Why FL resize?

[wright brothers]

Neck sizing causes ruined bolt lugs?
Explains my need for new rifles lol.

 

[dellet]

That may or may not be, as I don't know how long a steel barrel lasts vs. a brass case, but I'm going by what I've read so far and there's a fairly large camp that goes with the longer lasting brass stance. And a fairly large camp in the FL every time option. So more studying and researching.

The problem is the variables and your experience level. You have two different cartridges you hope to load for and they have completely different characteristics, 22 Hornet, 223.

The Hornet will never be as inherently accurate as the 223. So you won’t lose anything neck sizing the Hornet, you might with the 223. Do you expect either to be 1/4 MOA rifles.
I doubt there will ever be a time again when 223 brass is not available, it’s not uncommon for 22 Hornet brass to disappear for a year even in good times. So brass life can be an issue.
The more body taper a cartridge has, the less problem you have with extraction. Shoulder angle determines case length expansion. How a cartridge headspace’s determines how important shoulder placement is. You really have to stretch a Hornet case before it’s headspacing off a shoulder thats basically non-existent. The other extreme is straight wall cases can easily be neck sized only, just need a custom die, you won’t find one sitting on the shelf.

So when I look at the 22 Hornet case and chamber, it has” neck size me” written all over it. The 223, full length with a bushing.

Regardless neck sizing is a good option to have and good tool in the box. Example is that I can and do necksize only brass for AR 15’s. It’s how I make sure the system is not over gassed. If you need a small base die for a semi auto, it’s out of tune, the action is cycling too fast. Or it’s over pressure loads. Often both. But just because you load to high pressure, doesn’t mean you have to be over gassed. If I can get 3-5 firings of neck sizing only in an AR, I’m doing better than a lot of guys with a bolt action.

Just don’t get hung up on it has to be one or the other. Load for enough cartridges and you will probably do both, for different reasons.

My angle on this is different than most since I shoot a lot of obsolete cartridges. That means available brass could be $10-15 per case, or 2-3 hours to form from a suitable donor. I have brass that firings measure well over 1,000 times, and/or is over 100 years old. Wear it out in a few shots and throw it away to buy new, really isn’t an option. Then again those rifles are only 3/4 MOA on a perfect day with a shooter that has his head on straight. But those rifles have produced those groups for more than 100 years and more than likely 10,000’s of rounds down the barrel. Nothing about that is a wear it out and throw it away game.

Nothing really beats a custom full length die, made to your fired brass. But for the expectations of 90% of shooters out there, they probably can’t shoot the difference to prove it for themselves. Way too early in your loading life to get jammed up on this question. Maybe start with what’s the best case lube for sizing, because if you don’t have the right lube, both full length and neck sizing will turn out like crap.

 

[Leo_B]

I have the .22 Hornet and as of 2 nights ago also an M1 Carbine. I don't have a .223 yet. It's on the suspects list if I add another rifle sometime next year. I bought a Lyman case lube kit as it got a lot of good reviews. But am glad to hear if there's a better option. Other than the .22 Hornet, and eventually M1 when I shoot enough of the ammo I have to be worthwhile reloading, I won't be loading anything else but .32 revolvers. For the time being.

 

[dellet]

I have the .22 Hornet and as of 2 nights ago also an M1 Carbine. I don't have a .223 yet. It's on the suspects list if I add another rifle sometime next year. I bought a Lyman case lube kit as it got a lot of good reviews. But am glad to hear if there's a better option. Other than the .22 Hornet, and eventually M1 when I shoot enough of the ammo I have to be worthwhile reloading, I won't be loading anything else but .32 revolvers. For the time being.

Four pages and now we find the problem, you want to load for a 32 Revolver
Those are some key words bolded.

 

[jds holler]

I'm a guy who gets some "hare-brained theories" going on sometimes. My latest one, at least for the rifle I'm messing with is --

I picked up a bunch of range brass for this cartridge, and brought it home to try in my chamber. I think it's all once fired by the look of it.

In my chamber, some of them fit easily, some tight, and some wouldn't even chamber. So I'd take one that wasn't even close, and st sizing it down in stages, until it chambered well in my rifle. Then I'd take another one and size it with that setting. I wanted to find the setting that was minimum but allowed good fit. Wellll -- on this particular rifle/chamber, it wound up being all the way to cam-over to reliably get rid of clickers, not just with the range brass, but with factory loads that were fired in my rifle only.

So I'm concluding that this chamber is on the minimum size of tolerance, -- or possibly my sizing die is on the maximum size, (yes, different dies can be -- different)

I'm still fooling around with different brands and such, but so far fully sized is what works best, and I haven't been getting clickers as long as I do that.

