Best die to neck size and bump the shoulder?

[mattri]

Looking for a die to size the neck and bump the shoulder back .002" but without working the case too much.

Thinking about Lee make a custom Collet die based off of some fired cases.

I've always liked the collet neck sizer, and have the time to have them make a die to my chamber.

If I go this route I'll probably use a body die to bump the shoulder back from time to time.

Ideally I'd prefer one die to do this but the full length sizers seem to size the body way too much.

Thoughts?

[stomp442]

I've never had a problem just backing the die out to where it just bumps the shoulder back. Case life and accuracy has been great.

[bootsmcguire]

LCD and Redding Body die like you said. Been going that route on several of my chamberings with great results.

Another way I have been going, that so far is working well is this: I set my headspace snuggly to a pc of brass FL sized to my die. Then I can just FL size each time and I am not overworking the body since the chamber is set so closely to the size of the die. So far I am still testing this one out, but so far so good.

[mattri]

Thanks for the replies.

Boots- that sounds like a really good idea, will try it on my next build but what if you're loading for a factory chambered rifle?

[bootsmcguire]

As long as it is a Savage it has a barrel nut right? ;)

[keeki]

That's the way I've been doing it for 5yrs now

[D.ID]

Same here.
Simple, safe and effective.

[mattri]

Which?

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Forster Precision Bushing Bump dies. Bump the shoulder and size the neck without doing anything to the case body. 25 to 30 sizes on my BR brass with no problems. Throw in a body size (or full length) when the bolt starts getting hard to close.
I set ALL my chambers on the snug side. No chance of ever firing factory brass. (I've tried) No over working brass and it lasts a long time.

[Steelhead]

LCD and Redding Body die like you said. Been going that route on several of my chamberings with great results.


This is what I use for all my rifle dies.

[kkeene]

I also like to head space the rifle off of a full length resized case. Then I use a Lee collet die to neck size only for better accuracy and faster reloading. After a couple of firings I full length resize. I really like the Lee collet die to speed up reloading as it allows me to skip the lube and lube removal steps. There can be a down side to this approach, depending on your full length resizing die, the head spacing can be too tight to fire factory ammo. Better accuracy and longer case life, what's not to like?

[gotcha]

It's been said by some "experts" that the LCD's don't provide the uniformity/flexibility of a bushing bump die. Maybe in Benchrest competition this is true. I use LCD with body die and can find no advantage to the bushing bump dies that I've also tried with same cartridge in a tight neck chamber. However, I find that jamming .010" to .015" requires me to reduce the diameter of the LCD's mandrel to maintain enough neck tension to prevent bullet set-back upon chambering. The amount of set-back is dependent on ogive shape in my testing. The "darts" won't set-back as far as a more rounded ogive.