Reloading Confusion

[HALODIN]

Do me a favor please - back the seating die out 1 more turn, adjust your seating plug accordingly and see if that fixes it. 1 turn may not be enough if you have some cases that are a few thousands of an inch longer than the others and if you say you've had problems with trimming, then this all makes sense IMO.

[Dougan]

Are you using 'collet' dies or standard 'ball expander' dies?

[Dougan]

Sorry, I meant I backed out the seating die 1 turn

Where do you back it off from? Do you mean that you wind it down until it touches the shell-holder, and then back it off a turn; or do you wind it down on to a prepared case, and then back it off?

[mag41uk]

Are you using 'collet' dies or standard 'ball expander' dies?

He says he is using Redding dies so probably not collet dies!

I load for this cartridge and have no problem using Lee collet dies.
I think I would be measuring the expander plug in his sizing die.

Tony

[Dougan]

I think I would be measuring the expander plug in his sizing die.

I totally agree (missed the bit that he was using Redding deluxe dies); and have had a problem with the expander plug in a Redding die in the past...I'll wait for an answer to my other question though before going into detail, as there could be a combination of factors in play...

[zanes]

Are you using 'collet' dies or standard 'ball expander' dies?

He says he is using Redding dies so probably not collet dies!

I load for this cartridge and have no problem using Lee collet dies.
I think I would be measuring the expander plug in his sizing die.

Tony

Wouldn't that make all his bullets equally loose?

[kennyc]

I am using Sierra 168gn HPBT match bullets.

As for the Lee trimmer, you just buy a die for a specific calibre, no adjustment needed. Although you can make it trim a little shorter if required. A couple of cases had pretty severe undulations of the rim of the neck, maybe 1-2mm, I wondered if some brass shavings had made the chamfer blades stick.

The neck sizing die is screwed down to meet the shell holder, no other adjustment is available.

As for the full length resize die, I backed it off 1 turn as per the instructions. But this still had the same effect with the bullet able to brushed onto the case.

I am using the Redding dry lube media (for neck sizing) and I have some Redding Imperial sizing die wax for full length sizing. Should I clean the lube out of the necks before seating, could that cause this problem?

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

be careful with the 168 bullets, you need to make sure you are not stuffing them into the rifling, the GP11 bullet has a narrow ogive and as a result most other bullets need to be checked for seating depth, look on Swiss Rifles they explain the procedure there, once you have used up the 168's get some PPU 174grn 7.5 bullets, they mimic the GP11 dimensions and are more than accurate enough for most people out to 1000 yrds (iron sights) if you are getting undulations when trimming then you are probably pushing too hard or the trimmer is moving sideways, I have always used the Lee trimming kits although not the easy trim and found them more than adequate for my needs.
as Halodin says if you have some necks trimmed to a longer length that may be causing some crimping in the longer necks, this would explain why you have some loose, some not.
go back to the beginning and try again, reseetting everything to stock, unlike some I am loath to immediatley condemn equipment, however to Quote Sherlock Holmes "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
you may just have bad dies ?

[Alpha1]

Some pictures would help.
What's your cartridge over all lentgh.
What size are the bullets.
Are you sure you are not seating the bullets to deep.

[Dougan]

Are you using 'collet' dies or standard 'ball expander' dies?

He says he is using Redding dies so probably not collet dies!

I load for this cartridge and have no problem using Lee collet dies.
I think I would be measuring the expander plug in his sizing die.

Tony

Wouldn't that make all his bullets equally loose?

Yes it would - But then if the cases are not all trimmed to the same length, and the seating die is set in a position where the longer ones get a slight crimp; then some will appear firm, while others will still be loose...

...once that's ruled out, then we're back to the measurements of the expander ball, the bullet and the inside of the case neck...and a couple of things that can affect the consistency of these measurements...

[Dougan]

unlike some I am loath to immediatley condemn equipment, however to Quote Sherlock Holmes "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
you may just have bad dies ?

I was going to wait until the seating issue was ruled out, however what you're saying is not as 'improbable' as you'd think - I bought the Redding deluxe set for my M96 Mauser, and had the same problem; with the neck-sized cases not having enough neck tension...

...but when I tried using the full-size die the neck tensions were much better - I took both expanders out and measured them...the one in the full length die measured 0.262", but the one from the neck sizing die was 0.263" - So swapped the expanders, putting the 0.262 one in the neck sizing die, and it worked just fine...the 1 thou (possibly 1.5) made all the difference.

Another thing is that I've found that cleaning the inside of the case necks (and the expander ball occasionally) properly makes a difference to the consistency of the neck tension.

This thread has reminded me that I still need to send the other expander back to Redding to see what they think.