Please help with neck bushing issues

[Ledd Slinger]

I fully prepped some fireformed Peterson brass for my 300 NMI. Worked hard to get my necks turned perfectly. While sizing in my custom Whidden die I noticed I was getting vertical scoring marks on my necks. I stopped, pulled bushing and cleaned it with 0000 steel wool in a drill, but I could still see the imperfections on the bushing. Checked the next bushing .001" smaller and the same thing. I need to get these replaced, but i cant remember if i ordered these from Whidden with the die or not... I have Redding, Wilson, and Whidden bushings for various rifles. The Redding bushings are stamped so those are easy to tell apart, but i cant remember how to tell Wilson and Whidden bushings apart??? Can you folks please help me identify if this bushing is a Wilson or Whidden? Thanks.

Top of bushing


Bottom of bushing. Notice the imperfections on the finish.



One of my turned and prepped necks BEFORE sizing


My neck AFTER sizing. Notice the vertical scoring marks. I can feel them with my finger nail

 

[Mulligan]

That looks like a wilson bushing
CW

 

[earlcurtis67]

I just recieved two Whidden bushings in the mail today, they have the size marked on the outside of the bushing, you’res must be Wilson. Deffinatly not Redding or Whidden. I thought Whidden bushings would only fit Whidden dies, just asking. E

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Thanks guys. Sorry for my brain fart. Its definitely a Wilson bushing. Just dug a Whidden bushing out from another Whidden die and it is clearly marked "WGW" with the size on the side. And yes, Wilson and Redding bushings fit Whidden dies.

 

[group therapy]

Really nice job on the neck turning!!!!

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Thanks group therapy


Just ordered Whidden bushings to replace the defective Wilson bushings.

 

[lpreddick]

Nice pics. The first case appears to have a nice deburring while second case doesn't . Not sure bushing at fault. Are these new cases? Is bushing slightly free floating in the die with number down facing? I once got multiple scratches around the neck...new brass not deburred.

 

[JFrank]

I fully prepped some fireformed Peterson brass for my 300 NMI. Worked hard to get my necks turned perfectly. While sizing in my custom Whidden die I noticed I was getting vertical scoring marks on my necks. I stopped, pulled bushing and cleaned it with 0000 steel wool in a drill, but I could still see the imperfections on the bushing. Checked the next bushing .001" smaller and the same thing. I need to get these replaced, but i cant remember if i ordered these from Whidden with the die or not... I have Redding, Wilson, and Whidden bushings for various rifles. The Redding bushings are stamped so those are easy to tell apart, but i cant remember how to tell Wilson and Whidden bushings apart??? Can you folks please help me identify if this bushing is a Wilson or Whidden? Thanks.

Top of bushing
View attachment 1079711

Bottom of bushing. Notice the imperfections on the finish.
View attachment 1079713


One of my turned and prepped necks BEFORE sizing
View attachment 1079714

My neck AFTER sizing. Notice the vertical scoring marks. I can feel them with my finger nail
View attachment 1079715

That looks like my Wilson

 

[jepp2]

Just ordered Whidden bushings to replace the defective Wilson bushings.

I'm not bashing Wilson bushings, I have never used any of them. But I can tell you I get less than half the case neck runout when using Whidden bushings, vs. using Redding bushings (coated or not). The more Whidden stuff I get, the more I like them.

 

[jlow]

Do yourself a favor and do a search on this site for bushing and scoring, this type of problem is not new and neither is the fix.

 

[LarryDScott]

This happened to me w/redding bushings. I was told by a tech
that my necks were too soft. I was annealing every firing. They cleaned all my bushings free of charge. LDS

 

[group therapy]

Nice pics. The first case appears to have a nice deburring while second case doesn't . Not sure bushing at fault. Are these new cases? Is bushing slightly free floating in the die with number down facing? I once got multiple scratches around the neck...new brass not deburred.

I thought the number went up so you can see it from the top of the die

 

[Uncle Ed]

Try cleaning the bushing with a good copper bore solvent. In one of your photos you can see thin brass lines inside the bushing.

Next get a snug fitting bore mop and chuck it in a drill. Then apply some J&B bore paste, automotive rubbing compound, Mothers Mag and Wheel polish, etc to the mop. Now polish the inside of the bushing.

I use this method to polish sizing dies that are scratching my cases and remove any grit and brass sticking to its surface.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I'm not bashing Wilson bushings, I have never used any of them. But I can tell you I get less than half the case neck runout when using Whidden bushings, vs. using Redding bushings (coated or not). The more Whidden stuff I get, the more I like them.

Yeah Whidden makes pretty good stuff. Not as perfect as the real high end equipment, but a lot nicer than mainstream reloading equipment.

