Rookie neck tension question

[mtbullet1]

Hey guys I have dabbled at some very entry level reloading and I would like to improve my knowledge and abilities. I have enough knowledge to get myself in trouble and some basic equipment.

I am hoping to start reloading for a 7PRC rifle that is only used for hunting and recreation. I have never checked or set neck tension. I have always just used the basic RCBS full length sizing dies and wherever it left the neck I jammed my bullets in and away I went. I would like to buy a nice set of dies, so my question is should I buy a FL sizing die and also an expander mandrel and body to set the neck size? Im guessing you can take out the expander ball from the sizing die or buy them without?

try inexpensive LEE factory crimp die first

 

[WahooYahoo]

I'm curious. I really like your response. It sounds like you have a lot of practical knowledge from trying things on your own and learning what works and what doesn't. I respect that. What I am curious about is if you still check and cull your brass for variations in neck wall thickness and if you check your cases for concentricity? I'm guessing no.

I quit weighing and over-analyzing my brass. It was a necessary and timeconsuming part of my process when I used factory or mixed brass. When I order a couple of hundred pieces of the best brass, it became unfruitful. So, I but Lapua, ADG or Alpha brass and go. Well woth the price when you consider time alone, but if I take care of it and anneal every time, it lasts too. Since I FL size then run a mandrel at .002" under caliber. the neck wall thickness is trivial information becasue neck tension is determined by the inside of the neck, not an equation requiring the brass thickness for the solution.
When I begn using an arbor press and chamber die for seating, concentricity issues evaporated. There is nothing that can allow runout unless the chamber die is bad from the start. In my Sherman Max guns, I had the smith chamber the die when he made the chamber, otherwise I order them from LE Wilson or Brownells for the specific chambering and they are true. Hope that helps.

By the way, I'm not saying that benchrest or F-class guys don't get some benefits from all of that hand wringing, but it is undetectable in hunting setups. Sub-MOA is more than sufficient for field shooting. No one is missing a deer over .2 or.3 MOA and can't even identify the error they are spending potloads of time and money to solve. Early on, I rather enjoyed the search for solutions and tinkering. Now, I just want to hunt and shoot, no drama.

 

[Alibiiv]

Question here, you mention you deprime during your sizing step. Do you not clean the brass before you size? I have always knocked all the primers out and cleaned the brass and then sized, maybe I am making extra work for myself?

Yes I always tumble my brass before I resize to protect my dies. The proper way for some is to tumble the brass deprimed, depriming with a universal depriming tool. My experience has been that the primer pockets do not seem to be as clean as I want them, so I clean them out with a primer pocket reamer if they are too dirty. I do not use the pin tumbler method, I use media and tumble. I have a complete pin tumbling system in my basement that I could never get the results out of. I reload in my basement, if I did have a sink down there with access to water, I probably would attempt the pin tumbler but I don't.

 

[cajun]

If your rifle is shooting 1/2 moa with factory ammo the biggest challenge you will face is finding a load it likes and it will likely shoot fine with standard reloading practices. I would follow some good advice you have been given with regards to going down this would be rabbit hole. Using quality brass and an inline seating dies is worth the investment. Turning necks etc not so much.