Neck sizing question

[senior]

I don't know why you guys don't set your sizing die so it just touches the shoulder. Just touches the shoulder enough to keep it from gradually lengthening and that's it.
Just keep loading the cases until they wear out, without further die adjustment.

Thats almost what I do.
Only I back the FL die off a turn & load till it becomes tight to close the bolt at which time I turn the die down till cases are easy to chamber for a round of sizeing.

 

[Innovative]

Most shooters know that every chamber is different from others. It's important to know that every sizing die is also unique. They are both manufactured to specific dimensions . . . . . so why are they different?

They are different because products are made to certain dimensions within "acceptable" tolerances, and when you add this acceptable tolerance to that acceptable tolerance . . . . you have tolerance stacking.

When two chambers are cut to size with the same reamer, how can they be different?

The wear of the reamer and the "depth of cut" have a big effect. With this in mind, the accurate height setting of your sizing die is also a big consideration.

That's why the die instructions tell you to bump your shellholder into the die. The die manufacturers want to keep it simple, and they want your handloads to chamber in the smallest chamber of a given caliber.

However, what if your particular chamber is larger than the average, and your particular die is smaller than the average, and you adjust your die height according to the die manufacturers instructions? This is usually what happens.

This article explains the advantages of FL resizing, and it shows how to consistently make perfect fitting handloads.

Measure your handloads, and don't guess about chamber clearance

.

 

[senior]

While I agree with that article unless you basically never remove your die from the press, most of use could never get it adjusted back to exactely the same place ever time, as in to just touch the should of a fired case.
I also suspect his article is written to show the advantages of "(That's why I developed our Digital Headspace Gauge.)" ...perhaps so you would consider it an essential tool thus making him $$.

 

[Innovative]

Sometimes a new handloading technique is better ...

There are obviously not that many $ profit in the Digital Headspace Gauge. From the look of this thread, this tool will solve a whole lot of problems.

Most shooters are amazed to see how much chamber clearance (at the shoulder) that their handloads really do have. Some of them discover it after a few case head separations, and some get lucky and never notice the difference.

If you shoot a lot, and if your goal is accuracy and long case life, think about that article.

 

[fuzzynuts54]

Nothing wrong, whatsoever, with the way you are doing it.
You are more precise than I am. I never check the case length after every shot. As we've said on here before, some cartridge calibres grow with shooting much more than do others. I don't know what calibre you are using.
Also, how much the case stretches is dependant, to a great extent, on the individual rifle. Tight chamber, minimum headspace = minimum cartridge growth. Once you know how fast the cases are lengthening, you can adjust the trim rate, like to maybe trim after 3 or 4 or more, shots.
You probably also anneal more often than most reloaders do. But, what the heck, no harm done in doing it often.

Well Ill take that as a compliment, and you should too because I pay close attention to the advise you give. Much of what I've learnt has been from your posts and deciphering what's bs and what's not from other members.

For rifles I reload for 2 .300win mags, and rob arm xcr .223... The xcr cases grow .03"-.05" ish per firing, I do full length resize for it... Well I did, it's just not worth it to load fmj on a single stage so i've given it up until I get some optics on her, then I'll fine tune it.

the .300's don't grow much when only neck sized but what the heck, I'll never run into unequal lenth cases if I get mixed up regarding how many firings since trimming. Obviously the brass from the 2 rifles is carefully segregated.

 

[senior]

There are obviously not that many $ profit in the Digital Headspace Gauge. From the look of this thread, this tool will solve a whole lot of problems.

Most shooters are amazed to see how much chamber clearance (at the shoulder) that their handloads really do have. Some of them discover it after a few case head separations, and some get lucky and never notice the difference.

If you shoot a lot, and if your goal is accuracy and long case life, think about that article.

I don't believe that's true at all.
Maybe a newbie reloader yes but one tends to learn very quickly when reloading & most learn exactly what their doing very quickly & what kind of ammo they are ending up with.

 

[Innovative]

Just something "new" to consider ...

senior .......

Trust me .... there are a whole lot of experienced shooters out there that have never measured the chamber clearance (at the shoulder) that their handloads have in their particular chamber.

This isn't an absolute manditory step in reloading, but as far as I'm concerned it is very important. For one thing, this accurate method of measuring totally eliminates case head separations, and it increases case life. Shooters have a huge advantage when handloading, because no ammo factory knows the exact size of YOUR particular chamber.

As a handloader, you can easily make perfect fitting handloads IF you can compare one of your handloads (at the shoulder) to one of your fired cases. Setting die height accurately is easy when you have a readout that shows which way (and how far) to adjust your die height.

The days of reloading by smoking cases, using paperclips, scotch tape and magic markers are pretty much over for most shooters.

.

 

[senior]

Well I am one of those "experienced shooters" that has never measured the chamber clearance.

What I can tell is whether the bolt closure is dragging on the resized case or not

 

[H4831]

senior .......

Trust me .... there are a whole lot of experienced shooters out there that have never measured the chamber clearance (at the shoulder) that their handloads have in their particular chamber.

This isn't an absolute manditory step in reloading, but as far as I'm concerned it is very important. For one thing, this accurate method of measuring totally eliminates case head separations, and it increases case life. Shooters have a huge advantage when handloading, because no ammo factory knows the exact size of YOUR particular chamber.

As a handloader, you can easily make perfect fitting handloads IF you can compare one of your handloads (at the shoulder) to one of your fired cases. Setting die height accurately is easy when you have a readout that shows which way (and how far) to adjust your die height.

The days of reloading by smoking cases, using paperclips, scotch tape and magic markers are pretty much over for most shooters.

.

Obviously, your posts are geared to selling that gimmick.
I will guess that most of us are not buying it.

 

[Innovative]

Jeez . . . . just because you guys see something new on the market doesn't mean somebody is trying to screw you. Believe it or not, creating and preserving jobs is actually a very good thing.

So far, over 1,300 shooters are now using the Digital Headspace Gauge, and almost 4,000 shooters are using our collet die.

What I can't understand is if you guys hired a carpenter, you would surely expect him to measure his work. Well, isn't it even more important to measure your own handloads?

The way I look at it is tolerances really do matter, and understanding this makes it clear whether to NK or FL resize.

However, if you don't want to measure the clearance in your chamber . . . . well . . . . just don't bother.

Good luck.