I have the 30 cal expander ball set and they were a little off.
- The .304" expander ball is actually .303",
- The .305" expander is actually .304",
- And the 306" is .3065"-.307" depending where you meaure on the circumference.
-The .307" was .305"
- The 308" was .307"

So i dont actually have a .308" and .306" expander

The standard expander that came with the FL die was .3045" so that doesnt help fill a spot. The set still allows for versatile neck tension adjustments, but need to actually measure them. Dont assume they are what the label says they are

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I thought the number went up so you can see it from the top of the die

Correct.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

This happened to me w/redding bushings. I was told by a tech
that my necks were too soft. I was annealing every firing. They cleaned all my bushings free of charge. LDS

Interesting. I did anneal these cases after turning, but I've done that many times with other cartridges and no issues.

Checked other cases that have been sized, but not annealed or fireformed yet. The necks are not "scored" but I can see the lines in the necks where they would have scored like the cases above if the brass was softer. Probably why I didn't notice it before. So it appears annealing does have something to do with how bad the scoring is now, but it's clear the bushing has been defective all along

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Try cleaning the bushing with a good copper bore solvent. In one of your photos you can see thin brass lines inside the bushing.

Next get a snug fitting bore mop and chuck it in a drill. Then apply some J&B bore paste, automotive rubbing compound, Mothers Mag and Wheel polish, etc to the mop. Now polish the inside of the bushing.

I use this method to polish sizing dies that are scratching my cases and remove any grit and brass sticking to its surface.

Thanks.

However, I'm not messing around with defective equipment. I've already ordered Whidden bushings.

I always had great luck with Wilson bushings in and they work great in some of the other sizes I have so this is nothing against them. Every company can make mistakes.

 

[243winxb]

Was lube used on the OD of the necks? Both steel and titanium bushings can use a little.

The Redding bushing numbers , size stamp, should face the case neck, down.

Info from Redding.

 

[Uncle Ed]

Again it looks like brass up and down streaks inside the bushing going across horizontal manufacturing marks.

So try removing the brass streaks with a good strong copper bore cleaner or polish with a bore mop.

The marks on your case necks are caused by brass rubbing on brass, this has happened to me before.

If you do not have a good powerful magnifying glass then take a closeup macro photo and enlarge it on your computer.

The up and down streaks were not done in bushing manufacture. The streaks were caused by brass sticking inside the bushing as the case neck was pushed through the bushing.

Below a Redding Titanium Nitride bushing leaving marks on case neck. Anytime brass sticks to the inside of the bushing it will score the neck. And it gets worse as more and more brass sticks to the bushing and with brass rubbing on brass. I have had the same thing happen with Titanium Nitride coated pistol dies like a carbide die. And also bushings and dies that were not polished correctly at the factory.

The same type marks can happen with a full length die if the neck shoulder junction of the die was not polished correctly and has a rough edge. Look at the case mouth below, the case was wet tumbled that left the case mouth peened over and not deburred properly. And the brass started sticking to the base of the bushing where the rub marks are more prominent and taper upward.

Below "YOUR" bushing and brass sticking inside the bushing. And these marks were not made during manufacturing of the bushing.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Again it looks like brass up and down streaks inside the bushing going across horizontal manufacturing marks.

So try removing the brass streaks with a good strong copper bore cleaner or polish with a bore mop.

The marks on your case necks are caused by brass rubbing on brass, this has happened to me before.

If you do not have a good powerful magnifying glass then take a closeup macro photo and enlarge it on your computer.

The up and down streaks were not done in bushing manufacture. The streaks were caused by brass sticking inside the bushing as the case neck was pushed through the bushing.

Below a Redding Titanium Nitride bushing leaving marks on case neck. Anytime brass sticks to the inside of the bushing it will score the neck. And it gets worse as more and more brass sticks to the bushing and with brass rubbing on brass. I have had the same thing happen with Titanium Nitride coated pistol dies like a carbide die. And also bushings and dies that were not polished correctly at the factory.

The same type marks can happen with a full length die if the neck shoulder junction of the die was not polished correctly and has a rough edge. Look at the case mouth below, the case was wet tumbled that left the case mouth peened over and not deburred properly. And the brass started sticking to the base of the bushing where the rub marks are more prominent and taper upward.

Below "YOUR" bushing and brass sticking inside the bushing. And these marks were not made during manufacturing of the bushing.

I cant even get those burrs off with a steel pick. First thing I did was hit it hard with a brush wrapped in steel wool on high speed in a drill and it did nothing.

Will give another shot with some heavy duty bore cleaner.

Still not right. Have never had other bushings do this to me.