Author Topic: Full length resizing vs neck resizing (Read 587 times)

kombi1976 · « **on:** October 31, 2004, 03:44:28 PM »

I'm in a bit of a individual situation. I'm reloading for an Australian wildcat, .303/25, basically .303 Brit necked down to .257 cal. Unfortunately, due to the relative rarity of the cartridge I only have one set of dies and these are full length dies. In terms of making up my own cases it's great. In terms of neck sizing only to pre-long case life it isn't so good.
Do I have any options?
Is the difference in case life for a low intensity cartidge like the .303 really going to matter? i.e. .303 Brit pressure(and .303/25 for matter) doesn't really rise any higher than 40,000psi(I think?).

jgalar · « **Reply #1 on:** October 31, 2004, 04:48:40 PM »

Die companies can make special order ones for you. Lee precision www.leeprecision.com says they can make most for $50.

Iowegan · « **Reply #2 on:** October 31, 2004, 04:50:12 PM »

There is another thing you can do to prolong case life. Annealing from shoulder to mouth every other firing really helps. I have no idea what case life would be with your 303/25 but most cases last at least two or three more firings with annealing.

With the ammo I load, most neck sizers only give you a couple more reloads so it would be about the same with annealing. Besides case life, annealing has some other benefits such as better accuracy and cleaner cases. You might give it a try.

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #3 on:** October 31, 2004, 06:02:58 PM »

I'm a relative newcomer to bottleneck reloading but this is what I have been doing. I put a case in the shell holder and progressively screw the sizing die down a little at a time, watching the neck as I go. When I see the neck is fully resized but the shoulder is still untouched I lock the die in place. I dunno if that will help with case stretch but that's what I do. I think I read it somewhere.

Ian

Reed1911 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 01, 2004, 12:50:32 AM »

If I remember correctly, most of the chambers on the 25/303 are pretty loose, so trying to neck size in a FL die is next to impossible.
The easiest option I think would be to use a Wilson neck size die with the corret bushing. It won't be too expensive and as long as you are not doing too many cases it's not too bad. You can have a die made by C-H dies at a reasonable cost (58.00 I think) or you can find a cartridge that has the same rough shoulder width and neck size and lop off the lower 2/3 of the die.

jimann · « **Reply #5 on:** November 01, 2004, 05:56:54 AM »

I have several dies that I just unscrew a little, and it sizes the neck and does not touch the body of the case. I read some where to size about a bullet diameter of the neck to hold the bullet in the case. I also have run into oversize chambers that when I tried this I would end up sizing the body of the case. But it is worth a try, it isn't going to hurt anything.
Good luck
jimann

jhm · « **Reply #6 on:** November 01, 2004, 06:27:59 AM »

RCBS used to have a washer that was used in their older dies 38/357 that was the difference in thickness for the length of the 2 cartridges if you can find one of the washers or go to a machine shop and get a washer the same size as the thread size and use the washer between your sizing die and your press it will raise the die up off the shoulder and the rest of the cartridge giving you a neck sizing die without changing the original die setting,

JIM

dave375hh · « **Reply #7 on:** November 02, 2004, 02:54:31 AM »

Hornady New demention neck size dies are made caliber specific instead of cartrige specific. One of these will neck size everything from 250-3000 to .257 Wby. If the base of the .303 case is too large the bottm of the die can be reamed out without affecting the neck size function.