Question about setting up a wilson micrometer seating die

[Marfaprecision]

I just bought a wilson neck die and wilson micrometer seating die for my .222 and I have a few questions about setting the seater die up. I used my hornady oal length gauge to determine the length to the lands. So I set the 0 mark on the micrometer on the vertical line and the middle horizontal line so that I have room to increase or decrease oal? And then screw down the seating stem till it just makes contact with the bullet (when measured with the oal length tool). I'm thinking so this way I will know where the bullet just touches the lands when set on zero. Am I going about this the right way or am I making this to complicated? Another question is do I expand the necks after full length sizing to make bullet seating more uniform? I have a redding type S full length die and a wilson neck die. I know there is a lot of you on here that use wilson dies so some advice on how to set them up and your reloading process using them would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Cody R.

 

[Shynloco]

As far as setting up the Micrometer Head on your Wilson Seater Die, your system sounds good to me. And as far as the Wilson Neck Die, I used to use them all the time. But more recently (last year or so) found greater value and accuracy by using the Redding FL S Die followed by using an Expander Die that gets me about .0005 less neck tension than just going straight from the S Die to the Wilson Seater Die. Now that is not a good idea if you are loading for a Gas Gun, but works good for me on my BR rifles. But I also my brass through the 21st Century Concentricity Gauge after the Expander Die, seat the bullet and then check concentricity again on the bullet runout. Overkill......probably but it works for me. Just my .02 worth.

Alex

 

[Joe R]

I used my hornady oal length gauge to determine the length to the lands. So I set the 0 mark on the micrometer on the vertical line and the middle horizontal line so that I have room to increase or decrease oal?

That's the way I do it and it works for me.

Another question is do I expand the necks after full length sizing to make bullet seating more uniform? I have a redding type S full length die and a wilson neck die.

I don't go through all those steps and work to get good results. I just resize the neck using the Lee collet (neck) die (LCD). I've fired brass 3X so far and I haven't had to FL resize yet, but I use the same brass through the same bolt gun. I do polish the inside of the necks with steel wool prior to resizing. YMMV.

Kindest regards,

Joe

 

[Marfaprecision]

I greatly appreciate your help and always benefit from the wealth of knowledge on this site.

Thank you,
Cody R.