So ran across something last night I wanted to see mabye someone might have an explanation for. Was re sizing some brass last night, full-length lake city twice fired 5.56 all from my gun, and noticed it I couldn't successfully bump my shoulder back the four thousands I wanted with one stroke. I'd do one stroke and they'd pop out like ( and I think these are the numbers I'd have to look back in my nots to see exactly but it was) 1.455-1.456 no matter how hard I worked the press handle it happened. I'd try and fool around with my die and it would pop out 1.453 well ended up having to work em once ,rotate the case in the shell holder and run it again and they almost all popped out a perfect 1.454 in the second stroke. Anyone ever experienced anything like that ? Living with Hornady one shot after they where decapped and wet tumbled. There's are also a hotter load so man that has something to do with it ?
Thanks

Didn’t square your sizing die with the shell holder.

would be my first thought. It could be harder than usual brass that might need annealed, but typically with 223 and 556 it takes a lot more loadings like 5-6 before they might need annealed. I experienced this some with certain years of Lake City brass in 50 BMG that were harder than other years and required annealing after a couple leadings or the way to “cheat” it another loading was just what you did. Run it up in the die then bring it back out and rotate 180 degrees then into the die again.

???? Guess I'll show my ignorance here but what exactly do you mean ?

Sierra edition v page 153 Bottom paragraph.”squaring dies.

Mmmm I'll have to see what year my serria manuals are when I get home and check but are you referring to when you print you ram all the way up the screw your die down till it touches then set your lock ring ?

Wolf full length resize period

Only way I roll

Make sure the sizing die is clean inside. Lube can build up and cause troubles. Raise the press ram with shellholder installed all the way to the top. Screw die down until it touches. Then slightly lower press ram and screw die down a small amount, like 1/16 of a turn or less. You want the press handle to have a little pressure on it when it cams over. Hold press handle right at the cam over point and tighten lock ring on die firmly. Assuming that the shell holder is machined flat on top, everything should be square now. You will most likely have to loosen lock ring on die to remove it from the press and repeat this process everytime. Some brass, especially military stuff, refuses to cooperate even after squaring up everything. If that happens just run it thru twice, turning half a turn between passes. There is also a process to center up the decapping rod/expander ball stem too. Probably need to do that too while you are at it.

Four thou seems like a lot of bump, even for an AR. For my match AR's, I usually shoot for 2 thous on the shoulder bump.
What you're experiencing is Spring-back. Brass work hardens, the more it's worked / moved, the harder it gets., and the more it resists confoming to the resizing operation. Try holding the ram at the top of the stroke for 3 or 4 seconds to give the brass time to conform to the sizing die. Another thought, pulling the neck back over the expander ball in the die can cause the brass to move/ grow also.
Annealing the neck and shoulder will help with the spring-back and make the brass more consistent.

Go over to the 6mmbr / accurate shooter site. More good info on reloading techniques than anywhere else I've found. Bunch of good guys, some actual world class shooters and gunsmith on the site, and very helpful.

Google "Squaring dies to shell holder" and you will find lots of info on the subject.

Another thing to look at is your case lube. Used Hornady One Shot for almost ever. Recently I acquired a 222 but couldn't come up with any brass. No problem, I'll just reform some 223, no problem. Using the One Shot and virgin brass I got only one good case out of ten, not happy! I did a quick Google search, Imperial Sizing Wax was recommended. That did the trick, zero losses. I have since switched over using it on every thing from the 222 to the 338 Win Mag. The difference in resizing effort is very noticeable.

Your die set could be out of whack too. I have only seen one die set that was bogus. It just happened to be an RCBS 223 set. Properly annealed cases will also be a big help.

Way back when I asked around about which press to buy, the only advise was to stay away from "C" shaped presses because they had some movement. Not sure if anyone even still makes them like that, most are all "D" shaped now.

I am assuming you are using an AR type rifle. If so you do not have a match chamber.
Use your standard size die or a small base die if they will not cycle through your rifle.
You want to work the brass as little as possible and still have it function. The best is making it to
factory specs if you are loading for more than one rifle. You can set your dies up for just one rifle
if that is the only one you are using that ammo in. All the shoulder bump and neck sizing is to match the
chamber. But if you have a normal factory rifle, with a factory barrel you only want to work the brass
as little as needed to get the longest life. Go with what the gun was designed for. You are waisting
your time if you think you can improve your rifle beyond what it was designed to do.

And a turret is worse about flex than a C

Says the guy who shoots 3 inch groups at 50 yards and asks if they are acceptable lol OL

If you are shooting a 556 nato chambered AR style rifle, the boolit needs to call an uber to get to the lands anyways. So in that case the whole soldier bump thing goes out the nine and will not improve accuracy by a noticeable amount. So just set your dies as in the book all the way down to the shell holder and be done with it. Anealing the brass will help in more than one way. It will equalize neck tension, make resizing easier and more conform.

Sorry Scuba gotta disagre especially with the part about FL and go. For long lead chambers sizing to fit the chamber is even more important.

That Group was the first five shots out of a rifle that I built. The “flier” was the fowling shot.
The owner says that that rifle will shoot just about anything he feeds it that well or better, hand loads of course.
And by the way when I say “built” I don’t mean attaching an upper to a lower and maybe installing a drop in trigger group and pushing a couple cross pins the other way.

Says the guy who shoots 3 inch groups at 50 yards and asks if they are acceptable lol OL[/quote]

Yep.....with cast bullets.... Last two groups I've shot with my jacketd rounds @100yd. I know I know still not one hole ..Like I've said before y'all are probably just better shots then me honestly . Also comparing my ...what $500 AR online sale buy to yall custom rifles is just plain not a fair comparison but I digress ,before I'm labeled on of the snot nosed young know it alls that seem to plague this forum