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Star Reloaders Discussion Forums => Star Reloaders => Topic started by: laganbailey on May 09, 2022, 10:20:12 pm

Title: What is the diameter of your neck expander?
Post by: laganbailey on May 09, 2022, 10:20:12 pm
What is the diameter of your neck expander? What is the most desirable size for swaged(soft) bullets? Bullets are .4523 diameter.
Title: Re: What is the diameter of your neck expander?
Post by: rbwillnj on May 10, 2022, 01:20:45 pm
I don't really recommend going with a larger sizer.   First of are you are really overworking the brass.   Sizing it way down then expanding it back up.   Brass gets work hardened and you will significantly shorten the life of the brass.   Also, with the larger expander you will tend to build up a lot of brass on the expander.  With thinner brass like 32 S&WL you end up tearing the case.  Probably won't tear a 45 ACP case, but your will notice a lot more drag as you raise the tool head.

So, what's the alternative.   Hone the carbide ring so you are not oversizing the case.   The carbide ring of a typical 45 ACP sizing die has an ID of ~0.467".   When you size Federal brass you end up with a case that accepts a 0.449" pin gauge.   You will probably get different results with different brass.    I recently honed out a 45 ACP sizing die to 0.471".   With the Federal brass I was using, this yields a case that accepts a 0.451" pin gauge.

Bruce Williams
Title: Re: What is the diameter of your neck expander?
Post by: wv109323 on November 07, 2022, 07:44:59 pm
I use a .4510. If you go much smaller you will be down sizing your bullets during seating.