So I guess my hare brained theory is that you can find your minimum allowable sizing die setting by starting with a case that is blown out excessively, and making it fit. jd

 

[Leo_B]

Four pages and now we find the problem, you want to load for a 32 Revolver
Those are some key words bolded.

What's wrong with .32s? Mostly H&R Magnum but some .327 Fed Mag also and eventually some S&W Long when I shoot some and have the brass. So what's wrong with any of those?

 

[dellet]

What's wrong with .32s? Mostly H&R Magnum but some .327 Fed Mag also and eventually some S&W Long when I shoot some and have the brass. So what's wrong with any of those?

I don’t have anything against .32 caliber cartridges, everyone should one a couple rifles chambered in such.

 

[Bronzie]

What's wrong with .32s? Mostly H&R Magnum but some .327 Fed Mag also and eventually some S&W Long when I shoot some and have the brass. So what's wrong with any of those?

Shhh.....

You have reading assignments. Your report is due next week.

 

[searcher]

Your .22 Hornet is a caliber not typically known for ultra-accuracy - but then neither is the .30 carbine. The biggest "problem" with that Hornet is going the extra mile when prepping brass, ultra-careful powder charging to far less than 1/10th grain, careful primer selection (soft cup!), etc.. A lot of folks don't think it is necessary and don't get the accuracy they want. Neck thickness variation can run the same as a cartridge that holds 5x the powder capacity. In respect to accuracy, this has a much larger effect on such a tiny cartridge as compared to a larger cartridge. Compare the powder charge as well. A 1/10th grain variation in the Hornet is going to have a huge impact on accuracy, while 2/10 grain difference in a .375 H&H Magnum will be very little. The smaller you go, the more accurate one needs to be in every loading detail to wring the best out of the cartridge. Turning the necks on this little sucker gets one way more for the effort than turning for larger cartridges. I also turn the necks on my little .17's. While you might not want to turn necks, you will still want to be sure to use soft cup primers (CCI 400) and make sure you have a scale that will get you measurements of at least 1/20th of a grain. Uniform trim length becomes much more important, as does uniform chamfering of the inside neck. For your .30 carbine, if you can hit a cantaloupe at 150 yards, I'd call it good. Like a Ruger Mini-14, your .30 just isn't likely to be a tack driver, no matter what you do to it. But fun guns they are! Brass will last forever and cheap to reload.

 

[Leo_B]

They are both for the fun, not extreme accuracy. And for light recoil, another preference. And as said, less expensive to shoot. If I get another rifle later next year it will likely be either a .222 or .223 and then I'll want to go for better accuracy. Still in the for fun category, but accurately for fun. I'll only ever be a plinker. I don't have the money or the patience to be a shooter, mostly the money.

 

[HuntClub]

As many have said, FL sizing doesn't hurt you at all. I tried neck sizing only for a bit but found it did not do so much except speed up the process from start to finish. BUT, I found my accuracy was more consistent when I FL sized my brass. The only way I would recommend if you are going to reload.

Measure your shoulder with the new brass and again after fired. You will know lower and upper limits and how much you are moving the brass when you settle on the measure you choose.

 

[Olderthan dirt]

I neck size my 300wm for my RPR.
I can keep it under 1 moa @ 2100 yards.
Everything else is FL size.

 

[SKWERLZ]

How is it no lube?

Lee collet requires no lube to size neck.

 

[Olderthan dirt]

I use the Lee collet die on my 300wm cases and polished the decapping pin to get the neck tension I wanted( it uses a straight rod to squeeze the neck against)
No lube required.
Anneal
Size
Polish
Prime
Load

My RPR has a lot of length in the mag so I can load long and jam the lands.

 

[Hector]

Good points all. I own a grand total of one bolt action, my .22 Hornet Savage 25 Varminter. I might get one more next year, probably .222 or .223 so no chance of mixing up brass and guns. I figured neck size 3-4 times then full length once then neck size again. Lots more reading and studying to do.

Except the one making the valid in general comment it's a must for semi-auto.

Get a Redding body die

 

[RabbitSlayer]

If all the winning champions are doing it, why would you think you are going to produce champion level results doing something different?

 

[SKWERLZ]

Get a Redding body die

^^^^^^^

 

[DShortt]

Neck sizing causes ruined bolt lugs?
Explains my need for new rifles lol.

That is NOT what I said nor did I imply that. Read the thread. Other shooters are speaking of forcing the bolt open and closed on a fairly regular basis and trying to 'quantify ' the effort.
You tell me what that will cause. It's not accuracy.

 

[LVLAaron]

 

[AlNyhus]

View attachment 1708894

Now that's some good humor!