Forster honed FL vs Redding bushing die

[bbowles]

I convinced myself from comparing these different FL sizing dies that the Forster honed with expander ball was better. I determined this from many comparisons with oehler 35 chronograph. Both ways still got me in single digit SDs. Both shot between 1/4 to 1/4 moa. But the forster seemed to b lower SDs almost all the time. I always figured it was because if the ID of the neck the same with the expander ball used the bullet tension would be more consistent. With the bushing die the OD of neck same but with possibility of slight neck thickness variations the bullet tension would HAVE to be different. By the way I don't neck turn.

I have used the honed ​​​​​​die for years now but recently found the OD of necks had many small scratches for full length of neck going in plane of length of case from sizing. Called forster and they said is buildup of brass from burrs on new cases usually. I sent it to them with a sized case with evenly distributed scratches all way around neck and one unsized. They promptly sent back and got back the two cases. The unsized one they sized with my freshly cleaned die and no scratches. Started sizing and scratches started immediately appearing again. So got me thinking about going back to bushing for less headache.

By the way ​​​​I use Imperial wax for body and Imperial dry graphite for necks. Nothing has changed from my normal loading process which produced great loads for years.

So my questions are: 1) any ideas why die still scratching? 2) my theory on bushing vs honed with expander ball hold any validity?

Thanks in advance for any guidance and sorry for long post.

 

[yej0001]

Does it scratch deeply or just make some surface marks? Did it affect accuracy and/or case life?

 

[bbowles]

I can catch my finger nail on them easily. The few I have shot seems to b fine shooting. It is not a good thing though.

 

[maggitas]

I have never tried a forster honed die. I do, however, have a Redding die with bushings. I have been able to reduce my run out significantly by adjusting the amount of floating the bushing does in the die. The manual states give it a 1/4 turn. In my die a half turn yields better run out. I have no doubt a honed die will yield better results, but it only works with one type of brass. As for the scratching the only thing I can figure is you have some grit on your cases. Try cleaning the die thoroughly and clean the neck area of your cases with mineral spirits or xylene before lubing and sizing.

 

[padom]

Yea...I have 5 honed Forster dies and not one scratches my brass...a few have sized 10's of thousands of cases without doing anymore more than wiping out the inside every once in a while.

 

[bbowles]

Padom, I too have loaded with awesome results for about 3000 rounds with zero trouble til now. Forster cleaned and still problems. Funny thing is they sent me one they sized and was perfect. First one I did has some minor scratching but just in patches. But as I have sized about 10 worse and symmetrical around neck again. Weird.
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[Ledzep]

I have had the brass build up in bushings before. Not sure exactly what the cause is, but once it starts it just gets worse until you THOROUGHLY clean the bushing. After cleaning I run every 5-10 cases or so with imperial wax on the neck also, for the first 50 or so.

I do agree with your idea on the bushing only vs. an expander ball. ID is the critical dimension. No reason you can't run an expander with a bushing.

 

[afv338]

i had the same thing happen with a forster full length 260 die before i caught it ruined about 5 new lapua pices of brass, i had not used them for a long time and the only brass i sized was remington for a hunting gun the lapua had deep scratches in the neck. i took one of those yellow polishing cloths and a 6.5 bore brush and chucked it in a drill polished it with that and was good to go. checked them with a contricity gauge and all was good.

 

[bbowles]

I don't know how to clean it anymore than it is. Forster told me I couldn't do it as good as they when that bad so Sent to them.

Is the pieces ​​​​​that have scratches on OD ruined? They shot well.

 

[Ledzep]

I keep using them. After a few cycles they smooth out a bit, and I've never noticed them to be explicitly horrible. I might avoid those cases for hunting or a KYL rack out of superstition, though.