Flare for rifle cartridges?

[gwpercle]

You will need to flare case mouth for any / all cartridges loaded ...rifle or handgun ... with lead boolits .
A Lyman M-Die is nice but the NOE system of m-die type inserts used in a Lee Universal Neck expander works much better . NOE also sells the Lee Universal Neck Expander if you don't already have one .
Just get a set and save yourself a lot of shaved boolits . The NOE inserts come in many different sizes and are a great value .
Gary

[mdi]

I flare everything. Shoving a slug/bar into a brass tube that is .002"-.004" smaller in ID can be difficult without some sort of "entry way". A flare doesn't need to be a 040" bell, just enough to allow a bullet to stand up and enter the seating die without guiding it in. Remaining flares are removed with a taper crimp die (semi-auto handgun), a roll crimp die (revolvers and rifles) or a collet crimp die.Crimping dies can easily be adjusted to just remove flare as a last step. Been doing this for many years/thousands of rounds without any downsides...

[robg]

flare with the lee universal die .works for me with 223/308/45-70.

[mattw]

I load most of my rifles with cast from .22 to .30. I will never flare another case, it is a draconian guess at best. Look into the Lyman M step dies and the NOE expander plugs. They expand the length of the plug with a step toward the end that you can tune or get tuned to you bullet diameter. No need to crimp or "clean up" the case mouth with tight chambers if the right plug is used.

[popper]

Post #3 is the correct way. And remember to expand the neck for proper neck tension.

[Soundguy]

I load most of my rifles with cast from .22 to .30. I will never flare another case, it is a draconian guess at best. Look into the Lyman M step dies and the NOE expander plugs. They expand the length of the plug with a step toward the end that you can tune or get tuned to you bullet diameter. No need to crimp or "clean up" the case mouth with tight chambers if the right plug is used.

Seems less useful if you are also loading for jacketed bullets on the same. I'd have to replace your stem every time you do something

[Rich/WIS]

I don't crimp my rifle ammo, either cast or jacketed. Have never had an issue with seating rifle boolits in cases that were expanded with the Lyman M die, and have not noticed any of the slight flaring of the case mouth the M die creates after seating. Always figured the seating die tolerance was such that it ironed it out as the boolit was seated.

[Mk42gunner]

I size boolits to 0.311" for most of my .30 caliber rifles. I use the M-die that came in the set for .32 ACP/S&W/S&WL/H&R to expand the neck and allow the gas check a start.

To remove the very slight ring, I adjust the seating die to just straighten the case mouth. The only one that I normally crimp is the .30-30 for use in tube magazines.

Works for me.

Robert

[stubshaft]

Many years ago, I tried loading cast in rifles with only a simple flare and accuracy sucked! I switched to a Lyman "M" die and later the NOE expanders to alleviate some of the neck tension and accuracy was great.

A simple flare will enable you to load a cast bullet without lead shaving BUT the neck of the case will usually size your bullet down a couple of thousandths. If you do not believe me, size a bullet and measure it, load it into a case with ONLY a slight flare, use a kinetic bullet puller and pull the bullet. Now compare the original diameter to the pulled bullet. I usually buy a neck expander to set the bullet tension at .002".

[charlie b]

That may be true with some, but, even plain base bullets are not 'sized down' by the necks in my .308 and .30-06 (most of the time I use gas checks). Yes, I have pulled and measured. I use Lyman #2 alloy exclusively.

I use the Lee universal expander for my rifle, Lee powder thru expanders for pistols. .357 gets roll crimp, 9mm and .45acp get taper crimp. The .308 and .30-06 have the flare removed by the collet crimp die set to not crimp. Works well enough for almost MOA accuracy.