De-Capping and neck expanding

[truck driver]

This may sound dumb but for all the years I never thought about this till today and have never tried it but is it possible to resize brass and not expand the neck for bullet seating or is this a necessary step?

 

[desertcj]

Body die....

 

[truck driver]

Body die....

Explain please?

 

[desertcj]

A body die doesn't touch the neck at all. A universal decaping die doesn't touch the brass at all. Do you have fitted necks? Why would you not want to resize the neck at all?

 

[truck driver]

I Broke the de-capping rod in my sizing die and was wonder if i can still use it till the new stem or die arrives. I plan on sizing the neck but was wondering if it was necessary to expand the neck for seating bullets.

 

[desertcj]

No, I don't think you can use it. That type of die actually squeezes the neck in farther than it should be and then expands it to where it to the correct size on the down stroke.

 

[joelkdouglas]

You can use the die to size the cases, but as desertcj says, the neck will be very undersized. If you seated a bullet (probably only a boat tail, I don't think a flat based bullet would even fit) you would have more neck tension than normal.

 

[truck driver]

Thanks, I measured a case mouth and there is a big difference in inside diameter.

 

[jimbires]

take the needed pieces from another die . don't use the bullet to expand the neck .

 

[kraky]

I've heard of people doing it but a very nice chamfering job will help and hopefully the necks aren't overhardened from multiple firings. Do you have another die of the same caliber sitting around? Ie I could expand the necks on my 3030,308,3006,300 win mag, 300wby.....any of them by using my 30378 die...just plunge the others over the expander.

 

[truck driver]

Thanks for the advise and info guy's, Since it is the only die I have in that cal. I will buy a new stem or die which ever I can find.

 

[wildgene]

Thanks for the advise and info guy's, Since it is the only die I have in that cal. I will buy a new stem or die which ever I can find.

...what brand of die? If it's a RCBS, a stem shouldn't be a problem. If you can't find one call RCBS, they'll send you one. Most other companies are equally accommodating...

...since you can't use the case w/ a sizer stuck inside of it, I would cut it, reclaim the sizer & see if you existing stem is long enough to use after you remove the broken end from the sizer. It only needs to be long enough to allow the de-capping pin to push out the primer, most of the stems on my dies have plenty of extra length, just thread the sizer back onto the stem...

 

[truck driver]

Thanks for the advise and info guy's, Since it is the only die I have in that cal. I will buy a new stem or die which ever I can find.

...what brand of die? If it's a RCBS, a stem shouldn't be a problem. If you can't find one call RCBS, they'll send you one. Most other companies are equally accommodating...

...since you can't use the case w/ a sizer stuck inside of it, I would cut it, reclaim the sizer & see if you existing stem is long enough to use after you remove the broken end from the sizer. It only needs to be long enough to allow the de-capping pin to push out the primer, most of the stems on my dies have plenty of extra length, just thread the sizer back onto the stem...

Thanks for the info Gene, they are Redding dies and the stem can't be salvaged though I did salvage the die body and only need a new stem and button.

 

[DrMike]

If you cut the case, you should be able to recover the button. As has been mentioned, Redding will likely send you the stem gratis after you contact them.

 

[truck driver]

I'm going to need the whole assembly. Button also got messed up and the threads are shot.

 

[Darkhorse]

I no longer resize, deprime and expand the case neck with the same die. This is just part of my quest for concentricity.
I use a punch to deprime. Why? Because I had one laying around at the time. I just bridge the case head across vise jaws and knock out the primer.
I remove the entire stem from the resizing die. Then true the die and resize all the cases I need to.
I have a stem in another die and just screw that die in but leave it loose so it floats and centers itself to the case mouth. Then expand all the case necks. Many handloaders don't realize how far from CL you can move the case mouth and neck with a off center expander that's locked to the size die.
For me it's not any trouble at all to add a step or 2. And my group size has definitely shrunk, which is what I was after in the first place.

This is just for rifles. My handgun dies are all set up original.

 

[Guy Miner]

This is one of the advantages of bushing type neck-sizing dies. There is no expander, so the brass is worked less, and in theory, the case & neck should be very straight, coming out of the inline/benchrest dies made by Wilson. Also the amount of neck sizing can be adjusted, by using different neck bushings, to reach the perfect combo for your brass, bullets & chamber.

Guy

 

[truck driver]

This is one of the advantages of bushing type neck-sizing dies. There is no expander, so the brass is worked less, and in theory, the case & neck should be very straight, coming out of the inline/benchrest dies made by Wilson. Also the amount of neck sizing can be adjusted, by using different neck bushings, to reach the perfect combo for your brass, bullets & chamber.

Guy

Guy, does any one make bushing dies for a press that uses 7/8" dies?

I also ordered my new de-capping stem from Redding and they are sending it free of charge.

 

[wvchevy3]

Rodger ,glad to hear it. Redding and RCBS have always provided great customer service.Lee

 

[jimbires]

This is one of the advantages of bushing type neck-sizing dies. There is no expander, so the brass is worked less, and in theory, the case & neck should be very straight, coming out of the inline/benchrest dies made by Wilson. Also the amount of neck sizing can be adjusted, by using different neck bushings, to reach the perfect combo for your brass, bullets & chamber.

Guy

Guy, does any one make bushing dies for a press that uses 7/8" dies?

I also ordered my new de-capping stem from Redding and they are sending it free of charge.

yes , I use redding for a couple of my rifles . these are the standard 7/8 die size .I feel the best way to use a bushing die is with brass that has the necks turned . otherwise the thicker necks will have a smaller Inner Diameter hole .thinner necks will have a larger ID hole .larger and smaller neck ID's will change the neck tension on the bullet. also if the neck is thicker in one spot that imperfection will be pushed to the inside of the neck . without using an expander the imperfection will stay inside the neck until the bullet rounds out the neck , and the imperfection could dig into the bullet while seating .