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6.5CM Necksizing Problems


PhilM

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So for years with my .308, I'd necksize using my Lee Collet die and then FL size around every 5 goes. No dramas.

When I moved to 6.5CM I remember Colin at my local gunshop saying I may experience problems with the Lee Collet die in 6.5CM, with the neck springing back, thinking not a lot more of it, I bought his recommended Hornady neck sizing die (#046043) and stuck it at the back of the reloading drawer, just incase.

Anyway....it happened! So after four very sucessful sizings with my Lee Collect 6.5CM die, I was shocked to discover that when I came to seat bullets, the neck tension varied from "almost normal" to "almost nothing". I tried to understand why, maybe the cases 'sprang back', maybe they needed annealing etc, and never fully came to a conclusion as to what happened.

That left me with a problem of a batch of 4x fired, prepped & primed cases.  So I decided to take my Hornady neck sizing die, removed the decapping pin and set about carefully neck sizing my primed cases (this was favoured over depriming them for safety reasons!). I am a little worried the expander mandrel uses the decapping pin to centre itself in the case, and that maybe resizing sans decapping pin I may have introduced some concentricty issues to the neck, but the mandrel looks sturdy and the decapping pin kind of floats anyway?

 

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm keen not to have this happen again. Has anyone seen it before with 6.5CM where the necks dont seem to be sized correctly after using the LCD a few times? (although its been fine til now...the collets are not jammed).  Do I need annealing? Or FL sizing sooner?

Was my remedy solution 'acceptable' or would it have been better to decap and FL size the cases?

Any advice appreciated!

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Full length size every time

 

neck sizing is very “yesterday”

 

 

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Really?

I only use Lapua brass so maybe previous concerns of it shortening case life are not valid? I did subscribe to the theory of only working the bits of the brass that needed it, so less work hardening etc, and it fits your chamber well, but appreciate there is of course going to potentially be more variability each time.

I also have a Raptor Calls annnealer I have yet to set up, although reading the forums it seems gas annealers are very yesterday too 😥. I am guessing if FL sizing every time annealing is more important? Any advice for frequency on that? Ive seen from 'every time' to 'every 5 times' etc.

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I only ever necksize until the cases get a bit stiff to chamber, usually after 3 or 4 firings. Then I run them through a body die and neck die. Flame anneal after 5 or 6 firings.

I'm not a good enough shot to be able to  claim there's any difference in group size owing to the small differences in case volume.

Pete

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Full length size after every firing 

I also anneal after every firing 

Brass is very consistent in neck tension and lasts 

Full length sizing with 2-3 thou bump on shoulder 

 

I moved away from neck sizing years ago when I started getting issues with extreme spread in some Shehane brass and realised by F/L sizing those issues disappeared 

 

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Thanks for the suggestions.

The idea of using  body die and then the Lee Collet one to size the neck is sound in principal, however does not address my problem that I am encountering that the Lee Collet neck sizing die isn't sizing my necks properly after a few firings - and I don't know why!

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Yes, worked fine when they were only 1-3 times loaded, 4x fired on this lot and whilst the die seems to work just fine, the brass jsut didnt have the neck tension. As I say, its been mentioned to me before by someone this may happen with the 6.5CM brass, but I've no idea why?

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Anneal the brass after each shooting if you want consistency in neck tension...it takes seconds with a half decent set up and prolongs brass life to boot.  Check out lupos annealing machines (advertises on UKV).

FL sizing though is what I default to every time.  I'm still on the same brass batch and am up to 6 reloads without yet needing to trim the brass let alone change it!  Use SRP for slightly longer case life.  O/W you really need to anneal the necks.

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