Full lenth sizing a must for pumps, levers and semis

John Y Cannuck

John Y Cannuck

RichPoorMan<br>Super Moderator
Moderating Team
Rating - 100%
15   0   0
Location
The Conservative part of Ontario
Where the hell did that load of horse crap come from?
Sure, some of those action types are sensitive to cases that are a tad tight, but to blindly say "all" is horse ####.
My 30-30 rifles rarely get full length resized, nor does the 44-40, or the 45-70.
My Brother's Browning bar in 270 Win handles neck sized rounds quite well too.

It could be said, I suppose, that if you want absolute functioning, with no chance of error, you must full length resize every time. But then, a bolt gun guy going on a big game hunt is likely to full length for the same reason, so why single out the fast actions?
 
There are those who maintain that a small base die is mandatory for pumps and semis.

Some designs, like the SKS, M-1 and M-14, must have rounds chamber freely for safety reasons involving slamfires.

But it doesn't take much experimentation to determine what is necessary for a given rifle/cartridge combination.
 
The original nut cracker loading tools for lever actions that were sold with the rifles in the late 1800's did not full length re-size the brass nor do the Lyman tong tools.

I have shot a lot of .30-30 ammo loaded on a tong tool with no problem but I suppose that you could run into trouble if you used the brass from one rifle and neck sized it to use in another.
 
That's why they sold the plain press the case in, drive it out fl size dies. If did expand excessively, they could be sized.
In my personal experience, I have never found a SB die necessary. Then again, I don't and won't own a BLR.;)
 
I just neck size my 35 Rem marlin lever and only FL size when needed occasionally. Have loaded for about six different semis and used regular dies - no issues. Same for my three pumps - just I make sure to fully FL size. Never had any need for small base dies yet.
 
There is good reason to believe that if a case came out of a chamber, it should go back in. I full size most hunting brass, as I want it to go back in for sure no matter what I am looking at. But I have a 243 in a 99 savage, and a set of lee neck sizing dies. it works just fine, and it gets re sized every time I fire it.
 
Where the hell did that load of horse crap come from?

I read it in reloading manuals that all the expert reloaders preach that we must read.

I do find that the SB dies from RCBS work a hey of alot better in my 30-06 Remington 742. I will say that all the brass I use wasn't shot out of the same gun.
 
Reloading (and guns in general) is an activity that is very long on "wise oldtimers" spouting opinions and very short on any real understanding or substantiated findings. As such it is chock full of BS that has been handed down from age to age for so long that no one even knows where it came from, let alone whether it has any basis in fact. I basically don't believe anything I hear or read about the subject unless the author presents some kind of data to back it up.
 
I've shot quite a bit of partial full length sized brass out of my 30/30 over the last year with no problems. I size them a bit more initially, then only about a caliber length on the neck and they work fine. When you need to give them a little extra to close the lever, it's time for me to size a touch more next loading. But I'm a newb, what do I know.;)
 
The truth is, like most reloading truths, that it depends on the individual gun. It is a fact that those actions have less "power" for chambering and extracting cases, and that one can have problems if the cases are large for their tolerances, and the chambers are small for their tolerances.

But the only way to know is to resize and see what happens. It will depend on the gun itself and the reloading practices of the shooter.
 
tiriaq said:
There are those who maintain that a small base die is mandatory for pumps and semis.

Some designs, like the SKS, M-1 and M-14, must have rounds chamber freely for safety reasons involving slamfires.

But it doesn't take much experimentation to determine what is necessary for a given rifle/cartridge combination.
Click to expand...

All of my fire formed brass out of my M14-S is only Lee Collet neck sized from that point on. Zero issues plus good accuracy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom