Need some advice neck sizing .223 down to .204

[Trapper]

Ok guys, I am not new to reloading, but I am new to neck down sizing a cartridge.
here's what I am doing and something is wrong:
1. Clean and resize all brass as usual as if I was just going to reload for .223
2. Measure the brass and trim to 1.75" if needed. Clean up the neck
3.Lube and run brass thru a Redding Type S die with a .233 neck bushing
4. Run the brass again thru a .225 neck bushing
At this point I should be ready to prime and load the brass, for the .20 Practical
I am having a problem with closing the bolt on a piece of ready brass and opening the bolt back up. I can close the bolt w/ effort but have to tap it back open.
On some of the brass I am creating doughnut bulges in the neck when I size down.
I have a new Criterion ss, 1/11 twist barrel and had a gunsmith install it using a headspace gauge.
Very frustrating but I am patient and want to learn what I am doing wrong.
Thanks for any advice

[yobuck]

your going to have to fire form it to your chamber. never mind that its ugly it will blow out and be nice again.

[BillPa]

Humm.....dognuts on the outside? I think your creating a false shoulder by not completely sizing the neck.

I'm not familiar with Redding bushings, but my guess if it has a chamfer( angle cut on the edge) it may be bottoming out on the shoulder before the fully sizing the neck. Try turning it upside down.

Bill

[Trapper]

This looks so easy when you watch warren do this on YouTube. Simply resize as normal and run it thru a Type S die with the correct (.233) bushing, then change bushings and run thru a .226 bushing. Done.. But it will slide into the chamber and allow the bolt to close with a little help but then it won't open and pull the brass out without tapping the bolt with a helper. I have checked case length 1.75", and the case neck is correct at .226 but it still has the same problem using different pieces of brass. Oh yeah, I am using LC 09 brass. I will figure this out with one of these guys having had a similar problem chiming in with a bit of advice.
Bill, tried the reversal and it didn't help. Wishj it was easy

[BillPa]

.
Bill, tried the reversal and it didn't help.

Do the necks kind of look like the one on the left?

http://i44.tinypic.com/2ag0xsg.jpg

[Trapper]

Yep Bill they do...I was going to try and turn the die down a 1/2 turn more and see if that would help.

[BillPa]

Yep Bill they do...I was going to try and turn the die down a 1/2 turn more and see if that would help.

Try that. As I said, I'm not familiar with the Redding bushing die so I can't be much help adjusting it.

Bill

[5spd]

Trapper,
When I had my 20P that's how they were at first in the above pic. I just turned the die down & ran the brass and adjusted down more until I was right at the neck junction. Worked perfectly for me. I did that w/the .233 bushing first and then the .225 bushing was right on the mark when I went to the second neckdown step. I used a sharpie so I could watch it lower each time to the correct spot. I took off the decapper end then readjusted the rod when I was done and set.

[Trapper]

5spd,
Thank you for your input, I can neck the brass correctly now, but what I found out thanks to having a great gunsmith available, is that when I was full length sizing the once fired brass, I missed a few things. One: That batch of brass was all once fired military brass. Semi and full auto AR's seem to change the brass dimension a little more because of the 5.56 tolerences. 2: I was using a standard RCBS .223 full length sizing die and the die was not sizing the base or very bottom of the brass to size for a match chamber like on the Criterion .20 Practical. It was fine for a 5.56 chamber, but not enough for the tight tolerences of the match chamber. 3: I learned I am lucky enough to have a great gun doctor who knows his stuff about all aspects of modern guns. Answer to the problem is simply a Redding body die in .223 which sizes all the way down the body, neck down correctly and the tolerences are correct helping the bolt work correctly. My smith went into his reloading room, and sized a piece of brass I had with me and then necked down and slid the brass in the chamber and the bolt worked perfectly.
My gunsmith even offered to do some magic on my Gen 1 Strikers trigger systems, something that has plagued me for awhile. LOL :brick:
Thanks to everyone that offered advice, it's why I enjoy this site so much.
Trapper