FL sizing versus neck and partial resizing on my 223

603Country · July 2, 2012, 05:57 PM

Some time back I mentioned that I was going to see if I could make my Ruger Hawkeye 223 (1 in 9 twist) shoot tiny groups with tiny bullets. It really groups well with the 65 gr Sierra GK, but I had had problems last year with it grouping well with smaller bullets. The new Hogue stock that I got prior to working up the 65 grain loads seems to have tamed the wandering shooting, so I've been shooting plenty of 40 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips in the search for the magic load. At about 1 grain under max with H335 I've found that it shoots great. I could quit now and call it good, but because of some recent topics on the forum on neck sizing I think I'll go one more step. I'm going to shoot a bunch with FL length sized brass, a bunch with Partial Resized brass, and a bunch with neck sized brass and see if I can see any noticeable difference in accuracy. All my sizing dies are Redding non-bushing and all the brass is brand new Nosler. So far all I can tell for sure is that the first loads with the new Nosler and the loads that were neck sized shoot into the same small group. It's too early in the testing to make any conclusions, but it does appear that the partial resized loads shoot a little worse. If my further testing shows that one type of case resizing is measureably better, I'll report on it even though the tests are just my rifle and my dies (and my shooting). I wish I had a LEE or Redding bushing die so that I could also compare neck sizing with those.

July 2, 2012, 05:57 PM	#1
603Country Senior Member Join Date: January 6, 2011 Location: Thornton, Texas Posts: 1,752	FL sizing versus neck and partial resizing on my 223 Some time back I mentioned that I was going to see if I could make my Ruger Hawkeye 223 (1 in 9 twist) shoot tiny groups with tiny bullets. It really groups well with the 65 gr Sierra GK, but I had had problems last year with it grouping well with smaller bullets. The new Hogue stock that I got prior to working up the 65 grain loads seems to have tamed the wandering shooting, so I've been shooting plenty of 40 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips in the search for the magic load. At about 1 grain under max with H335 I've found that it shoots great. I could quit now and call it good, but because of some recent topics on the forum on neck sizing I think I'll go one more step. I'm going to shoot a bunch with FL length sized brass, a bunch with Partial Resized brass, and a bunch with neck sized brass and see if I can see any noticeable difference in accuracy. All my sizing dies are Redding non-bushing and all the brass is brand new Nosler. So far all I can tell for sure is that the first loads with the new Nosler and the loads that were neck sized shoot into the same small group. It's too early in the testing to make any conclusions, but it does appear that the partial resized loads shoot a little worse. If my further testing shows that one type of case resizing is measureably better, I'll report on it even though the tests are just my rifle and my dies (and my shooting). I wish I had a LEE or Redding bushing die so that I could also compare neck sizing with those.