Neck sizing

I’m currently neck sizing some brass which iv never done before and when I chamber a sized piece of brass the the bolt is firm to close . It doesn’t need to be forced but it is firm. My guess is that this is normal as the brass has “fire formed” to my chamber and I’m simply sizing the neck no shoulder bump etc etc so the firmness I’m feeling is the rest of the case tight in the chamber?

Something I’m not familiar with as I usually set my F/L sizer in micro adjustments until the bolt closes with ease on the empty case (little bit of shoulder bump)

F/L dies are currently unavailable

Many thanks

Correct. Never bothered with trying neck sizing, I just FL size everything. But I hear neck sizing rimmed cartridge's like the 303 benifit case longevity?......

After a few cycles of neck sizing and firing you’ll need to FL size.Redding body dies might be a good option if you can’t get FL dies

Full lenght size one without touching the shoulder and see if it improves, if not, keep adjusting the FLS by little amounts until you get an improvement. In your situation I would always FLS as my default option, just don't over bump the shoulder. My Lapua s have done 25 reloads, just can't seem to kill them.

Thanking you . I remember I just about had to go this route with my 7blaser mag but I found F/L and seater in the final hour.

Iv got two mates with in a couple of hours drive of me who have F/L dies so they will get a F/L size next time this was very much to scratch a loading itch and try some different pills I have on hand. Thanks again

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Originally Posted by flock

Full lenght size one without touching the shoulder and see if it improves, if not, keep adjusting the FLS by little amounts until you get an improvement. In your situation I would always FLS as my default option, just don't over bump the shoulder. My Lapua s have done 25 reloads, just can't seem to kill them.

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As above in first post I don’t have nor is their a FL sizer available unfortunately

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flock

Full lenght size one without touching the shoulder and see if it improves, if not, keep adjusting the FLS by little amounts until you get an improvement. In your situation I would always FLS as my default option, just don't over bump the shoulder. My Lapua s have done 25 reloads, just can't seem to kill them.

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Also what you described is my usual process also noted in the first post :P.

What cal?

7Saum @7mm Rem Mag

Dont do it, best to FL size every time, youre going to have to bump the shoulder back at times anyway so you then end up with inconsistencies into your loads.

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Originally Posted by Kelton

As above in first post I don’t have nor is their a FL sizer available unfortunately

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You want to borrow one?

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Originally Posted by GWH

You want to borrow one?

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Cheers man maybe il hold fire on this. Thanks for the offer but I have a set available to borrow just getting over excited wanting to try some new combos I have 60 loaded rounds of my rifles main load so theirs absolutely no emergency here just the ever looming need to play/tutu

Greetings@Kelton,
After over four decades of neck sizing most of my handloads I have now moved to FL sizing for all of my full power loads. Light loads for my old soldiers are still neck sized. I am using the Redding competition shell holders to set the shoulder bump for most loads. I have run into one problem with this as both sets of FL dies for the 6.5x55, one of them new Redding dies, set the shoulder back too far. Using the +0.010 shell holder bumps the shoulder a little more than the accepted 0.002 in my T3. This leaves the cases slightly shorter than new Lapua brass and far too short for my M38 and a friends Ruger 77. I was a little grumpy about this as it appears that the US is using different chamber dimensions than Europe likely due to their usual arrogance and contempt for things not invented in the US.
Regards Grandpamac.