6.5 Expander die in Fraser Valley?
- Thread starter TheCanAm
- Start date
- Location
- Western Manitoba
What is an "expander die"? What is it used for??
- Location
- Edmonton Area Ab, Candle Lake Sk
Cast bullets ? Lyman M die
Expander mandrels. They can be used for necking up smaller calibre cases like making 250 Savage brass out of 22-250 cases.. Undersized ones can be used with neck turners such as the Sinclair tool.
I personally use them after resizing cases with the expander ball removed. By pushing the expander mandrel into the neck there is no chance an off-centre expander ball will pull the neck out of alignment.
Longrange300wm
Member
- Location
- Grande Prairie , Alberta
Do you mean resizing die ? Neck sizing die ? Or the mandrel that goes inside those previously mentioned ?
With that if you mean the actual die with mandrel you should include the caliber that your wishing to resize for such as 6.5CM, 6.5x06, 260, 6.5saum, 6.5PRC, etc... Also not alot of fellas or gals like to lend out their hard earned stuff, unless your a neighbor, shooting or reloading buddy. Not being hard on ya, just the way it is. I for one, example 80% of my dies are Whidden's & no one is touching those bad boys but me!
RL
With that if you mean the actual die with mandrel you should include the caliber that your wishing to resize for such as 6.5CM, 6.5x06, 260, 6.5saum, 6.5PRC, etc... Also not alot of fellas or gals like to lend out their hard earned stuff, unless your a neighbor, shooting or reloading buddy. Not being hard on ya, just the way it is. I for one, example 80% of my dies are Whidden's & no one is touching those bad boys but me!
RL
Longrange300wm
Member
- Location
- Grande Prairie , Alberta
(Ahh now I know what he what he is looking for, thanks)
Yes, 'Boo knows.
I didn't think it needed explanation, but that tells me not many folks bother with it, so maybe I shouldn't either.
For clarification, an expander die is not caliber specific. It accepts a mandrel for the ID of the case neck (typically 0.002" narrower, but you can purchase different sizes). Precision reloaders use them to prep new brass to ensure consistent neck tension. I thought I'd try it once for a batch of new brass. I'm a hunter, but I hope to make some precision moderate range hunting rounds.
Anyone?
I didn't think it needed explanation, but that tells me not many folks bother with it, so maybe I shouldn't either.
For clarification, an expander die is not caliber specific. It accepts a mandrel for the ID of the case neck (typically 0.002" narrower, but you can purchase different sizes). Precision reloaders use them to prep new brass to ensure consistent neck tension. I thought I'd try it once for a batch of new brass. I'm a hunter, but I hope to make some precision moderate range hunting rounds.
Anyone?
- Location
- Western Manitoba
How does that work differently than sizing cases with expander stem removed, and then pushing the cases up onto the expander ball after they are sized? - expander ball set much lower in the die than normal.
I tried that in an attempt to minimize my runout. After fussing with a set of 20 versus another set of 20 sized normally, I did not get significant difference (statistically) in the runout numbers - certainly could NOT see a difference in targets with my Model 70 Winchester in 338 Win Mag - so I gave up on that, and just re-sized normally. Maybe there was more left on the table??
I tried that in an attempt to minimize my runout. After fussing with a set of 20 versus another set of 20 sized normally, I did not get significant difference (statistically) in the runout numbers - certainly could NOT see a difference in targets with my Model 70 Winchester in 338 Win Mag - so I gave up on that, and just re-sized normally. Maybe there was more left on the table??
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Resizing on the upstroke with a conventional resizing die may - and I stress may - pull the case neck out of concentricity enough to affect accuracy.
John Barsness - one of the few gun writers whose opinion I trust - wrote a great article on the problem a number of years ago. His method was slightly different in that rather than using an expander mandrel he would resize the case with the expander ball removed and then at a later step reinstall it in the die and push it through the neck to open it up. Pushing the ball down produced noticeable improvement in the case neck runout. He found that while most of his die sets did a suitable job for hunting ammunition the odd set would pull the case neck off-kilter as the ball was pulled up through the case. These dies he would identify and then size with them in the two-step operation.
Myself I de-cap with a dedicated de-capping die, size as required with the expander ball removed and then open the necks up with the expander mandrel. Doing it this way has virtually eliminated case neck runout for me.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Yes, it was that John Barsness article that got me trying to make an improvement in my loads for the 338 Win Mag. Maybe I have a "good" die set...
Rest of story - an article by John Wooters (Guns and Ammo magazine), and then several by John Barsness (Rifle, and Handloader magazine) were most of the reasons that I got a 338 Win Mag in the first place!!! I had a 308 Win and thought I was pretty much set ... I think there are 5 books written by Barsness here - I am quite taken by his way of doing things!!!
Rest of story - an article by John Wooters (Guns and Ammo magazine), and then several by John Barsness (Rifle, and Handloader magazine) were most of the reasons that I got a 338 Win Mag in the first place!!! I had a 308 Win and thought I was pretty much set ... I think there are 5 books written by Barsness here - I am quite taken by his way of doing things!!!
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John is a good writer and a true hunter. He is also a regular at another shooting forum and usually will answer questions thrown his way.
