Neck sizing the 7.62x39

[BackWoods Billy]

Hey guys I'm back again for some help with these 7.62x39 brass. I have a Lee sizer that I'm about to through in the trash can. The thing is a pain in the a#$. Need a torch wrench to keep the sizer in.. Well I would like to know if I take the sizing rod out if I can still use it to size the brass and use another die to size the neck..lol..The rest of the Lee kit works fine. Do I just need to get another die to sizes these things.I have been using a .313 boolit and I have sized the neck @ .308 and .311. Friday I shot some of the .308 sized and got some really nice groups. The only reason I found that out was because it was a pain to size them @ .311. So what do you guys do to take the pain away....

Thanks for your help.
Billy

[I'll Make Mine]

Yes, you can size the brass without the expander, you'll just have to decap and expand the necks as separate operations. Decapping can be done with a simple punch, case supported on a base with a hole to clear the primer. The Lee M die is pretty well thought of by some; others insist on the RCBS equivalent.

Worth checking -- are you sure all your 7.62x39 brass is Boxer primed? Berdan brass will cause that Lee expander/decapper to back out when it hits the case head instead of going through the flash hole; this is by design, to prevent broken decapping pins. This might also happen if your brass has undersize flash holes; a smaller decapping pin might help (and it's a lot cheaper than an M die), followed by uniforming your flash holes with a suitably sized twist drill.

[Larry Gibson]

I went through all that years ago when I got my Mini MK X bolt action. Lee and RCBS dies FL sized including the necks for .308 bullets. Case life was abisimal besides. I finally said heck with it and got a Redding bushing die soi I can size the necks only with .002 neck tension for bullets of .308, .310, .311 and .312 sizes with the correct bushing. I have not lost a single case since to either incipient case head seperation or neck splitting. I have loaded one case 50 times trying to wear it out and it never did fail. The savings in not buying new cases and in frustration saved were well worth the price for the Redding busing die.

Larry Gibson

[Moonie]

The set I recently purchased from Lee had 2 expanders, one for .308 and one for the larger bullets. Worked perfectly for me loading last week for a SKS rifle.

[BackWoods Billy]

Thanks for the help...I just found a Lyman 30 shot M die on e-bay so I grabbed it. Them Redding dies are very nice, but the buck are a little tight at the moment and these rounds are for my AK so I'm not to worried about it. I think I'll grind down the Lee sizing ball-decapper and just use it to size the case and decap. I like a lot of Lee stuff but this sizer has just giving me a headache.(lost about ten pieces of brass using it). Larry.Does that Redding die work for the 30-30 Win and the 308 too?The same die that is. I lived in Havasu many years ago...:drinks:

[Larry Gibson]

No the same Redding bushing die doesn't work for the .308W but it might work for the 30-30. If everything wasn't still in the storage locker I would tell you. Hope to have the shop set up within the month...........

I'm lovin' it here BTW........

Larry Gibson

[BackWoods Billy]

No the same Redding bushing die doesn't work for the .308W but it might work for the 30-30. If everything wasn't still in the storage locker I would tell you. Hope to have the shop set up within the month...........

I'm lovin' it here BTW........

Larry Gibson

Hope to get out there as soon as the Striped bass turn on..Gets a little hot in the summer, but so are the girls..:drinks:

[FAsmus]

Back Woods;

I have always loaded my 7.62x39 SKS with the LEE neck-size-only die. The one that has the collet inside it that you may adjust within certain limits to size the necks suitable for whatever diameter bullets you might be using.

I have a small-hole -gauge that I use to measure the ID of my case necks and set the die before I run the whole batch through the procedure. These LEE dies do not size the cases perfectly; the ID will always be slightly tapered - with the smaller end of the taper right at the mouth of the case.

I bell the case necks slightly by hand just before charging with a simple tapered punch I got at Ace Hardware.

I know that a fellow isn't supposed to run neck-sized cases through a semi-auto like the SKS but mine is the Yugoslavian version with gas-system cutoff so I may run it single shot (and avoid chasing brass at all). This allows the action to remain shut and eliminates the brass-stretching problem usually associated with semi-auto operations. I get about 10 cycles on each case before I need to FL size.

Case life? Who cares? I have a 5 gallon bucket full of cases.

Good morning,
Forrest

[BackWoods Billy]

Back Woods;

I have always loaded my 7.62x39 SKS with the LEE neck-size-only die. The one that has the collet inside it that you may adjust within certain limits to size the necks suitable for whatever diameter bullets you might be using.

I have a small-hole -gauge that I use to measure the ID of my case necks and set the die before I run the whole batch through the procedure. These LEE dies do not size the cases perfectly; the ID will always be slightly tapered - with the smaller end of the taper right at the mouth of the case.

I bell the case necks slightly just before charging with a simple tapered punch I got at Ace Hardware.

I know that a fellow isn't supposed to run neck-sized cases through a semi-auto like the SKS but mine is the Yugoslavian version with gas-system cutoff so I may run it single shot (and avoid chasing brass at all). This allows the action to remain shut and eliminates the brass-stretching problem usually associated with semi-auto operations. I get about 10 cycles on each case before I need to FL size.

Case life? Who cares? I have a 5 gallon bucket full of cases.

Good morning,
Forrest

Thanks for the info....

[kweidner]

For what its worth for any load I am working up for competition or 1000 ys stuff, I use no expander. My set of 6.5 x .284 redding bushings came with a seperate rod that had no expander. Agreed neck sizing for a semi is usually not going to work. On the bushing die think about it this way. Because you are sizing just enough to get the tension you want why would you run it through an expander? This would defeat the purpose of bushings. The only time an expander is needed is if you have a case neck out of round. You could also use an expander button from a smaller caliber if you wanted to decap from same die given your current situation.

[FAsmus]

kweidner:

Caution - I may digress from the thread! But I am interested in your mention of 1000 yard shooting with the 6.5x284.

~ It sounds a little like a jacketed type cartridge so would you tell us what you're feeding it for the long range game?

My 1000-yard cartridge is the 50/90 SS with the 700 grain bullet. It works well, but recoil makes it non-recreational except for competition.

Good morning,
Forrest