223 powder through expander die

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Re: 223 powder through expander die

Post by Ranch Dog »

Don't want to beat the Ez-X-Expander stuff to death but I spent most of the day setting up the various expanders I had custom ordered but yet had not placed in dies. I also ended up ordering a few more, ran Lee out of their oversize stock (probably production positions).

Okay, here are my rules of thumb concerning the Ez-X-Expanders:
  • You must know the "stock" size that comes with the die, pull it and measure it.
  • An Expander for a jacketed bullet needs to be at the diameter of the jacketed bullet. As an example, the 30-30 Win and other .308 sets have a .307" expander, and they produce undersized inside diameters for any .308" bullet I've tried to set on the cartridge. It is not much but if you want a perfect fit order an expander +.001" over the stock size (bullet size of .308" minus expander size of .307" equals .001").
  • For cast bullets, the expander must be +.001" over bullet diameter. For ordering, you must make the same reference to the stock expander as in the previous example.
Most of my shooting is with cast, but I do use some jacketed bullets in my rifle that are 35 caliber and below to establish their accuracy potential. The bottom-line is I'm tired of buttering the bottom of a bullet with beeswax so that I can get it in the case. A couple of years ago, I ordered a bunch of .310" Ez-X-Expanders which the Russian cartridges use these as stock expanders. My intent was to turn them down to .308" and not pay the fee or wait for the custom order. Yeah, right! It only took me two years to do it!

The work took two minutes an expander! I chucked the expander up in the file and put a %@*&$ file to it, these are hard steel, checking it often with a caliper. Once cut, I polished it with 600-grit wet & dry using oil for the "wet." The once.310" expander but now .308" expander went into the die and was locked down. The .308" expander, .001" over the stock part, delivered a perfectly sized inside diameter and the darn bullet sits where it is supposed without tumbling over. I even used long, heavy, flat based bullets in the photo below. There is no way the bullet can remain on the .307" expander case. The .308" expanded case is ready for seating. Jacketed bullets need an Ez-X-Expander that is at the jacketed bullet diameter because brass springs back .0010" to .0015".

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Michael
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