In a lifetime, you can never experience everything. As time goes on, even things you knew but forgot about, return to remind you.
For my .270 I compared full-length resizing, moving the shoulder back 0.002" to just neck-sizing, using a specific die, and I found I squeezed out tighter groups by neck sizing.
So I loaded up 50 rounds of 140gr Hornady SSTs and went off to chronograph them. After 5 rounds, I found one that would not chamber, but neither could I remove it without using a wooden block and hammer to knock the bolt open.
As I continued, I found more and more of the same but I had learned not to try to fully engage the bolt.
I came home and measured the necks. The Lyman manual shows the neck should be 0.310 inches. Those that chambered were that, or slightly below. Those that would not chamber were above 0.310 inches.
I pulled the bullet, poured the charge into a full-length sized and primed case, removed the depriming pin from the die and full-length resized the case. The length was fine, so I returned the powder charge and seated the bullet. It easily chambered.
In 1976 I read "The Complete Book of Practical Reloading" by John Wooters, so I rechecked what he said about neck sizing. Sure enough. When you neck size, expect to full-length resize after about 3 or so rounds. He didn't find much advantage to it, so it was his policy to always full-length resize.
So now I have a pain in MY neck, faced with pulling about 30 rounds and going through the process described above. I think I'll retire the neck-sizing die.
For my .270 I compared full-length resizing, moving the shoulder back 0.002" to just neck-sizing, using a specific die, and I found I squeezed out tighter groups by neck sizing.
So I loaded up 50 rounds of 140gr Hornady SSTs and went off to chronograph them. After 5 rounds, I found one that would not chamber, but neither could I remove it without using a wooden block and hammer to knock the bolt open.
As I continued, I found more and more of the same but I had learned not to try to fully engage the bolt.
I came home and measured the necks. The Lyman manual shows the neck should be 0.310 inches. Those that chambered were that, or slightly below. Those that would not chamber were above 0.310 inches.
I pulled the bullet, poured the charge into a full-length sized and primed case, removed the depriming pin from the die and full-length resized the case. The length was fine, so I returned the powder charge and seated the bullet. It easily chambered.
In 1976 I read "The Complete Book of Practical Reloading" by John Wooters, so I rechecked what he said about neck sizing. Sure enough. When you neck size, expect to full-length resize after about 3 or so rounds. He didn't find much advantage to it, so it was his policy to always full-length resize.
So now I have a pain in MY neck, faced with pulling about 30 rounds and going through the process described above. I think I'll retire the neck-sizing die.