Quote:
Originally Posted by spoiledsaskhunter
dean and chuck.........are we basically talking about different methods to get to the same place?
i've been reloading since the mid '70's and am presently having the same symptoms with a t3 in 22-250. probably because it's a rifle i shoot much more often than any of my other hunting rifles. i've only been getting 3/4 reloadings out of my brass before head separation and this thread has really opened my eyes. guess it shows how little a guy knows even after being at it for years.
i've got fl resizing gear and would prefer not to go buy more, so am asking if i can get by by using it and backing off the sizing die.......sounds like there's a difference of opinion here and i'm not trying to start a fight, just thinking if i could solve my problem without buying more gear, i would.
so far i've been just putting up with getting new brass, but it would be nice to get more loading out of it. the once fired would fit way nicer too.
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You are over sizing your brass, just like the OP, if you are getting head separation after 3-4 rounds. There are two ways to cure this. A neck sizing die works well for many people because it is very easy to set up and you would be REALLY hard pressed to oversize your brass using one of those but you can bump the neck back with a neck die. A neck die does not touch the body at all, and it is why you only need to lube the inside of the case neck to use one. This provides the added benefit that you don't have to clean the lube off the case when you are done. For people that have trouble figuring out how to FL size their brass properly they are a good solution. That said, if you adjust the FL sizing die properly, having regard to what your once fired brass measures, there is absolutely no reason why a FL die won't do a great job on the brass.
Fire new brass once, measure carefully, if the brass feeds smoothly into the gun again before resizing, make sure that the FL die is set so that it neither bumps the shoulder back nor leaves you with a shoulder that is in fact actually longer. If you squeeze the body of the brass too much it will actually cause your brass to lengthen at the shoulder and in overall length. This is what gives you the resistance that makes people think they need to screw the die down further, when in fact they need to actually back the die off MORE.
Shoulder measurement is not the only critical element in resizing brass. The diameter at the rim, half way up the body and at the body shoulder junction also plays a role. Many chambers allow the body of the brass to expand by quite a significant amount. There is no need to squeeze these body dimensions back down to SAMI min, which is what most FL dies are sized to do. Like I said above, squeezing the body back down this much, the brass has to go somewhere. By backing the FL die off you end up squeezing the body down less the further you back the die out. Now in some chambers that are particularly large in the body diameter you can't back a FL die off far enough to not squeeze the body too much and still size the neck enough. For guns with these generous a chamber a neck die is the only option, unless you have the FL die custom reamed or a new chamber cut.
This is a fairly complex thing to clearly layout in type. Anyone that wants to discuss further, P.M. me your phone number and I will give you a call.