Making Resizing Easier

[myhandle87]

So I'm looking for a way to make resizing easier. What I usually do is resize all of my batch halfway, then go through and do it again so there's not that much strain put on the press, the die, the brass, or especially my bad shoulder. However, I was thinking of taking the expander out of the current full length resizing die, resizing the brass with that, then resizing the neck only with a neck die. Has anyone else done something like this before?

 

[Slamfire]

I assume you are sizing rifle brass.

You can size in any sequence you want. It is not like it makes that much of a difference when all you are really doing is swaging your brass down.

For my rifle brass I knock out the primers with a Lee Decapping die.

Then I full length size. On the rifle sizing die, I have elevated the expander as far as it will go in the die and still be able to size the case. This makes extraction much easier.

I don't know what type of press you are using. Older pressers, such as my 1981 vintage Rock Chucker had short lever arms. I used to stick a shot gun barrel on the end of the arm to increase the leverage. What a pain.

Really old presses, like my Lyman Spar-T don't have compound leverage. I darn near overturned the bench and bent the lever arm trying to small base size a 308 case.

My Lyman T Mag and Redding T-7 have excellent length lever arms with a ball at the end.

Lube makes a difference. Most people use those garbage spray on lubes. Those hardly provide any lubrication at all. I use RCBS water soluble or Imperial sizing wax.

 

[Deavis]

so there's not that much strain put on the press, the die, the brass, or especially my bad shoulder.

The only weak link there to be concerned with is your shoulder, don't worry about the press or the dies. A few questions... I've found the type of lube makes a difference in the sizing effort, what are you currently using? Have you considered lengthening your press handle to give you more leverage? What you propose would help but I've found that the neck sizing effort is negligible compared to the full-sizing effort. The best thing would be to get a carbide die, Dillon's 223 in carbide with a little case lube is smooth as silk.

 

[SASS#23149]

press?
caliber/calibers?
lube you're using?

re: the press,my buddy bought a Rock Chucker,and when we size rifle brass on it,it's a piece of cake compared to my Lee Challenger...no strain at all with that beast.

 

[myhandle87]

I'm using a Redding T-7 to do .308, and right now I'm using some Dillon case lube or WD-40, however I'm going to turn to the Imperial sizing wax soon. It doesn't seem to go in with much effort, it's more getting the brass sort of stuck in the die, so I'm thinking it's an issue with the expander. I'll try backing it out as far as possible while still sizing the neck and see how that works.

 

[rcmodel]

or WD-40,

That right there might be your problem.

WD-40 is great for a lot of things.
But case lube isn't one of them.

rc

 

[Smokey Joe]

Lubing where it sticks...

My Handle 87--If it's getting the expander ball out of the case neck that's causing you the problem, then you need to lube the inside of the case neck.

Col. Townsend Whelen advocated using "just a suspicion" of the case lube being used on the outside of the case, applied to the inside of the mouth of the case neck. This works for me.

The case lube I'm currently using is Imperial Sizing Die Wax. As the ad said, "Try it, you'll like it." The stuff works really well for me. Used to use RCBS Case Lube #2, and it worked well also, but was messier cleaning up, so since getting the Imperial, I haven't looked back.

Another way to do the same thing is by using one of those case neck brush items with mica--that'd spread the mica all up and down the inside of the neck. Haven't tried that, but it sounds good.

 

[rcmodel]

I use a nylon bore brush of the correct caliber.

You can roll it on a sizing lube pad, or give it a light spritz of one-shot, etc spray lube.

Running it in the case neck will give you just the right amount of case lube to make expanding easy.

rc

 

[USSR]

I FL resize in 3 distinct operations: remove spent primers with a universal decapping die; resize the body and bump the shoulder back with a Redding body die; and resize the neck with a Redding Competition neck sizing die with the appropriate size bushing. No expander ball passes thru the newly straightened necks of my cases. Oh, and Imperial sizing die wax, of course.

