partial resizing with FL dies ???

chola

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I've heard that if you do not wish to full length resize,you can set your dies up so that the bottom of the die just touches a nickel placed on the shellholder...this will only partially resize the brass(essentially neck size)...any truth,or am I way off track...I am referring to 1x fired brass from my rifle........thanks
 
That's one way of doing it, but you can also "smoke" the neck and shoulder of the case, then adjust the die down bit by bit so it just touches the top angle on the shoulder.
 
I think your better to take the time to smoke. It only takes about two more minutes, when your done you know you got max neck contact without touching the shoulder..With a nickle, is it an old thick one,a new thinner one..I think a lot of these ol rules of thumb can go to file 13
 
I colouer the neck and shoulder with a jiffy marker then gradually turn the die down, testing to see if the case will chamber in my rifle. Once I have about 2/3 of the neck sized, and the case chambers easily, I'm done.
 
Partial sizing does not work however for all rifles.

If you have a rifle chamber with a generous diameter, even though the headspace might be fine, partial sizing can push the shoulder far enough forward that the case may not chamber.
 
this is on an older Ruger with a long throat FWIW....don't know if thta has any bearing on things or not......the nickel is an old one,1975.....I tried both methods,and they are so darn close to one another,that I think I'll load a few and see how she shoots...

The reason I asked the question is that I have a set of new dies coming(3 piece) and was also under the impression thay "neck"sizing only is easier on the brass and may possibly give a bit more accuracy......still a relaoder rookie here....

Thanks a million so far fellas :D
 
If you have a bolt action and the cases have already been fired in that rifle you really don't need a neck sizer die.

Here is a method that will work.

Set the sizer die up for full length sizing.

Noting that the industry standard for dies is the 7/8" x 14 tpi, one full turn is 1/14" or 0.0714".

If for example you have a 30-06 with a nominal neck length of 0.383" and you only wanted to size about a third of it, say 0.130", you would then turn the die out 0.253" (or about 3 1/2 turns) to achieve this with your regular size die.

You will have no trouble seeing the die mark on the brass and in this senario it is highly unlikely that the body would be touched or the shouder set back.

Will sizing 1/3 of the neck be enough?

Likely!
 
I have used FL sizing dies to do a partial neck sizing with many calibers but have recently become aware that many of the newer minimum body taper cases out there like the WSM series of calibers cannot be partially sized with a FL sizer and be chambered without alot of bolt handle pressure. The min. taper cases will have too much contact at the shoulder/neck junction and push the shoulder forward thereby increasing case length and requiring tremendous pressure to close the bolt or not allow the bolt to close at all, this happened to me. I have since bought a neck sizing die that solved this problem. On other calibers this has not been a problem. A proper/complete neck sizing cannot be done with a FL sizer, use the proper die, especially if the brass was not previously fired in the same rifle it will greatly complicate things.
bigbull
 
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