6.5x47L Bushing Recommendation - .294 no turn reamer.

[Dimner]

Hi gang,

I'm putting together a 6.5x47L rifle for casual/fun shooting. It is not a match rig. I will be using the PTG .294 no turn neck reamer as that's what the gunsmith has on hand. I do not have any components as of yet, so I cannot measure my loaded dummy round to find out what the loaded neck diameter is.

So with that constraint, what 3 bushings should I order when picking up my dies and components for this build? I will be using peterson brass which is known (via archive searching) to have near a pretty consistent 0.0125 neck thickness. I'd like to end up with three bushings that give me some light neck tension trending towards heavier neck tension.

Should I go with
.287, .288, 289
or
.288, .289, .290
or something else?

Thanks my friends.

 

[Clous]

I had my Forester opened up to .2865 and it works well with Peterson brass.

 

[Sandstorm]

Youl likely be close to a .290 loaded round...this is approximation.
I shoot Lapua brass...and my necks are .289 and Peterson from history is a little thicker if I remember correctly.
Edit .289 loaded round to .290

 

[Clous]

My loaded rounds are .288

 

[PopCharlie]

I use a .286 bushing. Then a .262 mandrel. Loaded rounds are .290. I use primarily Lapua brass. I do have some Peterson brass that I use, but its all the same.

PopCharlie

 

[hpshooter]

I use a .289 bushing in mine with Lapua unturned brass and 123 grain Scenars which gives me .0015-.002 interference fit.

Has worked well for 1670 rounds.

 

[10XSHOOTER]

Wait until you get your brass and then pick your bushings. You're only guessing now.
Don't get in a hurry.

 

[mikecr]

.288, .289, .290

Yep

 

[nakneker]

If you’re not using a mandrel to set your final neck tension then I’d go with .288, .289 and ..290, if you are using a mandrel I’d go with a .286 like PopCharlie mentioned. I’ve gone to Mandrels for my neck tension on long range ammo, I’ve been getting some good results. For my 6.5x47 a .261 mandrel has been the ticket.

 

[Dimner]

I probably have read this answer at some point on this forum, but the answer is escaping me today.

What is the benefit of sizing to .286 and then expanding with a mandrel?

I do use mandrels on other cartridges where I'm using non-bushing type full length sizing dies, but at initial glance it seems like the better way to use a bushing die is to just size the brass with the bushing that gives you the fit you want... without adding an extra step. No judgement. Just wondering.

If it matters, I'll be using a Wilson full size busing die as well as annealing each time I reuse the brass.

 

[Sandstorm]

Your always going to get spring back..so you go smaller and then open it up a bit.
It works better that way for consistent tension.

 

[Bc'z]

Whiddens has a 5 bushing kit that's reasonably priced.
I usually start load work with a .288
But will test from .286-.290

 

[nakneker]

I probably have read this answer at some point on this forum, but the answer is escaping me today.

What is the benefit of sizing to .286 and then expanding with a mandrel?

I do use mandrels on other cartridges where I'm using non-bushing type full length sizing dies, but at initial glance it seems like the better way to use a bushing die is to just size the brass with the bushing that gives you the fit you want... without adding an extra step. No judgement. Just wondering.

If it matters, I'll be using a Wilson full size busing die as well as annealing each time I reuse the brass.

The advantage or the thing I like about a mandrel is sizing the neck on the down stroke and not pulling a decapping rod with a sizing button back through the neck on the upstroke. The bushing or die sizes on the down stroke, the mandrel sizes on the down stroke. I’ve experienced better concentricity doing that, it creates extra steps but I like it.

I only use mandrels on the ammo I’ll use at distance or want as much uniformity as I can get. I still use sizing dies and decapping rod and most of my other calibers I’m reloading for, no extra steps.

 

[mikecr]

at initial glance it seems like the better way to use a bushing die is to just size the brass with the bushing that gives you the fit you want... without adding an extra step.

I don't know why neck expansion was initially incorporated into neck sizing.
While FL sizing has been dominant for ~100yrs, it's neck portion sizing certainly could have been set less than excessive, early on, as you suggest with bushings.
It never made sense to me that neck sizing as a standard would go way way down, and then way back up, and then way back up again (on firing) with sloppy clearances.
Every cycle of this, in excess, changing brass character.

From my own learning with custom dies & bushings, I have seen that pre-seating expansion has it's benefits. This, as a matter of spring back management.
When you add energy to brass (with sizing), that extra energy wants to release to a balance, counter to last action, and it does so mostly immediately, but some of it over time.
So if you size down only, the neck will spring back outward immediately, but not as much as it will over time. There is still counter energy to release, usually to a little different balance (given hardness change).
If you employed a lot of downsizing, and carefully measured neck ODs, and then let the cases sit for a few months, a re-measure would show outward creeping. Actually, you could see this wherever you sized. Shoulders, bodies, even primers creeping back outward. All relaxing

We counter that counter-energy with hardened neck pre-expansion, because why would you want to press the tips of soft bullets for this action, instead of using hardened expanders?
And as far as expansion goes, [mandrels pressed] just seems to work better than [buttons pulled]. well, in most cases, and there are a couple of reasons for that.

It is sad that we take everything to excess, and downsizing/expansion is commonly in excess.
Just like it always has been.
If you really wanted to mange these energies with precision, you wouldn't reach for excesses to manage.
You would control everything within reasonable and rational.

 

[DiRTY DOG]

For 290 loaded w/Lapua, I use a Forster FL die honed to 286, then a 262 mandrel (21st Century nitride turning arbor).