416 barrett brass resizing

M

matm

CGN Regular
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Location
Edmonton, AB
Hello! I'm not new to reloading but I am new to reloading the 50bmg family of cases. I began to try and process my 1xf .416 brass and I noticed the amount of force necessary to size the cases seems excessive. It seems as if the body of the case doesn't need much sizing at all, but the neck of the case needs to be reduced quite a bit which seems to be where the hang up is. Is there anything I can do to help this process? Would annealing the brass help it move? I understand its probably a mil spec chamber I just want to see if there is anything that can be done.

Rifle: barrett m99 416 barrett
Brass: barrett 1xf (in my rifle)
Press:ATRS accumax
Dies: lee (I know, I know)

I find even with the accu max press it is hard to generate enough force to size the neck all the way to the shoulder.

Thank you for any help!
 
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The lee dies appear to be bringing it down to spec but I think with the large throat, it is difficult. I may see it a collet die is available. It is barrett headstamp brass that is made by ruag I believe. I am also surprised because there isn't that much surface area on the neck of the 416 case vs 50bmg. I use unique lube with a good amount on the necks
 
If it's a lube issue, Imperial wax is great, but I find Forster High Pressure Case Sizing Lubricant to be even better.
When fighting with old military 50 BMG brass, I used to back the sizing die out a thread, run it, tighten half a thread, run it, etc.....kept the effort down instead of doing the whole sizing process at once....

I have the same press, and a batch of the same brass on the way. Will see what issues I run into.....
 
I'll give the staged approach a go! See if that helps. I dont think it's a lube issue, there is no resistance on the way out, it doesn't stick at all. I think it's an issue of how much diameter It has to reduce. I'll take measurements tonight of fired and sized brass to show the difference. I'm sure the only fix would be a new barrel with a tighter neck which could be an option but the barrel has 100rds through it so I'd prefer to do that at a later time.
 
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Yes the dies are an easy thing to change. The rcbs ones are used by a lot of 416 shooters including the cutting edge bullet ELR team. I may give them a try or source out custom ones. I have 125pc of primed brass ready to load so I'm able to be shooting for a while even if I need to get new dies soon. I still need a case trimmer and a couple other small things to fully prep the brass.
 
I found annealing the Barrett 416 brass every firing helped a great deal. It work hardened very quickly, and I had very inconsistent bullet pull. Not to mention neck splits.

+1 on the Imperial Sizing Wax. It works very well.
 
I just had a thought while measuring my cases after sizing. It seems like they all measure at 3.273 weather or not they sized the whole neck. Is it possible that the brass is bottoming out in the die? I dont have a trimmer yet but when I do, I'll try and see if that's the case. It makes sense because some of the cases size pretty easy but will not allow the shell holder to touch the die all the way.
 
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