Full length resizeing or neck resizeing?
 

I have a dumb question but here goes, I have been reloading center fire rifle cartridges for several years and I have always full length resized them and I have never had a problem. the gentleman who taught me how to reload always said to full lenght resize them, but he shoots alot of semi autos and I have always shot a bolt action or lever action. I have read several people on tis forum state that neck sizeing is more accurate and the brass lasts longer. My question is how do you neck resize? what are the pros and cons of neck resizing vs full length resizing?
Thx for the help.

My 2 cents is FL for hunting and neck size for bench shooting. Also if you will be shooting the same shells in different rifles of the same caliber you will want to FL size. I have always FL sized for my bolt actions for hunting because it eliminates the possibility of ever having a chambering problem in the field while hunting. I recently have got my first single shot TC Pro Hunter and I plan on neck sizing for it.

I think you hit the pros. Case life improved accuracy. With my 06' I full length about 1in 4 maybe only 1 in 10 when shooting cast. The way I do my neck sizing is with the die spacer normaly used for seating (washer)38s with a 357 mag bullet seating die. Basicaly you would back of the sizing die from a half to 2 turns. At 2 turns on a 30-06' is only sizing about half the neck and never touches the body or shoulder. On a 308 with its short neck a half turn will still size all of the neck and just touch the body if your rifle has a big chamber.

On the down side odds are good that the neck sized cases won't fit another rifle. I have 3 06's and they won't swap necked cases at all. It gets a little bit hard to close bolt on the 4th load with my full load.

Hope that helps

I think you hit the pros. Case life improved accuracy. With my 06' I full length about 1in 4 maybe only 1 in 10 when shooting cast. The way I do my neck sizing is with the die spacer normaly used for seating (washer)38s with a 357 mag bullet seating die. Basicaly you would back of the sizing die from a half to 2 turns. At 2 turns on a 30-06' is only sizing about half the neck and never touches the body or shoulder. On a 308 with its short neck a half turn will still size all of the neck and just touch the body if your rifle has a big chamber.

On the down side odds are good that the neck sized cases won't fit another rifle. I have 3 06's and they won't swap necked cases at all. It gets a little bit hard to close bolt on the 4th load with my full load.

Hope that helps

I've always neck sized for my bolt guns and have never had any problems, even for hunting. That being said, just to be on the safe side I'd probably FL if I were going after something dangerous.

For everything except my big game rifles I partially size about half the neck at best and don't touch the body whatsoever.. I also don't shoot max loads so getting them in and out are no problem, I've found that this method really makes them shoot accurately... I like to set the bullet as long as it can be out and still fit in the magazine and let it function smoothly..lots of ways to skin a cat. Just to show you how long they can last.. my 6PPC chamber has a .262 neck...my loaded rounds measure .261 and some change.. I've been using the same cases for 10 years with no problem whatsoever..but factory chambers have so much neck clearance that this is not possible for the most part in them..

That is exactly what I do for all guns except semi auto handgun stuff.

To the OP, that is not stupid question at all. Most of the basic handloading info. I have read tells you to FL size everytime.

By only sizing the neck, the cartridge will essentially only fit the gun it was shot out of, right? Which is a good thing, kinda like fire forming? Or am I way off? I've only ever loaded pistolas...and bitched and pissed about reloading for rifles. Now I'm eating my words....pass the mustard please.

Correct. Good for the brass, good for the accuacy, good for the velocity spreads, there really isn't too many negatives by neck sizing. Only gotcha is before hunting, just make sure the rounds chamber correctly.

RCBS neck sizers however can cause runout. When you drag the expander ball thru the neck, the case is not supported and the neck has no reference. If the neck thickness varies (which most do), it will cause the runout to get even worse.

Lee does not make too many decent items. But thier collet die is about as useful as it gets. I wish they made it out of better metal. The design is sound, but typical lee crap pot metal. Size some nickel and watch how it scratches the mandrel.