If you only have a Redding competition set, then the only die in the set you DON’t have to use to make a functioning round is the body die. The body die does not size the neck, so if you dont use the neck sizer on a fired case, your bullets will probably just fall straight into the case. If your question was aimed at finding the correct order in which to use your dies- ie, body first, then neck, or neck/decap first then body, then it seems it is up to you. I cannot find anything from Redding that speaks to it. I do neck sizing after body (when I use the body die). My reasoning on this has been as follow- I typically neck size only for about 2 to 3 firings of the brass. When I do need to size the body, I will do the body sizing first before doing anything else to the brass because the sizing of the body can affect the case dimensions. After sizing the body, I will trim the cases and only then will I neck size.
After the Redding body die I use a Lee collet die to size the necks. Runout is pretty much zero. Twice the work of going it in one step tho.
My experiences have been that bushings gives more runout on case necks than I will accept and now use a Lee Collet die. Average of 10 case necks about 0.0007” with the LCD.
Well I have played with different ways ! Redding Body Die , then my old Pal RCBS SB with a Hornady Floater Ball Stem and Redding FL Bushing Die ! I was, in my Head adding life to Winchester .308 brass that had 6-7 firings in a Palma Rifle. I then used the brass for a F/TR Rifle . I can't say it did or didn't help ? But the cases did stay in one piece ?
Hi dude , Hope things are going well . I tried the Redding S Type bushing dies , the full-size die I would size the neck down in two steps if necks expanded a certain amount . When sizing any case I used the Redding Competition Shellholders to keep my sizing down to a minimum . My runout using the bushing dies was poor . I switched back to the Standard RCBS die , nothing fancy. My neck tension with the standard die is 2 -3 thousands depending on the brass thickness . The regular full length sizing die was much better for me all around .
A neck sizing die does not hold and fully support the cases body and it my experience neck sizing produces the most case neck runout. And this depends on how snugly the case body is held in a neck sizing die. Meaning if the case body can move inside the die the runout increases. Next in the amount of neck runout is a full length bushing die, because the bushing floats, can move from side to side and even tilt when sizing. And any standard non-bushing full length die with the expander removed will produce the most concentric cases. And if the expander is well centered and your case neck thickness is fairly uniform the expander should not pull your case necks off center. The alternative is to use a expander die to expand the necks on the upstroke of the ram. And the main reason so many reloaders use a body die and the Lee collet die is because this combination produces less neck runout than a bushing die and works the neck less than other type dies. Meaning you only compress the neck to the desired inside diameter and the neck thickness variations remain on the outside of the case neck. Bottom line bushing dies work best with tight neck chambers and neck turned brass. Meaning bushing dies may not work as well and produce less runout than the Lee collet die or standard full length die in factory chambers.
Guess I’m lucky! Been using Redding neck bushings and produce cases having very minimal neck runout. Even if my runout measuring setup is inaccurate, the chamber doesn’t lie and the neck section is only approximately .0035” larger in diameter than a loaded round... never had a problem with chambering. Likely I’m just not a good enough shooter to observe an issue on a target...
If fl sizing caused runout issues then virtually every competition shooter out there would be neck sizing. They are the ones that test
The Redding bushing die FAQ tells you if reducing the case neck diameter .004 or more it can induce neck runout. And the same FAQ tells you if reducing the neck diameter .004 or more to reduce the neck diameter in two steps. Bottom line, your case necks only expand .0035 so you are not overly reducing the neck diameter and not inducing neck runout. And if you have a factory chamber that lets the necks expand .008 and do not turn your necks you will induce runout with a bushing die. And at the Whidden website they tell you they get more concentric cases with non-bushing full length dies. Below is a cutaway image of a Redding bushing die, and you can see how much side clearance the bushing has in the die. This clearance will let the bushing move from side to side and even tilt when reducing the neck diameter. So again bushing dies work best with tight neck chambers and neck turned brass. So again why do so many reloaders use the Lee collet die vs a bushing die, because they get less neck runout with the Lee collet die. And I prefer using Forster full length bench rest dies with their high mounted floating expanders. Below a Redding full length .243 die retro fitted with a Forster expander and spindle assembly. And this produces far less runout than the Redding expander.
I use custom body dies for shoulder bumping. Then Wilson bushing neck sizing. Then mandrel neck expansion. Then Wilson bullet seating. My TIR off exposed bullet bearing is as low as anybody here can achieve. So there is no problem (for me) with any single link in this chain.
