Marked neck on brass

[Duey]

Here's one for the more experienced home loader
Hopefully there a photo attached of new 22-250 brass that's been neck turned, just for consistent neck tension, and then neck sized after the turning process in Redding competition bushing neck die

There is a line appearing on the neck above the shoulder line that is coming from the bushing die, that I have also seen on my old brass

Is this normal with bushing dies as I haven't noticed it on my winmag brass that is also done with Redding bushing dies and also not seen on my 308 that I use RCBS neck sizing dies

Or is it just as simple that I have the incorrect sized bushing in the dies and the brass is been overworked and I need to get a larger bush, too be honest the bush is one of two that I have had since I very first set up the dies a good few years back now so I have been lazy and not checked the loaded round neck dimensions and worked out the definitive bushing required

Thanks for help in advance

Ian

[Alpha1]

Wrong size bushing probably. You need to measure a loaded round to get your correct bushing size.

[Duey]

Alph1 That's what I was thinking but hoping not needing to go get a new bush

However I have now loaded some rounds and taken measurements

I have a loaded neck measurement of 0.252, so ideally looking for a 0.248 bush,is my thinking, and actually have a 0.247 fitted in the dies so is the 0.001 difference in the preferred bush going to cause this issue or is my thinking of required size wrong ??

Ian

[rox]

There is a line appearing on the neck above the shoulder line that is coming from the bushing die, that I have also seen on my old brass

The line arises because that is the end of the sized part of the neck; it's not really because of the bushing size (though obviously if the bushing was larger than the neck OD there would be no line).

Bushing dies generally can't size right up to the neck-shoulder junction; I would expect to get a little closer than shown in your photo, but your situation might be exacerbated by being turned a little too far past the neck/shoulder transition. Is the die's micrometer adjustment screwed right-in, or almost right-in? (it's probably best to back-off a tiny fraction to allow the bushing to float).

As for the choice of bushing size, the last recommendation I saw from Redding was 0.001" under loaded round size - previously they recommended 0.002" under. Either should work fine. Others suggest maybe 0.002" or 0.003" for gas or hunting rifles. Yours is 0.005" under, so perhaps slightly more than optimum.

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[Duey]

Hi Rox
I have always backed the dies off 5 tho so that should be ok
I was initially told that 4 thou was a good point to be at from the gunsmith that I bought the dies off many years ago but with your input of recommended sizing I will go and get a .250 bush for the die and see if it resolves the problem

The necking dies have never reached any closer to the shoulder since I first got them with the 22-250, the winmag I have is a little closer and the stop line is is barely noticeable and defiantely not a line like in the photo

As the rifle was initially purchased for foxing that is probably where the recommendation of the 4 tho originated from so there would be no issues when loading and unloading

The picture is of the worst case, as it's very slight on most, and wasn't the easiest to get a photo to illistrate what I was trying to get across so looks worse than actually is

Many thanks for the input and its just confirmed my own conclusion that it was most likely the bushing sizing, but as we all get older, was just making sure I wasn't having a brain freeze and missing something simple on the set up of the dies

Ian

[rox]

Many thanks for the input and its just confirmed my own conclusion that it was most likely the bushing sizing, but as we all get older, was just making sure I wasn't having a brain freeze and missing something simple on the set up of the dies

I've always used 0.001" or 0.002" under loaded round size and I still get a line at the limit of sizing; I think it's inevitable, as there's a sized part and an unsized part, and therefore a junction between them (rather like a mini shoulder).

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