If you have a custom made chamber with custom dies and turned/fitted necks resulting in minimum case neck expansion, then a bushing die w/ no expander may be the way to go for you. If I'm not mistaken, thats what the Wilson dies were originally intended for.
If, on the other hand, you have a SAAMI spec chamber and relatively thin case necks, the gap between the fired and sized neck diameters is enough that a bushing die, with or without an expander, will often induce additional runout. Seen it time and again, case comes out of the gun w/ <0.001" runout at the neck, then comes out of the die w/ anywhere between 0.004 and 0.012" runout. There's a reason most of the bushing die manufacturers recommend you size down in increments of no more than 0.005-0.006". I've got *one* Redding Type 'S' F/L bushing die that seems capable of *not* having to do that sort of monkeying around - and thats with an expander ball.
Speaking of which... there is a world of difference between the big fat expander balls that most factory dies come with... and the smaller round carbide balls that Redding offers separately. They eliminate 99%+ of the gripes/rumors/wives tales about expander balls - they are smaller (less bearing surface to draaaaaag thru the neck), harder/slicker (so again less friction pulling through the neck), they are floating and tend to self-center (so no pulling the neck out of alignment), and they leave the inside of the neck at a consistent diameter on each and every case - in the case of my .308 die, thats .3065, or just enough to hold things in place without worrying about a round getting stuck in the lands. I pick a bushing size that is just small enough that the ball just 'kisses' the inside of the neck on the way out - just enough to make sure the last surface of the case that actually touches the bullet is the size I want it.
I'm not saying its the right way for everyone, but there are (as usual) a whole lot of people running their yap and painting everything related to expander balls as evil/wrong, without ever using a properly set up die that uses both bushings and an expander ball.
YMMV,
Monte
If, on the other hand, you have a SAAMI spec chamber and relatively thin case necks, the gap between the fired and sized neck diameters is enough that a bushing die, with or without an expander, will often induce additional runout. Seen it time and again, case comes out of the gun w/ <0.001" runout at the neck, then comes out of the die w/ anywhere between 0.004 and 0.012" runout. There's a reason most of the bushing die manufacturers recommend you size down in increments of no more than 0.005-0.006". I've got *one* Redding Type 'S' F/L bushing die that seems capable of *not* having to do that sort of monkeying around - and thats with an expander ball.
Speaking of which... there is a world of difference between the big fat expander balls that most factory dies come with... and the smaller round carbide balls that Redding offers separately. They eliminate 99%+ of the gripes/rumors/wives tales about expander balls - they are smaller (less bearing surface to draaaaaag thru the neck), harder/slicker (so again less friction pulling through the neck), they are floating and tend to self-center (so no pulling the neck out of alignment), and they leave the inside of the neck at a consistent diameter on each and every case - in the case of my .308 die, thats .3065, or just enough to hold things in place without worrying about a round getting stuck in the lands. I pick a bushing size that is just small enough that the ball just 'kisses' the inside of the neck on the way out - just enough to make sure the last surface of the case that actually touches the bullet is the size I want it.
I'm not saying its the right way for everyone, but there are (as usual) a whole lot of people running their yap and painting everything related to expander balls as evil/wrong, without ever using a properly set up die that uses both bushings and an expander ball.
YMMV,
Monte
