Re: Chamber neck sizing and brass neck sizing
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BBeyer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Armor, why do you think that a mans opinion that is trying to sell you something is any more accurate than yours or mine. I have shot B.R. for a few years and while some guys do f/l size, saying that most do is a bit of a stretch. I have 30x47 cases that have been shot over 25 times and have never had the shoulder bumped back, never been f/l sized, and never been annealed. They still chamber with NO resistance at all and shoot quite well. I am not saying that my way is the right way, but it is my way, and as far as I am concernsd proves [to me anyway] that the gentleman that is trying to sell you a certain die is not, at least in my case, right. I make my own dies out of a blank, or even a peice of barrel that I have cut off, and with the reamer that I chambered the barrel with. I think that is a very good way to get what I am looking for. Certainly not saying that is the way to go for everyone, and for reliable chambering as in a tac. rifle it may be advisable to f/l size, but the gentleman that wrote the article is not a hundred percent correct in all cases. </div></div>
What he says may sell a few tools but that doesn't mean he is wrong. Most of the 1000yd BR shooters I shot with from '97 to '99 FL sized. There is a catch when FL sizing and Mr Willis addresses the catch. If you can't properly set up a FL die then you could lose a lot of brass depending on your chamber dimensions. I have thrown away thousands of brass because they would no longer hold a primer but still quite reloadable and all resized FL. I have a couple hundred 223 Winchester brass that I have loaded 5 or 6 times so far for my XP pistol I use in competition. They have not grown, no neck splits, and the primer is getting really easy to seat. I was going to anneal them but figure I will start getting loose primers in another couple firings so I will probably shoot them in another match or two and put them in the scrap bucket. I doubt that a neck die would have any bearing on primer pocket growth. I have never had a round that failedto chamber in a gun I FL sized the brass but I have seen more than a few guys leave the line because the ammo they had neck sized wouldn't chamber. There are no fancy tools required to use a neck die that is true but if you know a few tricks about setting up a FL die you need no fancy tools either. I asked a good friend recently how long he had been using the hundred Lapua cases in competition for his 6BR pistol. He started counting back the years and come up with at least 15 firings, he doesn't own a neck die.
To each his own. I would venture a guess that my brass life is no worse than someone who strictly neck sizes. I tried neck sizing for 1000BR with great failure. Again I tried in IHMSA competition with some dies that came with the gun and met with failure to close the bolt on several rounds that cost me points. I currently have no neck dies and no problems. Many people load at the house and drive to the range. It is a sick feeling to get to the range and find out half your ammo will not chamber.
I would like to do a test comparing FL dies to neck dies and brass life but alas I have no neck dies. Maybe I can get someone to do the neck portion of that test. It would have to be apples to apples. I have about any kind of brass for a 223 and would be loading with stiff charge of Varget. Anyone.....anyone?
