cast in bottle neck cases

[emorris]

I picked up a 55 grain lee bator mold a few months ago from Midsouth, along with a .225 sizing die for my lubsizer. I have decided that it is time to put this mold to work due to the recent run on .223 j bullets. I also have some hornady gas checks on the way. I am new to shooting cast in bottle neck cases and was wondering what would be best to expand the necks. I have a lee universal flare tool but it only flares the case mouth. Will I need somthing that will open up the case neck on 223 remington for the larger bullet. I considered ordering and oversized expander button and then using the flare tool to open up the mouth a little more to seat the bullet. I also considered getting a lyman M die insert. I have the standard pistol M die body, but will it work with 223 remington? I plan to use these through a bolt gun.

[runfiverun]

dunno, i use the lee neck collet sizer squishy thingy.
the 223 is a little more than plug and play.
be prepared to spend some time and effort on it.
little girl tels me it's a great outlet for my ocd impulses towards orderlyness and perfection though.
i poked and prodded on mine for about 3 years to get things tweaked.

[nhrifle]

This should be an interesting read for you

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?156326-AR-15-500-Round-Cast-Bullet-Test

[Wayne Smith]

Either the RCBS cast boolit expander or the Lyman M die are what you need to do the job.

[Moonie]

The Lee universal expander will also work but the Lyman M die is preferred. I use the Lee.

[grouch]

With most bottleneck cases you'd be fine with just a good bevel on the case necks, especially if you're using gas checked bullets. The M-die may or may not be an improvement.
Grouch

[9.3X62AL]

I use the Lyman M-die for 22 centerfires, but also have the RCBS Neck Expander Die with spuds that incorporate a flaring "horn" for some calibers. Both do good work, no real preference here. The M-Die's small expanded case mouth portion might enable more stable boolit placement atop the charged case prior to seating, if that matters.

Small-caliber centerfire loading has been a mixed bag for me. 24 and 25 calibers have been VERY good to me, 26/6.5mm has been coming along, 22 centerfire has been all over the map--some decent, some ATROCIOUS. Before I re-try the 22s again, it will be with scaled boolits and a lube upgrade. Like you, that whole scramble for scarce components makes my eyes glaze over. Total PITA. I'm having a 22-250 re-barrelled in such a way that it caters at least as much to castings as it does to j-words......1-12" twist, short throating, all o' dat.

[MT Chambers]

The Lee "Universal expander" will work for you on most cases including the .22s, just don't flare any more then you have to or case life is shortened. Chamfer and deburr before.....I've not had any problem using .225" boolits in cases prepared this way, if I did, I would get a Redding neck size "bushing die" and try diff. bushings....

[MikeS]

Considering that you already have an M die body, you can just buy from Lyman the proper size expander spud and you'll be good to go. When it comes to Lyman M die bodies they only make 2 of them, the shorter one, and the longer one (One is M-1 the other M-2 but I forget which is which). If your body is for a pistol caliber then you have the shorter one, which is good for most cartridges, except for some of the really long cases.

[1Shirt]

I sold all of my M-dies on e-bay, and bought two of the lees. Have never regreted it, and have one for large mouths/the other for small, and it works fine in my Lyman turrets.
1Shirt1