Hello All,
I've lurked in this forum off and on for the past couple of years and have gained a wealth of information. There hasn't been much I've wondered about that this forum hasn't helped answer, so I've never really felt the need to post a question. The answers are here! I've gained some ideas from this forum regarding my current problem, but am now hoping someone has some specifics before I pry open the wife's purse strings and buy something more for this old rifle.
I have a P14 303 British with grooves at .314. It chambers and shoots a .316 boolit nicely (thanks to NOE for the mould and Buckshot for the boolit sizer). I've been neck-sizing with my Lee full-length die, using a .32 caliber expander that I sanded down to .314 on my drill press. I was pretty happy thinking I was being kind to my brass until I left the expander out one day and resized some cases. I discovered my die sizes all the way down to .300 (give or take a little for different brands of brass)! Then I end up expanding it all the way back to .314. That seems like a lot of work hardening to me- taking the necks from nearly .316 after firing down to .300 then back to .314.
My 303 Lee Loader Classic sizes the necks to .308, which is better, but I'd like to see that number higher yet, maybe .312-.313 before expanding to my desired dimension of .314? I've read that the Lee collet neck sizer for 303B sizes to .3085, which doesn't help much. Has anyone bought a larger diameter mandrel and sized it down to the neighborhood I'm interested in for the 303 collet sizer? Did it work out? I haven't held one of these in my hand, but would it be much different from sanding down an expander ball with a drill press? Alternatively, does anyone have any neck dimensions from other brands of resizing dies with the expanders removed? Even if I dare to think of loading FMJ with my die (gasp--only hypothetically speaking), it seems like taking necks all the way to .300 and then back to .310 or so (with the supplied expander) is still a lot of unnecessary work hardening. I'd really like to hear others' thoughts about where to draw the line between sizing down and expanding back up.
Regards,
papertrl