Necking down question

[dirty habit]

Im necking down some Lapua 308 brass for my 7/08, full length die, sizing wax and dry neck lube, it looks as if the necks are being pulled well out of square. Theres quite a bit of force required to get the case back out of the die so im wondering if the expander plug is the cause?
How else can i lube the inside of the neck? The dry neck lube doesnt look to be "sticking" to the inside of the neck.
Any help appreciated...

 

[Grumulkin]

Put some sizing wax on the inside of the neck.

 

[Walkalong]

Imperial sizing die wax that is.

Real good stuff. Use a nylon brush for cleaning necks to apply it, just keep it seperated from the other brushes.

You can also get a carbide sizing button for your die.

Welcome to THR.

 

[Ol` Joe]

Try sizeing without the expander stem in the die then go back and run the case in the die with the expander replaced to open up the neck if you feel it is needed. Just run the expander in the neck enough to open it up, don`t resize the case neck when you do this. I find it helps reduce runout and when useing boat-tail bullets I don`t bother expanding the necks at all in most cases. ( With proper headstamped brass) Be sure to lube the case mouth when you expand them, a bit of Imperial wax is my preferance but any lube is fine.
I found when I built my 1st 7-08 and necked down 308 cases ( no proper headstamped brass at that time) the necks thickened a bit and that was the cause of the tighter then normal feel when the expander was pulled back through. They were not thick enough to worry about turning, but did have a bit smaller mouth ID with the proper OD when 308 was ran in the 708 die. You can size up 243, 260 Rem cases to 7-08 and will find the necks thin a bit and you will barely feel the expander comeing back out. Personally these cases are my preferance over 308 just because of this.

 

[redneck2]

Put your expander in a drill and smooth it with very fine crocus cloth that is oiled. You can polish it so it's super smooth. Also, some expanders either get bent or are bent from the start. You can get tiny O-rings to put above/below the nut so the expander can float.

If your necks are crooked, you're wasting your time if you want quality ammo. Also, I'd anneal the necks after forming (read Varmint Al's site for tips)

 

[dirty habit]

Cheers guys, i think all of you had a point in this one. I was looking forward to having some good lapua brass to reload but it may have been wishful thinking...a combination of hard brass and not enough lube in the neck is not a good start. I might just get some winchester 7/08 brass and start from there!
A few people have said to use sizing lube on the inside of the neck but i always thought this was a no-no? Am i right in assuming its ok?
Cheers again

 

[Matt-man]

As was mentioned, another option is to neck up from .243 - which is also available from Lapua. Zak Smith went from .243 to .260 and there's some info about it in this thread. He did mention that necking down Lapua .308 brass was quite difficult.

 

[wheezengeezer]

even when neck sizing a lube should be used.for heavy sizing down i use a lube pad and rcbs lube.for fl sizing i use a spray on lube.for neck only i use powdered moly.yep,the expander works best if polished.