Low neck tension/inconsistent resize

[OREGUN]

My BIL asked me why some of his 7 RemMag reloads had such light neck tension that he could press the bullets into the case with thumb pressure. It’s once fired brass, a standard RCBS die with expander ball, about 1/3 of the loaded cases do it and this is a new thing.

He‘s reloading for hunting. Maybe a hundred rounds a year max. He’s used this die setup for years (pretty sure the die has lived in The press on the bench for 20+ years.). I asked him about cleanliness, provenance and history of the brass, we talked about hardening and spring back, etc.

I still didn’t have a good answer about why some brass was not being sized enough or was being expanded too much. He’s isn’t interested in switching to bushing dies or expanding with a mandrel in a separate step. We talked about getting a new die, a new expander ball/decapping pin, or polishing a thou or two off the existing one. Any other thoughts from you guys?

 

[918v]

He did not size the neck completely, maybe ran the case in part way due to a misadjusted die.

 

[FatBoy]

The brass is too new to have stretched the necks to be too thin so the first two things that pop into my head are 1) the brass started with a very thin necks or 2) the die is out of spec.

A single firing should not have the brass work hardened. Either way, there is no fixing this unless he wants to start crimping, and if he has to buy a new die anyway I’d move him towards a bushing die before I went that route. He could try annealing a couple with a torch ( I know, but it’ll work for this) and try resizing after they are annealed but I suspect it’s not going to make any noticeable difference.

 

[918v]

Tell him to disassemble the rounds, take out the expander, size the cases, and measure the neck diameter. Then reinstall the expander and expand the necks and measure the diameter again.

 

[OREGUN]

In some more conversation, it sounds like he was using brass that had been purchased used, as “once-fired” and some other stuff that had been fired by him…or his dad…out of two different guns. So at least three chambers, unknown brands, unknown cycles. That’s about the extent of his reloading expertise. He knows enough to size his brass until it chambers easily in his gun, which he recognizes has the smaller chamber. My guess is he has some brass that is significantly different in dimension and hardening. He’s going to make some measurements and try a few things. He literally said he would go buy factory ammo before he would anneal or expand with a mandrel. He’s a half a box a year shooter and only reloads because his dad has a 90 year lifetime collection of reloading supplies. He’s smart but it’s not his hobby.

 

[FatBoy]

Maybe gift him 50 or 100 new cases. Would make his life easier for sure.

 

[JoshPutman]

Buy all his reloading stuff and he will have the money to buy factory ammo for a long time if he's not that interested in reloading.

Win/win.

 

[Emerson0311]

Random used brass and other brass several times fired by him and his dad in different guns? Expecting that to produce consistent neck tension is the same as expecting a Friday night lady friend to raise your kids right. Some things are meant to be kept separate.

 

[FredHammer]

He literally said he would go buy factory ammo before he would anneal or expand with a mandrel. He’s a half a box a year shooter and only reloads because his dad has a 90 year lifetime collection of reloading supplies. He’s smart but it’s not his hobby.

Hard trying to help a guy that won't help himself when he has the ability to do so. Tell him to start buying factory. 10rnd a year shooter? Why even fuss?

 

[OREGUN]

Not everybody cares to make a hobby out of it. His dad has an entire outbuilding on their property devoted to reloading but it ceased to be a hobby so long ago that my brother-in-law can’t recall anyone ever taking the die out of the press. He goes out and makes 20 rounds before elk season using whatever supplies he can find in the shop. Between his brother and their dad they shoot three or four elk a year. At the rate he’s using up his dad’s old supplies, it’s basically free. He just had some weird results this year, and I couldn’t readily explain what was going on until he told me the rest of the story about the brass. He doesn’t care about consistent neck tension, beyond retaining the bullet, or really anything else other than having the round chamber in both guns and kill elk at ranges between three and 500 yards. His process doesn’t seem to have any problem making that happen so who am I to change it or tell him he needs to add tools or complications. But he is going to sort out The “unknown” brass from stuff he knows the history of and see if that isolates the problem.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

May as well just discard the stuff with loose necks and keep on keeping on. Random strangers on the Internet could guess all day but it doesn't sound like it matters.

 

[OREGUN]

May as well just discard the stuff with loose necks and keep on keeping on. Random strangers on the Internet could guess all day but it doesn't sound like it matters.

That was his plan when he asked me what I thought had changed.