When selecting bushing for lets say .338 lm, I used two methods. The first was to measure a loaded neck and subtract .002. And the second was to actually measure the thickness of the lapua case double it and add it to the diameter of the bullet then subtract .002. Since I didnt know how much tension was on the pre loaded case I opted for the second method.

So I ran all the cases through the size the second method told me to use. I was seating bullets and a strange thing happened. I went to measure one to verify the length and it kept changing on me. It kept getting shorter!!! So I took it out of the caliper and pushed on the bullet and almost lost the bullet into the case entirely. So I went with finger pressure on the rest and they seemed ok, pretty well held in there. Just cant figure out why this one was so loose. I put it in the rifle and fired the primer, resized it, re trimmed it and put it back in the mix. We will see how it behaves when I get to it again.

Now I see where many people remove the internal expander ball because it pushes the neck back out after you have already put proper neck tension on the case with the selected bushing. You would think redding engineers would catch this one. Unless that is why they put that extra pin holder in the die set. Now saying that I think its important to note that I measured several necks and they ALL measured exactly the # on my bushing. May have to decrease the bushing size by .001.

Here is my questions, (finally) lol. Do you, would you , remove the internal expander ball? And for cases that maybe get dropped or are just out of round. Do you run them twice? Once with the expander ball to round them up, then with out so to gain proper tension?