Maybe some of you read through the problem I was having with case head separation a few weeks ago. I bought a comparator gauge and I hope I fixed the problem. But I decided to check how far I was moving the shoulder on all my rifles. My 243 is moving a lot so I backed my die out a fill turn and got it down to .0035 but I noticed that the case neck isn't getting all the way to the bottom. Is that ok to load like that? I assume my 300 did the same thing but I haven't shot any of the loads yet. So I sized 25 I guess I will test it out and see.
Rcbs FL question.
- Thread starter Grizzhunt
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Try chambering a few of them and see if they are giving you any pressure as you close the bolt.
Also make sure your OAL is remaining within tolerances.
There's always a possibility that your dies are a bit out of spec.
The bolt closed fine I haven't loaded any yet. I literally just put them in the tumbler when I made this post. But I'm not planing on moving my seating die so there should be no change in OAL.
May have I always trim them after they come out of the tumbler.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Correct, my error. COAL or case length.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
have you miked the necks to see if indeed they are not resizing all the way down or are you just looking at the marks on them after resizing?
I may have worded my question wrong. I'm mostly concerned about having enough neck tension. It's only going about 3/4ths of the way down the neck when moving the shoulder back minimal lengths. My old loads were just set like a factory rcbs die set says to set it. It was moving the shoulder around .01 maybe .009 but I back the die pretty much a full turn out and now it's moving the shoulder around .0035.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
That should be more than adequate.
I load all of mine with very minimal neck tension and then simply add a very light crimp. Since I started doing so it's greatly enhanced accuracy and dropped my ES to single digits with most loads.
I've never ran a crimp at all, I'm going to try it without and see how it goes. I may just push a bullet into one and try to pull it back out if it feels tight I will just leave it.
JohnWess
Well-Known Member
That doesn't sound like it should be possible. In order to actually get a shoulder bump, the shoulder has to be in completed contact with the die. If that is the case then the neck of the brass should have to be all the way in the neck sizing area. I could be analyzing this wrong and I hope someone corrects me if I am, but something isn't adding up in my head with your neck only being sized 3/4 the way down while your getting a 3.5 thou shoulder bump.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
If you're using standard RCBS factory dies that 3/4 resizing on the neck should be more than adequate.
The biggest issue with neck tension is consistency. Other than that if it holds the bullet in the case that's all that matters.
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Same as I was thinking originally. The dies may be a bit out of spec.
I was kinda thinking the same thing. I pulled some out of the tumbler and re measured them. Not sure if there was still some lube on them or what but now that they are clean it's looking like it's only .001 some even as little as .0005. They still chamber fine. I'm probably going to load maybe 5 or 10 and see how the shoot.
