What am I doing wrong here!!

[Ucsdryder]

I'm a newbie reloader, have 500-600 rounds under my belt but having an issue I haven't experienced yet and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'm reloading a 6.5 creedmoor and am getting a super tight neck on virgin lapua brass. I'm using Rcbs dies and a Rcbs summit press. I ran the virgin brass through the FL sizing die. It's taking more force than it should to seat the bullet. To the point that the bullet is showing a very slight "ring" where the seating die pushes down on the bullet. I attached a couple of pictures. The pulled bullet has a good scar from the tight neck and then you can see the ring on the other bullet. Is it a FL sizing issue? Seating issue? I am not bumping shoulders on the virgin brass.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Here's a zoomed in picture that shows the ring on the end of the bullet.

 

[19 Badger]

You may have to much neck interference and/or your seating die may need a stem more designed for vld bullets would be my guess. Your bullet measures .264", what is the inside diameter of your sized brass measure?

 

[dfanonymous]

The ring on the ogive is from a seating steam not made for that type of bullet. Research seating steams.

If you're NOT using a expander mandrel/bushing die then it's the die itself that is setting the neck tension. Do you know what your neck tension is? Most people in a professional setting start with about .002 plus .001 for spring back in neck tension with some guys arguing .004 for gas guns.

Things to research:

Neck tension, and how to measure it.
Brass spring back
When to anneal and why to anneal.
Proper seating stems- on your eld there, nothing beats the ELD seating stem.

 

[Bob Wright]

It's partly dimensional on your dies/button sizer. Before you go further, measure neck ID before sizing, after sizing and interference of the neck and bullet.
At least you'll have some baseline numbers to start with.

 

[Wachsmann]

If you have any fired brass measure the outer neck diameter. Then FL resize the new brass. Measure the outer diameter of it. I think they are supposed to be about 0.288. I think the inside will be about 0.262. See how much difference it is between them. Generally you want about .001 to .003 of neck tension for most bench shooting loads. Hunting loads I would go with .002 to .003 of neck tension. Most Lapua brass that I have sized if they are virgin brass they come annealed. Also I would get a VLD case reamer for the neck mouth after trimming. The ring on the bullet as posted above is probably just the seating stem. Most likely need to get a different stem. VLD stem.

Looking at that second pic did you do any neck chamfering on the brass. If not even if you don't trim it I still would do this every time. It creates a slightly flare on the neck so the case neck lip does not cut into the bullet.

One other thing, make sure you die is set up right for FL sizing. Follow the RCBS instruction and just double check everything.

 

[xsn10s]

Like the others have suggested research neck tension, you'll find it easy with a search. the ELD seating stem tip is an excellent one. But you don't have Hornady dies so search " reloading, lapping seating stems" and you'll find articles on how to do it. And yes do a "VLD" chamfer and debur the case. On virgin brass make sure you're not FL resizing the case, but just truing up the neck. The deformation on your bullets doesn't that bad so I suspect that you just need to lap the seating stem. But I'd still check on your neck tension as previously suggested, it's an important step in reloading that will save you time and money. And if your neck tension is low then it's a safety issue.

 

[jdyoung]

Many moons ago, when Nosler first introduced their Ballistic Tip bullet, I had a similar mark on Nos BTs when seating with my Hornady die. Back then, there were no VLD seating stems to swap that I knew of. So, I used a Dremel POLISHING point gently on the seating stem and eliminated the mark. Luckily , the loaded rounds had very little runout .

BUT today, you don't have to resort to self cures . As it has been suggested by others in this thread, get the proper seating stem for your die/bullet combination.
Make sure you are using the proper neck expander and chamfer the necks.

 

[26Reload]

My last three boxes of lapua 65284 brass have been very tight in the neck....so much that the brass shaved the copper from bullets being seated....
I've pulled the decapper from my resizing die and resize ALL necks now.....much easier on equipment and components......

 

[Dmagna]

Did you prep the brass? Chamfer ?

 

[lancetkenyon]

Expanding mandrel die w. .262" mandrel.
Proper seating stem.
No more problems.

 

[Hugnot]

I have had that same problem upon F/L sizing new brass. Upon sizing the neck as part of the F/L operation and then drawing the neck over an .262 expanding button, neck spring back countered most of the action of the expander button. The result was extremely hard bullet seating.

Measuring the inside diameter of the neck before & after F/L sizing should indicate the problem. This would be an highly unusual situation for Lapua brass. My fix was to anneal the brass necks & shoulders. My dies did not excessively reduce neck diameters.

 

[Plowboy85]

You have had many ole boys give the correct path forward but it was short and sweet here.

Expanding mandrel die w. .262" mandrel.
Proper seating stem.
No more problems.

I didn't read completely through all of the posts but if someone hasn't suggested it to you I would remove the dies expanding mandrel if it is a rigid one. My Forster die ball type somewhat floats and I have found no negative to them although I still don't use them and us specific mandrels as others are suggesting.

 

[Ucsdryder]

You have had many ole boys give the correct path forward but it was short and sweet here.

I didn't read completely through all of the posts but if someone hasn't suggested it to you I would remove the dies expanding mandrel if it is a rigid one. My Forster die ball type somewhat floats and I have found no negative to them although I still don't use them and us specific mandrels as others are suggesting.

Anybody have any input on a decent setup that won't break the bank?