Case Stretch

[dale2242]

My sage rat shooting buddy and I both have been shooting 221 FB rifles.
We both use the Lee Collet neck sizer dies.
We have never full length sized our brass after 6-7 firings
nor have we needed to trim the cases.
I am using Lapua brass and he is using Nosler.
He says he thinks the shoulder of his brass is moving forward and needs to be bumped back. He feels his bolt is closing a little harder than before.
I am no having this issue.
Is it possible for the shoulder to move ahead without the brass gaining overall length?

[Larry Gibson]

If the rifles are the same and the load is the same the difference is the cases. Each time the cartridge is fired the case expands and seals the chamber then contracts a bit. If his Nosler cases are softer than your Lapua cases they do not contract as much after firing. Thus they get slightly larger in size, not length, with each firing. It is not uncommon, when neck sizing, to have to partial size after 6 - 10 firings higher pressure loads.

[lightman]

About the time I get 3 or 4 firings on neck sized brass I start feeling increased resistance when closing the bold. I run them through a Redding body die, just touching the shoulder. At this time I'll trim them and run the neck turning tool up on the necks. I'll usually get a little bit of brass when doing this. I also use a primer pocket uniforming tool to clean primer pockets and its not unusual for me to get a little brass here also. So, cases will stretch in about every direction after being fired.

[Iowa Fox]

I really like the Lee collet neck sizing die and have a bunch of them. For every Lee neck die I also have a Redding body die and full length size EVERY time about .002 to .003 bump on the shoulder. I gave up on neck sizing only in the early 70's. If you're just shooting very light cast bullet loads neck sizing might be ok for a while.

[charlie b]

I have to admit that I am lazy. I use the Lee neck sizing dies because I am lazy and don't want to mess with case lube and full length sizing.

I have yet to have a problem with chambering a cartridge due to sizing issues. .223 and .308. Both have been fine with surplus brass, winchester, hornady, federal and lapua. Some of my winchester .308 brass has 15 reloads on them, probably 10 of those were full bore jacketed loads. .223 uses jacketed only.

Again, I do not believe neck sizing is more accurate or better. I just use it because I am lazy.

PS the cartridges are only used in one rifle. If using same in two different rifles I would full length size every time.