20 vartarg

[Sniper338]

I got lapua 221FB brass. Resized it in a redding 20 VT full length die. Then ran the brass through a 21st cent expander die 20 cal.. opened em back up to the 20 cal mandrel size...

My necks are .001 to .008 thou outta round.. went to turn/clean up necks on the 21st cent lathe, first few came out horrible... still .008 thou out of shape.. concentricity wise...

Wtf?

Do I need to fireform it first before cleaning up necks?

 

[Prose]

Wish I knew what to tell you. My concentricity improves after fire forming, but I have to turn necks to get to that stage. If your chamber has the room I'd check accuracy and see if it's acceptable before making a potential mistake of thinning out-of-round brass.

 

[Skunce]

Are you using a bushing die? If so how many bushing steps did you take? I ran my new Lapua brass through a 221 trim die then a Redding 20 Vartarg body die then finally a nonbushing full length die and didn't have any run out problems. I think that the most common Vartarg reamer has a .232" neck and I had to turn the Lapua brass. So if you want fire form before turning you'll probably have to use the COW method . Also the Lapua brass is a couple thousandths larger at the base.

 

[pacificman]

You may want to try a 2-step method and use a .233 bushing before using final .226 bushing
on your final sizing. I wouldn't use the expander ball with the redding die either. If your chamber will
allow I would fire form first before turning...I will say I have not used Lapua brass in my 20vt so
I might not be correct with this....I think Lapua brass may have thicker necks too...just 2 cents
worth here...

 

[varmintshooter]

Why not turn the necks while they are 221 and then run them thru your 20vt die. I started doing it that way with my first vt and haven't had any issues. I did one then seated a bullet and checked dia. I had to adjust my cutter until I ended up with a .229 neck (.232 chamber). The end of the cut will end up on the shoulder if you turn before necking down, and that should be a good thing.

 

[Wirelessguy2005]

Did you run the brass thru your 20vt die without the expander installed? If so this is a big part of your problem. Also as mentioned before the Lapua is thicker in the neck than all other 221fb brass, taking it down in one pass is working it hard and most likely adding to your problems.

I got lapua 221FB brass. Resized it in a redding 20 VT full length die. Then ran the brass through a 21st cent expander die 20 cal.. opened em back up to the 20 cal mandrel size...

My necks are .001 to .008 thou outta round.. went to turn/clean up necks on the 21st cent lathe, first few came out horrible... still .008 thou out of shape.. concentricity wise...

Wtf?

Do I need to fireform it first before cleaning up necks?

 

[AckleymanII]

Why not turn the necks while they are 221 and then run them thru your 20vt die. I started doing it that way with my first vt and haven't had any issues. I did one then seated a bullet and checked dia. I had to adjust my cutter until I ended up with a .229 neck (.232 chamber). The end of the cut will end up on the shoulder if you turn before necking down, and that should be a good thing.

Turn them again after you have fired them twice

 

[Sniper338]

Are you using a bushing die? If so how many bushing steps did you take?

Original post says exactly what I did. I read everywhere you can just run the new brass through a FL die. I did not use a bushing as it would leave an unsized part at the bottom of the neck. Chamber is lapua brass no neck turn..

You may want to try a 2-step method and use a .233 bushing before using final .226 bushing
on your final sizing. I wouldn't use the expander ball with the redding die either. If your chamber will
allow I would fire form first before turning...I will say I have not used Lapua brass in my 20vt so
I might not be correct with this....I think Lapua brass may have thicker necks too...just 2 cents
worth here...

No expander ball used, thought of the before hand. It did size the necks a good bit smaller than 20 cal though because there was quite a bit moving brass when using the expander mandrel back up to 20 cal...

Did you run the brass thru your 20vt die without the expander installed? If so this is a big part of your problem. Also as mentioned before the Lapua is thicker in the neck than all other 221fb brass, taking it down in one pass is working it hard and most likely adding to your problems.

No expander ball in the FL die

 

[Sniper338]

Why not turn the necks while they are 221 and then run them thru your 20vt die. I started doing it that way with my first vt and haven't had any issues. I did one then seated a bullet and checked dia. I had to adjust my cutter until I ended up with a .229 neck (.232 chamber). The end of the cut will end up on the shoulder if you turn before necking down, and that should be a good thing.

No turn lapua brass chamber... just trying to clean neck up.. but never in my life had this bad of a problem...

 

[NorCalMikie]

What does the target tell you BEFORE you start messing with turning the necks, or did you consider that? If you're turning necks, what's the use of having a "no turn neck" chamber?
If your formed (loaded) brass won't chamber because the necks are too fat, that's a different story. Till then...

 

[JohnHenry]

Shoot them and check the concentricity after hitting case with 55,000 psi. What is the run-out of your virgin Lapua 221 FB brass?

 

[Sniper338]

Shoot them and check the concentricity after hitting case with 55,000 psi. What is the run-out of your virgin Lapua 221 FB brass?

Didnt measure it... but yes I stopped, only buggered a few pieces. Probobly my best bet..

 

[Sniper338]

What does the target tell you BEFORE you start messing with turning the necks, or did you consider that? If you're turning necks, what's the use of having a "no turn neck" chamber?
If your formed (loaded) brass won't chamber because the necks are too fat, that's a different story. Till then...

Everything I have is no neck turn, but cleaning up neck always makes a difference even then. Thanks for the die though haha.

 

[NorCalMikie]

One of the main reasons for going to a "no turn neck" is to get away from messing with neck turning. Less brass messing = more trigger time.
Lapua 6 BR .272 no turn neck = bug holes on a more than regular basis.
Load them up, go shooting and watch the bug holes form.

.234 20 VT neck means you can use just about any brass. Form it, load it and go shooting.
Remington Fireball brass was all over the place. The .234 neck chamber reamer cured that.

 

[Skunce]

No turn lapua brass chamber... just trying to clean neck up.. but never in my life had this bad of a problem...

If that is the case then fire form them before turning them.