Redding Die Question W/ Neck sizing

[Tactical30]

Before I start I want to say I am new to reloading and have been only been doing it for about 4 months and just now realized a OAL gauge and Comparator are your best friends.

I had had a problem (previous post) with my Forester Dies scrapping the hell out of the inside of my necks. I heard you could lube every inside neck but when your loads a ton of rounds its a pain in the ass. So I went ahead and polished my Expander balls with really fine sandpaper. It seemed to help alot, its not "tearing" the shit out of it.

I reload mainly so far for .223 (AR-15),
6.5mm Grendel (AR platform). After I had polished the expander balls I had measured the neck dia. on factory loaded rds and
reloads before and after ball polishing.
<span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">Here is what I got for measurements:</span></span>

6.5 Grendel ammunition:
<span style="text-decoration: underline">Factory 123gr. Lapua Scenar</span>- .290"-.291"
<span style="text-decoration: underline">Reloaded 123gr. Lapua Scenar </span>(<span style="font-weight: bold">before polish</span>)- .290"-.291"
<span style="text-decoration: underline">Reloaded 123gr. Lapua Scenar </span>(<span style="font-weight: bold">after polish</span>)- .290"

.223 AR-15
<span style="text-decoration: underline">All factory rounds measured</span>- .246"-.247"
<span style="text-decoration: underline">Reloads</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold">before polish</span>)- .246"-.247"
<span style="text-decoration: underline">Reloads</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">(after polish</span>)- .246"-.247"

I see there is no difference of the polishing. Im thinking if there is if any harder neck tension it is minor.

So in any case, I am thinking about getting a new Sizing/Decapping die for the 6.5 and .223.
I was looking at the Redding S FL sizing die.
I see you need bushings tho (remember I am new to all this)
So the bushings I should get should be around .001",.002",.003"
less.
So with the measurements I have taken (i.e..291") I should get the .288",.289" bushings. Correct?
Or do you take the .001", 002",.003" of the actual bullet dia.
which would be for the 6.5mm Grendel (.264).
.262",.263"?

<span style="font-weight: bold">Which one? Neck or bullet diamter?</span>

 

[Supersubes]

Re: Redding Die Question W/ Neck sizing

Subtract from the loaded round neck diameter. So your .288 and .289 are correct. You may actually want to go more since they are running in an auto loader. It is possible to knock the bullets back upon feeding into the chamber. Easy to test with dummie rounds.

Also, i use a polishing compound when working the expander ball. The surface is already fairly smooth, a little polish and a spin in the drill and they will be mirror shiny in seconds.