lack of neck tension issue

[Ed333]

Another newbie question, I just went to reload 200 cases, and on the first 50, after measuring out and loading the powder, I found that about half of them had no neck tension, the bullet would drop right in the neck, loosely. The other half were OK, I went ahead and loaded them, then I sorted out the remaining primed brass, shifted the powder from the 'bad' cases over to 'good' cases, and then scratched my head. I full length re-size, this is 6 BR , Lapua brass, about the 2nd or 3rd reloading. I am using a Redding Type S- Match Die Set, with a bushing (I just noticed that the label says "6mm B.R. Remington", and my rifle is 6mmBR Norma...is that a problem?). I use Hornady One-Shot spray lube, and the only thing different I did this time around was to dip the necks into a little jar of Imperial Application Media with Dry Neck Lube before spraying the exterior of the casings on a cookie sheet.
The decapping pin is not in the FL resizing die, so is it safe to resize primed casings? Or is that not what to do? I am at a loss as to how to proceed with these cases with 'loose' necks.
btw, there were a couple of cases that were sort of 'in-between', I could seat the bullet by hand with some pressure, just dropped it down to where the base was contacting the powder (29.0 gr. of Varget), and the bullet didn't want to slide back out. I am aware that if i tried to extract an unfired round, I could have a powder spill. Otherwise, are these few rounds safe to shoot like this , without much neck tension?
Appreciate any advice.

 

[Danny1788]

The 6mm BR remington came first then Norma took the cartridge and lengthened the neck a bit, and called the case 6mm BR Norma. When people use the term 6BR, today, they almost always mean 6mm BR Norma. Some people say Norma changed the body dimensions slightly, but a colleague of the original Rem designer says that's not true. From our measurements, it appears the Remington shoulder and case web diameters (as manufactured) may be slightly smaller--enough that Lapua and Norma-headstamp brass may not fit in a 6mm BR Remington chamber, even if the neck is trimmed to fit.

Anyway, the cartridge is now officially called 6mm BR Norma. But, the most popular brass is made by Lapua. Confused yet?

The only thing you really need to know is that if you have a barrel chambered, make sure your smith understands that 6mm BR Norma has a longer neck than the older 6mm BR Remington. AND, ideally you should use a reamer spec'd for CURRENT Lapua-headstamp brass. The Norma is pretty good, but most people believe that primer pockets will stay tight longer with Lapua.

The one thing to really watch out for is that the 6mm Remington cartridge is COMPLETELY different. Different case altogether if there is no "BR" in the name.

Is your die setup correctly? You may not be sizing the neck all the way. What is your neck thickness? are they all the same? what size bushing are you using? what is the size of a fired neck vs a sized piece of brass? As far as the brass with primers in them i dont know if its the safest thing but i have knocked out live primers before but you can do what you feel is safe. You can just fire the primers in the rifle with no bullet or powder in them.

 

[jonbearman]

It almost sounds like some of the cases had been neck turned and some were virgin.It happened to me from some brass that was supposedly once fired and found out that had been turned to .266.

 

[CatShooter]

To answer your questions...

Yes, it is OK to size primed cases in the pin is out, and it is OK to size primed cases if the pin is in, but you will have to reprime the cases. (save the punched primers to reprime the cases).

Yes, you can shoot the loose cases. If you withdraw a loaded case, make sure the rifle is pointed up so you don't get an action filled of fine grain powder.

Do a quick measurement of the neck wall thickness of the good cases and the lose cases, to make sure that they are the same thickness..

Consider that you might have not sized all the necks. It would not be the first time it happened.