Dam it...i think i have donuts...!!..And not the nice chocolate ones cut in half & filled with jam & cream that i like to roll around in...
So just before Xmas i received some body dies & a new 22-250 Lee neck collet die...
I have a couple of 22-250's, & neither of them i have been able to get to shoot consistantly...& the nice expensive one that i feed Lapua brass, some of the brass is slightly tight to chamber...
So ive gone to the extent of an exceptionally tight case sizing, prepping & annealing regime with these cases, to give a really good product to start from scratch with...
So last night i annealed them, ready to size & load today, & hopefully get out bush & start some good results driven testing...
For over the last hour ive been mucking around with the collet dies (i actually have 2 because im going to send one back due to it being not quite as Lee intends it to be--but for the most part it works)
Upon neck sizing some of the cases with the new collet die, some of the cases seemed to rub slightly, & others vigorously against the mandrel upon the case entering the die, & that friction being even worse when extracting the case (lowering the ram)...
I bought a couple of extra mandrels with the dies, & so replaced the mandrel incase that was bent...& hey Presto--it worked...!!...for 2 cases, then the third case went in ok, but extracted with friction...
So i thought maybe the die is a bit off kilter with its thread & somehow causing the cases to deform...?...
Then i thought maybe my cases are bent...??...(but how...?...)
Anyway...after much swapping of mandrels in & out of different dies, i finally decided to stick a bullet down the neck of an unsized case, & got lock-up--to that i thought ive done something terribly wrong & mixed up the cases id sized with the unsized ones...i very nearly hit a moment of "certification"...
...
But then i picked up the bullet again, & tried the following 10 cases, to find that some cases the bullet passed right through the neck & others stopped at what id guess is the junction of the neck/shoulder...the ones that stop feel so tight that they could be seated...
This is the first time these cases have been FL sized (Body die), so im not sure if these donuts have just appeared, or could be there from neck sizing with a redding expander ball type die in the past...??...
So it would appear i have donuts...!!!...ive only ever encountered it on a few cases before, & so ive just ditched those odd random ones...but im not doing that with these cases as they are near new Lapua...
Id guess around half of them have donuts...but havent counted yet...
So....how to get rid of them...?
I do have good neck turning equipment that ive never used, & in that gear is a cutter pilot...do i need to use that...?
So, im asking all you guru knowledge boxes out there...what is the best way to "De-Donut" my cases, & also, given there are donuts on some of them & not all, will this cause a great &/or bad difference to the brass in terms of consistant volume...?...because as it stands now, these cases are amazing in terms of consistant weight, & i guess cutting brass out of some & not others will cause a shift in that...but im not sure by how much...
I guess that rifle is staying home...again...one day ill get it shooting...but for now, i look forward to any advice i get on de-donuting...
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...