Body die and Lee Collet vs FL sizing?

[Dos XX]

Why not a full length sizing die with neck bushing of the correct size, no expanding mandrel?

 

[Wrench]

The beauty of the collet is if brass is thicker in an area it still sizes to the middle. The bushing will push the fat side tighter and the ball then works it back.....hopefully centered.

 

[wapitibob]

Why not a full length sizing die with neck bushing of the correct size, no expanding mandrel?

That's essentially what I did with stw brass but used a neck bushing die and a body die for the shoulder. It worked because the Nosler bras had .0005 wall thickness variation. My PRC ADG brass varies neck wall thickness by almost .002 so I need to use a mandrel to get consistent neck tension.

 

[Hondo64d]

Have you tried removing the expander from the forester fl die and then use the Lee collet after? I’m gonna try that tomorrow

Yes, but the Forster sizes the neck down smaller than the mandrel in the collet die. If you’re gonna use the Forster FL die, you’re better off having the neck honed or using it in conjunction with an expander mandrel die. A Redding body die and Lee Collet die is a great combination.

John

 

[Jason t]

Yes, but the Forster sizes the neck down smaller than the mandrel in the collet die. If you’re gonna use the Forster FL die, you’re better off having the neck honed or using it in conjunction with an expander mandrel die. A Redding body die and Lee Collet die is a great combination.

John

I’m guess it’s kinda the same thing as using the expander ball. Except it’s not pulling the neck out

 

[MT762]

I've had foster hone/opn a dozen dies, at least. You size them to be honed large enough so you don't need the expander. You remove the expander entirely. Did I miss something in the discussion.

Now you still maybe want to mess with neck tension, so you run a mandrel in.

PSA: if you drop $7 on extra mandrels for the LCD, in fact drop $21 and get three extra mandrels, you can them chuck some up in your drill press and use file/sandpaper to reduce the diameter to adjust the neck tension that way. So one load likes .002 and another likes .004. Turn the mandrels down accordingly and mark them.

Plus cut the decap stem off one of the mandrels... which allows you to re-set neck tension on primed brass without popping the primer out.

Is this all obvious? I had a few drinks.

 

[MT762]

Why not a full length sizing die with neck bushing of the correct size, no expanding mandrel?

Neck bushing dies often cause concentricity problems. Most of us end up with drawers of very expensive little neck rings. Some of them work, some of them cause wierd runout. I have tried all the brands and inserts and some are better than others and some come bad from the factory (like..don't use that size bushing... it messes things up). And they are often very particular about setup in terms of exactly how loose they like to be. Which varies from die to die and bushing to bushing and maybe caliber to caliber.

The best solution is a honed Forster die with the expander ball removed.

Actually the best is a Whidden die, but set up in the same way.

And even with those you'll still need to mess with neck tension for some random reason...so the LCD and a handful of mandrels for each caliber can be a lifesaver.