Bushing sizer dies vs collet sizing die question

J

John Wright

New member
I have a custom 220 Swift with something close to a 40 degree shoulder (Ackley Improved maybe?) The neck of the 220 Swift cases are turned down prior to fire forming the brass to reduce neck tension on the finished round. The Whitworth action on my rifle has a solid floor plate and is single shot so the reduced neck tension is usually not an issue.

Here is a photo with the starting 220 Swift case with the neck turned down, two fire formed cases from my rifle and a single loaded bullet (https://imgur.com/1l6V70G).

I lost all my reloading equipment in Hurricane Ike back in 2008 but now that I am retired I would like to start reloading again. Another forum member suggested that I look into the Whidden dies and they look very interesting. I had only used a collet neck sizer for this rifle in the past thinking it would work the brass the least and give me the best accuracy. The Whidden video describing the bumping of the shoulder 3 thousands of an inch has me a bit confused. Is their bushing style sizer die only a neck sizer or does it partially resize the case/shoulder as well? Do collet style neck sizer dies work the brass less? Are there any advantages to bushing vs collet sizer dies?
Thanks in advance.
 
I believe you have a 220 Swift AI. If so, reamer Prints for this case are on line.

A Redding S neck sizer, 243 Winchester, with the proper bushing for your neck dia will work well, but the collet dies produce some very, very concentric ammunition.

Whidden dies are not cheap, they are excellent quality.

Be forewarned, it maybe cheaper to have your barrel set back to a 22/250 AI as dies are plentiful for this case, but you will suffer on the horse power.

Good luck!
 
Great suggestion ackleyman, I hadn't thought of having the rifle rechambered and certainly don't need the added HP of the 220 Swift AI round. The friend that made the rifle for me liked the 220 AI to cut down on brass flow and simplify reloading in the field (Lee Precision Collet dies in their Hand Press). He died three years ago and we haven't hunted prairie dogs together for the last 15. Still, I'm not ready to sell the gun so having it rechambered to 22-250 might be the best option without having to replace all of my reloading gear that was lost in Hurricane Ike in 2008. Does anyone on the forum know roughly how much it costs to have a 220 AI reamed out to 22-250.
 
Over the last 50 years I've almost gone broke looking for the perfect reloading dies. I have tried them all (press & arbor). A Redding body die and the Lee collet die with 3 different size mandrels will do a very nice job. Lee sells mandrels dirt cheap so its easy to adjust neck tension. It takes a press that cams over using John Valentines instructions for adjustment of the die to really make them work to their full potential. You can google Valentines instructions. I think if Lee packaged a body die with their Collet die with good adjustment instructions they would sell to the accuracy shooters.
 


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