How much should your die be sizing

[L.Sherm]

I'll take .003 sizing all day long at the. 200 with Lapua brass

 

[Mike TackleBerry]

On my 300 PRC i like to bump the shoulders .0015

 

[Webster]

I have 3 pieces of brass at Whidden now, waiting for reply. Asked the builder and he said use RCBS, claimed that much resize ain’t bad. (I feel like it’s?)
So when you say I’m over pressuring the .200 line.. If the chamber isn’t supporting that area, are you saying the brass won’t grow as long as I’m not over pressure? So my chamber is 7thou bigger then new brass, won’t new brass blow out that 7 thou on first fire? Or will that brass hold strong unless over pressure? No other pressure signs.. Didn’t have any issues till 3rd firing of this brass. And not sure it really an issue, just a lil heavy bolt, which is what made me dig into all this and figure it all out. Thanks

Are your loads a little on the hot side. Back of 1-2 gr. and see if the problem goes away. Don't want to strain my brain but 1 of your three dies should work???

 

[RyeGuy]

Not being a wise guy, if you don't trust the builder of the gun why would you let him build it? RCBS will not size it too much. You're good with that, you do not want bolt click or hard bolt lift. I can promise you sizing correctly will not affect accuracy!

True.. Just looking for more opinions. Thanks

 

[Steve Donlon]

If you are worried about over sizing your brass use a Redding Body Die after that use a neck sizing die. I have used RCBS FL sizing dies for all my different cartridges, but have decided to try the body die on all the brass I am neck sizing to see the difference. The body die, then neck sizing is supposed to be easier on the brass. It's all Starline brass that I'm using for this. So far i have had very good results with accuracy. But I have not reloaded any, more than a few times to see how long the brass holds up. The brass is not stretching much. I don't have to trim the brass so far. The body die is easier to control the shoulder bump for me than a FL sizing die.

 

[Webster]

True.. Just looking for more opinions. Thanks

Do you measure shoulder bump and case OAL? Maybe you have an amateur gunsmith? He might have run the reamer in a little short or long?

 

[L.Sherm]

I seriously doudt the smith ran the reamer in long or short, it would take about .040-.050 or more either way to make .001 difference at the base.
Shoulder bump is not his problem with sticky cases sizing .001 at the base with Lapua brass is.

 

[SKWERLZ]

.003-.004 isn't to much to size at the .200 line it all depends on brass sometimes like with Lapua or ADG look at the AW2 reamers for the PRC's to avoid clickers
Tighter isn't always better.
I dont anneal my Lapua and ADG for my LR hunting rifles but I keep them segregated to times fired and get consistent bump.

I concur.

Being tight on the 200 line especially will bring frustration.

My buddy had similar problems with his 338NM dies.
They weren’t sizing the neck or 200 line enough.

I got him a Hornandy die and that solved his issues.
I have talked to others that recommended the Wilson die as it’s even tighter.

338 NM is a nice cartridge.

 

[L.Sherm]

If you look at some reamer prints like one JGS has for the 338NMAI the .200 is .3889., the .387 die might work if chambered with a 338NM reamer that was that size, I still would want .003 though.

 

[RyeGuy]

I believe my die was a bit big. I think I have it figured out. They are cutting a new die and going to replace mine. Their customer service has been great. Thanks all that replied. It nice to see people help out that have great knowledge of this stuff.