Adjusting a neck die .

[Harter66]

A brief history .
Dad bought a 6.5 Type 38 Arisaka about 6 yrs ago , passed 3 yr ago and I started piddling around with it last winter . Among other things it requires a significantly over sized bullet , and we're all shocked by that (purple font right ?) . I've been with 2 sets of dies both of which size somewhat excessively at the neck and the body could be left alone too , which is also probably no surprise to anyone reading this .

I aquired a Hornady universal neck die in both 6.5 and 270 . I had hoped that the 6.5 would lean towards the thick necks of the 260 and 264 ....... Good intentions and all that .

Next was the 270 suited for the WSM and 270 Win . I figured if it sized as thoroughly as the 6.5 did I'd be in the money ...... Yeah , well , I don't gamble well . It's about .003 not enough .

The bushing dies also provide a nice gap of about .007 which neatly avoids all of my needs by .003-4 .

As a last effort to get this right I bought a Lee universal neck die maybe it's a 260 neck die, in any case it's only going to size the neck an may bump the shoulder .
I need to open it up from the .262 neck ID to provide one at .270 . This time I'm not just knocking out the crimp step to load a mild cat so it needs to be a bit more accurate . I recognize that the die is probably hardened , it also has plastic alignment bushings in it at the base .

This brings me to , do I ream it with a close enough reamer and split dowel finish it , just make a day of it and split dowel lap it up , or should I try to drill , ream , and lap . The die looks almost like it's chromed . It is a Lee die so if I completely bugger it up it's only a $15 loss and I can go ahead and take it up to 7mm .

Whats the best , least labor intensive , drill press and a file kind of guy way to get it done ?

[Winger Ed.]

I do things like that slowly and by hand.
I'm not ever in a big hurry, its something I can while watching a movie,
and it's easier for me to take a little more metal off than put some back on.

[country gent]

To get a rough Idea of bushing size needed, bullet Dia and ( neck thickness X 2) - .001 - .002

Unless you buy a carbide reamer the chemically hardened lee dies wont cut well and then the carbide may be one time use. a split dowel wont keep a true surface on the neck. The for sure way is a id or jig grinder.
Converting the die to use redding or wilson bushings would be the Ideal way to go.

[Harter66]

The bug with bushing dies is that the .264/8 bushings don't go out big enough and the 277 bushings don't small enough for a good fit for the .273 bullet . They stop at a bushing that would give me about .268 or .275 .

Making an expander ball is easy enough but that seems like a lot of movement .
Kind of makes selling all 3 dies and sending 3 once fire formed cases to CH for a sizer and be done ...........same price as the rifle is all .

[garandsrus]

I tried to send you a PM but your box is full.

[Harter66]

Garandsrus ,
thank you for the help and solutions to this issue .
Gentlemen such as yourself restore my faith in the folks here on CB in their genuine desire to help , guide , and occasionally provide a solution to an unusual , in the mainstream anyway , problem .

[jmorris]

Wanting to make a hole .008” larger, a reamer would be in the mix for me.

[jj850]

I think Forester will lap the neck of their die to any size you want.