Help me select neck sizing expander ball and confirm bullet.

[PatrickB]

I am reloading for a Chinese Type 53 which to the best that I can determine slugs at .302 for the lands and .312 for the grooves.

I have loaded a few thousand 9mm and .45acp pistol rounds over about a year but this will be my first rifle loading.

I have brand new Norma brass which I understand I don't have to full-length resize even for the first loading. The brand new brass out of the box does fit fine in my gun. I plan to neck size the brass before the first loading (and continue to only neck size as long as possible). So I got a RCBS neck sizing die for 7.62x54R which came with two expander balls.

The ball that came installed in the die measures .309 at its maximum width. The extra ball that came with the die measures .306. (These are my measurements with a Hornady digital caliper. I'm not sure what the advertised dimensions are for the balls.)

The bullets I have selected to load first are the .3105 Hornady 174gr FMJ BT item 3131. They measure .3105 on my Hornady digital caliper also.

So, assuming that this .3105 bullet is reasonable to load for this gun, which of the two expander balls would be best: the smaller .306 or the larger .309? I'm not sure what the typical desired difference is between bullet size and neck sizing expander size. I think for .312 bullets I'd definitely use the larger .309 and with .308 bullets I'd use the smaller .306, but my .3105 seems to fall in the middle.

Thank you for your time and any help and advice you can give.

[bunkysdad]

For that rifle I think that the. 312 bullets and the larger expander ball will give you best results. The small ball is included for 308 bullets used mostly in the Finns.

[PatrickB]

Thank you. But since all I have right now are the .3105 jacketed bullets, would you recommend to also use the larger expander ball with those?

For that rifle I think that the. 312 bullets and the larger expander ball will give you best results. The small ball is included for 308 bullets used mostly in the Finns.

[bunkysdad]

I would try it and see how it does, maybe try 10 or so and just seehow it works. You could then try the other, but I am thinking the larger one. I have the larger of the 2 installed on my RCBS sizing die and it worked great with .309 cast bullets and. 311 jacketed bullets.

[Outpost75]

In bolt action rifles, in which rounds don't have to withstand a severe feeding cycle, as ocurrs in a semiauto, an expander ball 0.001 smaller than the bullet is adequate. This is also best with cast lead bullets, because a soft bullet may be deformed when forced into a tight neck.