Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Lee Collet Neck Sizing Die vs. Redding Type S Bushing Neck Die

What you are describing is what I would call Partial Neck Sizing, but opinions differ on terminology



You can do this by putting a washer on top of the shell holder around the case head with a Lee Collet



If you do it with a FL die then you need to set it so that the die does not size the case body or it will balloon the shoulder forward and cause difficult chambering. Once you squeeze the case body then the only way to alleviate a crush fit is to set the die down far enough to push the shoulder back.

Thanks, good info Woods and a good thought with the washers.

I am thinking though that if I go to the collet die I would continue to size the entire neck.

I am also thinking that what you posted early on is where I am leaning. That is where my head was to begin with.

From woods post:

"2. For me, a perfect set of dies is a Lee Collet, Redding Body Die and Competition Seater. This is as far as I want to go as I do not Benchrest and only load for hunting, but do like to have the finest hunting load I can make. I do send off to Lee for smaller mandrels to increase bullet grip to .002" or .003" in some of the more often loaded calibers."

twofish

This is a big part of the reason I have been thinking about going to the collet dies. Besides not overworking necks and no bushings to buy it seems to be the best way to size necks and keep thickness variations on the outside without neck turning.

I really like the idea of not having to pull a sizer back through to do this and I just don't want to start neck turning brass.

twofish

That would be great but I don't know if they would do this due to SAAMI worries.

It may be that one would have to provide a fired case to the die makers and have a custom die made for your chamber. That would not be cheap though I am sure.

twofish

There ya go!

I did not see what they cost though...? But with 30, 40, or 50 reloads as they claim the cost may well be worth it if primer pockets don't give out.

twofish

Owned several Redding Competition bushing die sets. Sold them after I tried Forster Ultra seaters. Several reasons to prefer Forster Benchrest or Ultra seaters.

As to sizers, use only Redding Type S FL. Why? Versatility. Can use one Redding die for several variant ctgs. I shoot a wildcat .338/300win mag. The Redding .300win Type S die has enough recess at the shoulder to accommodate fired .338/300 brass; just have to use a .360-ish neck bushing and you're set!

Have a .243win AI die that I reamed on lathe to open up the shoulder to .308win neck dimension when I needed a sizer for my .308win AI rem 700 tactical.

I use a .260rem to size 7mm-08 rounds,and a .30-06 Type S to size .338-06. Nice to have Reddings tapered size buttons for neck-up jobs.

Pretty easy to make bushings, if you have a lathe and a boring bar. 1/2" round stock is all it takes.

Lots of versatility in the Redding Type S FL dies. Can't see a reason for a neck die or a body die. If you have the S FL, you have all 3... Redding says just pull the decap stem and you have a body die.


I like Forster's die chamber seaters, because of their interchangeable parts and Forster's willingness, unlike Redding, to sell die chambers and seating stems so, for about $35, you can buy the parts needed to use your Ultra or Benchrest die for another cartridge; unlike Redding who will not sell die chambers. I really have come to prefer the Benchrest seater as they are simpler and deliver the same fine quality, minimal runout ammunition.

BTW, most runout is going to be a factor of alignment with your press, shellholder and the die. Locking-down the decap rod while pin is centered in primer flash hole will produce a consistency of alignment. Using undersized ball or the straight, no ball, deprime pin that comes with Redding Type S means you get no out of kilter "pull" from the neck sizing ball.

Need a correct sized ball to uniform necks that have been distorted/bent etc, but that is pretty unlikely for single-loaded bench-fired rounds in a range environment.

One more matter of heresy to discuss: Do you "need" a cartridge specific seating die at all?

I am using a Forster 6.5/284 die body to load my .260rem rounds.

I size them on the Type S and use the bushing for neck tension desired. The body of the die chamber is larger by about .027", but the neck diameter is the same. I have not seen any difference in finished rounds effectiveness/accuracy, and get no case distortion.

Hornady used to catalog bore diameter/caliber specific seaters. Basically, as long as the cartridge isn't too fat in the body to enter the die, they work fine and produce no run-out.

+1. The internals are interchangeable for different lengths. I have 4 with different internals which I swap for cartridges for which I don't have the Forster seaters.

I haven't found them to do as good a job as the Redding and Forster competition type seaters. I've tried 223, 243, and 308 sizes. In the 308 size, the Hornady didn't prove to be consistently better than a regular RCBS die for 300 Savage cartridges.