use basically the same method, I size to each chamber, using a Redding FL bushing sizing die. The sizing die is set up to FL size, but I back it off the appropriate amount to fit each chamber using die shims. I record the bushing used and die shim with that "lot" of ammo for that rifle.

I prefer to strip bolts and use "feel" to get my sizing, but do have a set of gauges (Horn and Sinclair).

I do the same with other rifles that I have in the same caliber. I also have a couple friends that come over to load with the same calibers, so a combination of shims and competition seating dies makes it a lot easier than constantly adjusting things.

I’m not sure what P is, but I do full length resize. Annealing is another process that you can certainly participate in. I choose not to and for that reason, just tried to establish how it isn’t always necessary. Back to the amount of ammunition, a person shoots if you had to the amount of cases that I shoot, you wouldn’t have time to shoot because you would be annealing.

what resizing lube do you use in your full length resizing die ? that`s the part i kinda hate is the each brass case clean up. thanks ,Pete53

That's the nature of neck sizing. Essentially each firing the case gets closer and closer to exact chamber size and it gets harder and harder to close the bolt. There probably is an accuracy gain, minute, but is it worth it if you have to fight the rifle to load every cartridge? Instead, I use a FL sizer die but I don't crank it clear down, instead, I set it up to kiss the shoulder and push back ever so slightly keeping the case dimensions the same every time whether it's the 2nd shot or the 22nd shot.

I see no need to neck size. Absolutely never in a hunting or varmint rifle. In a match rifle, I want bushing dies, not a neck sizer, for better accuracy yet. Then depending on the rifle's needs, a separate body die and shoulder / bump die.

Partial Full Length Resizing vs Full Length Resizing.

Sounds like you are using PFLR. Just bumping the shoulder back enough so the brass easily fits the chamber.

I use NK sizing or PFLR, depends on the brass and the particular chamber. When NK sizing eventually a guy does have to bump the shoulder back.

Very well could just be dirty.

The confusion about sizing terms is cropping up again. When I use a FL die to produce .002" shoulder setback from as fired dimensions, the neck, the shoulder and the body, i.e. the full length of the brass, has been sized. So that is full length sizing, set up to suit a particular chamber. That's what some call partial full length sizing, a bit of an oxymoron. They use the term full length sizing for reducing the case to like new dimensions, or nearly so, so it'll fit in any chamber that comes along.

Agree. I use rifle specific brass, but have never had an issue with a Lee collet die, and Redding body die to bump shoulders when necessary. I don't redline my loads, so bumping shoulders happens fairly seldom. Works for me anyway.

For the first 50 years of handloading nobody seemed confused by FL vs PFLR sizing. But sometime when I wasn’t looking confusion has apparently set in…

FL sizing is sizing the brass as much as the FL die will allow, which generally entails the ram touching the die and/or completely camming over.

PFLR is usually stopping short of touching the die with the ram, with the brass into the die just enough to bump the shoulder back. That’s not completely sizing the brass to the FL die’s ability.

Sizing brass back to original dimensions generally requires a small base die.

I'll agree to disagree.

Mathman, I think you and I are in agreement with the older definition of partial full length resizing which was really just neck sizing with a full length die without bumping the shoulder at all. Somewhere over the past few years it has started being used to describe minimal shoulder bumps by what are perhaps newer reloaders or a regional thing.

I've seen crossover in the meaning for a while. Maybe I'm just being pedantic calling it full length sizing when the full length gets sized, however much or little.

I agree, we're did this "partial" come from?

Bob Hagel used the partial resizing terminology as I described it above back in the 80s, if not earlier.

I agree that is partial sizing with a FL die, but sizing the whole case is FL sizing no matter if its .001 or more, your sizing the whole case.