What are y’all’s thoughts on expander mandrels

1

I have been reloading for about 20 years and have never used expander mandrels but was reading about the benefits. What are y’all’s thoughts on them?

2

I use them. Gives me a more reliable shoulder than when I use the button.

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3

What brand do you recommend? I’m looking at the APW set that Piet sells in his Impact ProShop…

4

Cortina also has a good set that isn’t too expensive. I bought mine from 21st century and it’s good too.

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5

Also, if you’re getting expander mandrels, this organizer brings me joy ….. Expander Mandrel Organizer by Backfire

6

I like them. I especially like that I can remove the expander ball from the full length sizing die and don’t get any stuck cases now. However, I recently talked with an ol timer and he turned me on to Lee neck sizing collette dies that will deprime and resize the neck with NO need for lubing the case. I have used these type of dies now on .223 REM and 22-250 with surprising accuracy and sometimes I didn’t even clean them and still shot lights out. The ol timer didn’t anneal his brass but I tried it both with and without annealing with similar results.

7

That’s very nice!

8

I use a Hornady match grade neck sizer and an Eric Cortina expander mandrel. Consistent neck tension

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