Need help picking out dies for 6.5 Creedmoor

[Venomgland]

It goes in the sizer die. Traditional dies have the neck honed out to a certain diameter and thats it. Your hornady match die has the neck sizing area of the die body removed entirely so that you can select a bushing with the diameter of your choosing to go in its place. Traditional full length dies can size the neck down way more than necessary as a means to ensure that it works for every possible combination there is, the bushing allows you to customize that aspect and eliminate that overworking of your brass.

The bushing is shown installed in the die here, shaded yellow with the arrow pointing to it.
View attachment 7045120

Ok that's pretty cool! Thanks. Probably best to pick up a few sizes and play around with them.

 

[Venomgland]

SO on Midway they go from 0.242-0.363 at $20 a piece. Is there a range for 6.5 creedmore?

 

[spife7980]

If you have a loaded round you can just throw your calipers on the outside of the neck and see what it measures and choose from there.

If not, then a 6.5 uses a bullet that measures .264. Add to that the thickness of your brass (double the thickness because its on both sides of the bullet) and you arrive at the loaded round diameter.
So let say the brass is .012 thick
.264+ .012+.012=.288
If its .014 thick then
.264+.014+.014=.292

Typically people want the sized brass neck to measure .002 less than the loaded round, ie .002" of interference fit between the sized case and the loaded round.

If you chose a bushing that was only .002 smaller than you would get the right external size but that would push all of the thickness discrepancies towards the inside of the neck. To combat that they have the expander ball in the die that will open the brass up tot he proper .002" based on the inside. Because that expander ball needs brass small enough to do anything to it we need to choose a bushing that is slightly smaller than the .002 so we go with .003-.004 smaller.

If you want to remove the expander ball and go with just a bushing sizing it down on the outside go with the simple .002 smaller option. Just be aware that this can cause issues with the thickness discrepancies on the inside of the case neck.

I recommend measuring a load with the brass you intend to use and subtract .004 from that to select your bushing size. So that would be a bushing anywhere from .288 to .284 depending on how thick your brass is.

 

[Venomgland]

If you have a loaded round you can just throw your calipers on the outside of the neck and see what it measures and choose from there.

If not, then a 6.5 uses a bullet that measures .264. Add to that the thickness of your brass (double the thickness because its on both sides of the bullet) and you arrive at the loaded round diameter.
So let say the brass is .012 thick
.264+ .012+.012=.288
If its .014 thick then
.264+.014+.014=.292

Typically people want the sized brass neck to measure .002 less than the loaded round, ie .002" of interference fit between the sized case and the loaded round.

If you chose a bushing that was only .002 smaller than you would get the right external size but that would push all of the thickness discrepancies towards the inside of the neck. To combat that they have the expander ball in the die that will open the brass up tot he proper .002" based on the inside. Because that expander ball needs brass small enough to do anything to it we need to choose a bushing that is slightly smaller than the .002 so we go with .003-.004 smaller.

If you want to remove the expander ball and go with just a bushing sizing it down on the outside go with the simple .002 smaller option. Just be aware that this can cause issues with the thickness discrepancies on the inside of the case neck.

I recommend measuring a load with the brass you intend to use and subtract .004 from that to select your bushing size. So that would be a bushing anywhere from .288 to .284 depending on how thick your brass is.

Ok that makes me feel a lot better. Thank you!

 

[Brazo]

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