Experienced Precision Reloaders - Look here!

Yota

Yota

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Hey all,

I've recently finished building my gun. It's a blueprinted Remington 700 action with a 1:10 Shilen 6 groove SS blank, turned to an M24 profile. I'm getting decent group sizes with factory Norma, but I'm currently getting set up to reload my own ammunition, and chase that group size down even smaller.

Does anyone have experience with the Redding "premium deluxe" die sets? It comes with a standard neck sizer, as opposed the the Type "S" bushing dies that use interchangeable neck size bushings in .001 increments.

My question is - Will I see noticeable results in the accuracy of my loaded rounds if I choose one over the other? Can anyone tell me what the neck dimension that a "standard NS die" will produce? I understand the concept of neck tension, and its importance.

I'm just trying to get the most bang for buck here, and get the most return out of my money for my first set up.

Remember folks - This is not an F class rifle. It's an accurized, capable rig, but I'm not bench rest shooting with this. Just trying to chase that group down to an impressive size.


Thanks, and any advice with regard to tooling and personal experience with items is always welcome on the thread or in my inbox.






Yota
 
Lee 3 die set with collet neck sizer. I'd have said 4 die set but you don't need the factory crimp for a bolt gun.

I've been able to produce under 3/4 moa ammo all day long using the Lee breech lock Challenger press and Lee dies. My best group so far is 0.380" 5 rounds at 100m, and 1.36" at 300 yards all using Lee tools. Well powder throwing I use a chargemaster combo. Other than that and the Lyman deburring/chamfer tool I'm using all Lee.
 
as bsand suggested, the Lee collet neck 3 die set is the least money to get a decent set of dies to make ammo.

I use and can recommend the Lee collet neck die, Redding body die and Forster BR seater. You can make very consistent ammo with low runout with these dies.

Use a good scale and keep charges within 0.1gr and you can tune to the best accuracy for the Shilen.

Obviously, shoot accurate bullets but there is no reason you can shoot sub 1/2 min

Let me know Thanks

Jerry
 
Thanks guys,

I guess my question is - should I be concerned that my neck diameter is .001 - .002 under my loaded case neck diameter, and is it worth investing in a set that includes mandrels of different sizes?
 
I use the a standard Redding FL sizer on my 6.5X55 and 308 and both of them shoot well enough for me. I say this as I am debating the Redding bushing dies and removing the expander ball and using mandrels instead.

With that said, there are plenty of ways to get the job done. As you can see in Jerry's post he uses a range of brands to get his stuff done.

Furthermore, buy once, cry once -I recently went through the painful experience of buying 2 types of trimmers before just buying a Giraud...
 
Yota

As you reload your brass over time becomes work hardened and springs back more. Meaning the neck tension is going to vary over time anyway unless you anneal your case necks.

I have several Lee collet dies but could not make myself like these dies, call it a mental hangup but I kept asking myself if I pulled the press handle the same as the last round. After trying several sizing methods and dies I settled on the Forster full length dies with the high mounted expander. For me the Forster die produced cases with the least neck runout and they are much cheaper than the higher cost Redding dies. At the Whidden custom die website they tell you they get less runout with non-bushing full length dies. And the Forster dies cost much less and produce very concentric cases with very little neck runout.

I will also say that having gauges to measure neck uniformity and runout will help you greatly in setting up your dies and troubleshooting problems. And having good quality brass is a must to help shrink your group size.

Below is a "average" Remington .223 case with .004 neck thickness variation and only good for blasting ammo in my AR15 rifles. The main point here is this simple neck thickness gauge tells me more about the quality of each case than any other gauge with a twist of the wrist. (360 degree turn)

IMG_2136_zps079ece9b.jpg


IMG_2137_zps66bcfc13.jpg


Below is the negative side of the Lee collet die and applying too much force to the press handle. (and my hangup with the Lee collet die)
The Lee collet die needs to be cleaned up and polished to remove its rough edges or it can "pucker" the case neck in the gaps in the collet.
I ruptured a disk in my neck and lost some sensitivity in my right hand and arm and the Lee collet die drove me nuts. Many others have had very good results with the Lee collet die but I'm not one of them and prefer full length resizing.

collet-1_zpsytoxgxgm.jpg


collet-2_zpshtusiehx.jpg


Mystic Precision has far more experience with precision reloading than I do and won't steer you wrong, I just wanted to add my 2 cents.
 
I have moved away from Redding dies. They were just to much money for what I was getting. I do like the ability to use a bushing die and control the amount of neck tension I get out of my resizing and be able to bump my shoulders precisely. I moved to Whidden Gunworks dies. I use their FL Bushing die set. Allows me to bump or not bump the shoulder, uses a redding bushing die, has a micrometer seater die. Only $265 for the set. Never looked back.
 
So if I go with the 3 die set for redding, can I replace that expanding ball with a mandrel like you are saying? If so, that would be a decent set of dies for my needs...
 
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