I just purchased a full length neck tension die for my 6.5x284 Norma. Thought that I would give it a try for the first time after 35 years of reloading. Has anyone out there noticed an improvement in accuracy using this die along with the bushings? Thanks in advance for any response!
Neck Tension
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Not sure what you mean by a FL Neck Tension die ... I assume you are referring to a die with neck bushings? I use bushing dies and have settled on .002 tension. I can not say that .002 shoots better than .003. I use the bushing dies because I can reduce the rate of work hardening the necks by keeping the resize to a minimum. The important thing is to maintain consistent neck tension among the reloads. If things start going south, annealing the necks may help to reestablish consistency.
my issue with the fl bushing dies is that you can't process mixed or thinner brass.
I have a forster custom honed die that works only for lapua brass.
When I use it to process thinner brass, bullets fall through.... so I have to double-process cases through a lee collet die after that.
It's a bit of a pain to process 308 brass this way, so it is possible that I will eventually just buy a conversion kit for my xl650 and setup the dies on it, with one shellplate for loading, and one shellplate for priming/seat.(with weighted charges)
When you get used to the 650, it becomes very annoying to handle brass 2-3 times.
I have a forster custom honed die that works only for lapua brass.
When I use it to process thinner brass, bullets fall through.... so I have to double-process cases through a lee collet die after that.
It's a bit of a pain to process 308 brass this way, so it is possible that I will eventually just buy a conversion kit for my xl650 and setup the dies on it, with one shellplate for loading, and one shellplate for priming/seat.(with weighted charges)
When you get used to the 650, it becomes very annoying to handle brass 2-3 times.
A Lee collet neck size die will solve many of the issues that the bushing system inherently has.
Neck thickness not an issue, no donut is formed, the bushing will transfer any anomalies to the inside of the neck were you don't want it, custom sized mandrels are available, they are inexpensive and basically fool proof.
Neck thickness not an issue, no donut is formed, the bushing will transfer any anomalies to the inside of the neck were you don't want it, custom sized mandrels are available, they are inexpensive and basically fool proof.