Don

 

[fguffey]

sizing after firing, the sizer ball does not expand the neck, the die sizes the neck, this lengthen the neck, brass has to go somewhere, when the sizer ball is pulled through the neck to size it, the neck gets shorter, the brass must come from somewhere, doing it twice is though on the brass and primer punch/sizer ball assembly. the only time I size progressively is when forming cases with case forming dies, and case forming dies do not have neck expander's.

When necking up cases from 280 Remington or 30/06 to 338/06 or 35 Whelen the neck expander gets a work out, I do not have a press that requires sympathy, in the perfect world new cases are the best choice and behave in a predictable manner, worked brass also behaves in a predictable manner with splits in the neck when necked up and or when fired.

F. Guffey

 

[Walkalong]

Follow Dons advise. Especially about the Imperial Sizing Die Wax.

His way is designed for competition, but is a really good way to break down sizing if you want to minimize strain on your shoulder. Like previously posted, no worries about the equipment.

WD-40 just won't get it. Dillon case lube is fine, but Imperial Sizing Die Wax is some of the best stuff out there, period. Just using it will make a difference. Try it, you'll like it.

Redding makes, or at least they used to, carbide expander balls for their dies and also RCBS dies. I like them. It will reduce strain a little as well. Lube the inside of the neck like rcmodel posted, along with a carbide expander ball, and it will be real slick.

 

[30Cal]

WD40 wow!!

Dillon sells a carbide die for certain calibers. It's a little spendy, but it takes about 1/4 the effort to FL resize (still requires case lube and Imperial is the stuff you want). I'd seriously consider it if I were in your shoes with a shoulder to worry about.

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/co...bide_Rifle_Dies__Individual___Three_Die_Sets_


Redding also makes a carbide expander that will probably work in your existing die that would help out if you don't buy the Dillon die.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Rent the neighbor kid to do your resizing...

 

[Howard B]

While I have had what I consider to be good luck with Hornady One Shot, it doesn't seem to be popular here. I agree with the others about Imperial Wax. Primo.

I did not see that anyone mentioned lube inside the case neck. At one time the Imperial folks (maybe before Redding acquired it) marketed a inside neck lube that likely was just fine graphite. Came in a small tin, and I would just stick the case neck into the tin, then wipe the outside before putting on the outer lube. Look at Sinclair International site. They have the imperial dry lube and others as well.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/prod_detail_list/Case-Sizing

 

[Walkalong]

Rent the neighbor kid to do your resizing...

Best idea yet....

 

[30Cal]

Better yet, have him crunch all the brass and then in return, teach him to shoot. Did that with a buddy's kid.

 

[something vague]

I'm surprised no one has answered your original question about using the neck die after using the F/L resizing die with the expander ball out.

I do not believe that this would accomplish anything other than ending up with an undersized neck. The F/L resizing die is designed to make the neck smaller than neccessary on the upstroke and then brought back to size by the expander ball. Depending on what you're doing with your reloads I would say that after the expander ball resizes the neck this would be the most neck tension that you would want in a reload. If you didn't have the expander ball in the die and then followed up with the neck die then your neck die would never touch the neck as the neck is undersized anyway. This is because it never passed through the ball to expand it back out.

In order to acheive this resizing without the expander ball (which happens to be one of the most accurate ways to resize a case with minute amounts of neck runout) then you will have to have your F/L resizing die honed out in the neck sizing portion of it to a specific size.

Hope I made some sense.

 

[Ol` Joe]

I'm surprised no one has answered your original question about using the neck die after using the F/L resizing die with the expander ball out.

I do this often with bottleneck brass when building match or long range loads. After all the brass has been resized I go back with the expander ball deep in the die so I am not doing anymore sizeing and expand the mouths. This results in almost none to absolutly no runout in my brass.
If you are having trouble with the force needed when sizing, I`d get a tin of Imperial wax. A very little will make a big difference in the force required in my experiance.