Neck sizing considerations~!

[COLT45SA]

I bought supposedly once-fired .262 necked Lapua 6mm PPC brass. All was .0085 to .0095 thick at the neck. I trimmed cases to 1.500" length, used a .260 bushing to size the necks, then bumped the shoulders to fit my chamber, and now some cases have a donut on the neck just where the neck meets the shoulder.
What caused the donut and how do I get rid of it~!

I've watched videos demonstrating the 21st Century neck turner. It looks to cur a very precise and uniform neck all the way up to the junction of the neck and the shoulder. Do I need to buy one and uniform all of my brass to an .0085 thickness? I'm only an occasional paper shooter~!

.The further down this rabbit hole I go the more I think I should sell the whole "shooting match". My .223 is no where near as complicated and it has taken considerably less money out of my pocket.

 

[dgeesaman]

is your bullet seated deep enough to get into the donut?

 

[COLT45SA]

is your bullet seated deep enough to get into the donut?

Donut is on the outside of the case neck.

 

[Bill Norris]

I bought supposedly once-fired .262 necked Lapua 6mm PPC brass. All was .0085 to .0095 thick at the neck. I trimmed cases to 1.500" length, used a .260 bushing to size the necks, then bumped the shoulders to fit my chamber, and now some cases have a donut on the neck just where the neck meets the shoulder.
What caused the donut and how do I get rid of it~!

I've watched videos demonstrating the 21st Century neck turner. It looks to cur a very precise and uniform neck all the way up to the junction of the neck and the shoulder. Do I need to buy one and uniform all of my brass to an .0085 thickness? I'm only an occasional paper shooter~!

.The further down this rabbit hole I go the more I think I should sell the whole "shooting match". My .223 is no where near as complicated and it has taken considerably less money out of my pocket.

Using a bushing die you will have an area just above the neck/shoulder junction where the die cannot size the necks due to the shelf where the bushing sits inside the die. This is perfectly normal with a bushing die.

If you keep turning this area away you will eventually have case separation at that point.

 

[Ccrider]

^^^^^What Bill just said. No big deal. Shoot them and they will form to your chamber.

I would shoot the brass with similar neck size together. You should be fine as long as you have enough neck clearance.

 

[bozo699]

Using a bushing die you will have an area just above the neck/shoulder junction where the die cannot size the necks due to the shelf where the bushing sits inside the die. This is perfectly normal with a bushing die.

If you keep turning this area away you will eventually have case separation at that point.

^^^^^^^ 100% This
Wayne

 

[bozo699]

^^^^^What Bill just said. No big deal. Shoot them and they will form to your chamber.

I would shoot the brass with similar neck size together. You should be fine as long as you have enough neck clearance.

And this ^^^^^
Wayne

 

[bozo699]

I bought supposedly once-fired .262 necked Lapua 6mm PPC brass. All was .0085 to .0095 thick at the neck. I trimmed cases to 1.500" length, used a .260 bushing to size the necks, then bumped the shoulders to fit my chamber, and now some cases have a donut on the neck just where the neck meets the shoulder.
What caused the donut and how do I get rid of it~!

I've watched videos demonstrating the 21st Century neck turner. It looks to cur a very precise and uniform neck all the way up to the junction of the neck and the shoulder. Do I need to buy one and uniform all of my brass to an .0085 thickness? I'm only an occasional paper shooter~!

.The further down this rabbit hole I go the more I think I should sell the whole "shooting match". My .223 is no where near as complicated and it has taken considerably less money out of my pocket.

Colt45sa,
If measuring, more measuring, fiddling around with dies, bushings and mandrels and yes spending money then wildcats and custom chambers is definitely the wrong rabbit hole to jump down in!….. if the rifle is shooting good with the bushing your using and you want to get away from the bulge your seeing where the bushing stopped sizing order a custom honed die with your specification’s and it should work great for ya.
Wayne

 

[Zero333]

This is why I went back to non-bushing dies that have the expander ball. Since then I've never had a problem with inside or outside donuts.

Accuracy has not suffered either. But I prefer RCBS dies because their expander balls are knurled and require less force when sizing.

To each their own.

If I want to play with neck tension, I have a few extra expander balls for each cartridge and I run them either in a drill press or cordless drill while sanding them down to whatever size I want.

 

[K22]

The further down this rabbit hole I go the more I think I should sell the whole "shooting match". My .223 is no where near as complicated and it has taken considerably less money out of my pocket.

I downsized and simplified my shooting and reloading equipment to a 223 Rem and 243 Win. However, I almost exclusively shoot the 223 Rem bolt rifles these days. I get 280 reloads out of can of powder. This allows me 2 to 3 range sessions a week. It is also simple to reload. The 223 Rem is more than adequate for the limited varmint and predator hunting that I do these days in my area.

I have never been more content with my new shooting approach. The less complicated the better I like it. I'd rather be shooting at the range or hunting (translation taking a nap or smoking a fine cigar in the field) than fussing with reloading complexities.

 

[Owens85]

Your neck thickness has to much variance. I like my 262 nk to be around .0083 . The ones measuring.0095 my not even chamber in a 262 chamber. .0083+.0083+2434=260.
You will need a smaller bushing as well. A 256 or 257 . Should serve you well with a 262 chamber. I wouldn't worry about the donut you shouldn't be close to it when seating your bullet.

 

[Straightshooter1]

I bought supposedly once-fired .262 necked Lapua 6mm PPC brass. All was .0085 to .0095 thick at the neck. I trimmed cases to 1.500" length, used a .260 bushing to size the necks, then bumped the shoulders to fit my chamber, and now some cases have a donut on the neck just where the neck meets the shoulder.
What caused the donut and how do I get rid of it~!

I've watched videos demonstrating the 21st Century neck turner. It looks to cur a very precise and uniform neck all the way up to the junction of the neck and the shoulder. Do I need to buy one and uniform all of my brass to an .0085 thickness? I'm only an occasional paper shooter~!

.The further down this rabbit hole I go the more I think I should sell the whole "shooting match". My .223 is no where near as complicated and it has taken considerably less money out of my pocket.

That outside donut is caused from the use of a bushing die, as the bushing just doesn't size all the way down to the neck-shoulder junction. An outside donut like that is not necessarily a bad thing as I can help center the cartridge when being chambered. And you won't have as much donut on the inside to interfere with deeper seated bullets.

Rather than thinking about turning the necks, a non-bushing sizing die that's been reamed to minimize work hardening in the sizing process and without an expander ball. Then run a mandrel and you wont have a donut like that. Or, use a collet neck sizing die, as that mashes the neck again a mandrel, which does a pretty good job of mitigating any donuts.

 

[D Coots]

Your neck thickness is has to much variance. I like my 262 nk to be around .0083 . The ones measuring.0095 my not even chamber in a 262 chamber. .0083+.0083+2434=260.
You will need a smaller bushing as well. A 256 or 257 . Should serve you well will a 262 chamber. I wouldn't worry about the donut you shouldn't be close to it when seating your bullet.

^^^^^^^^

 

[Ccrider]

For some reason I missed you are shooting a .262 neck ppc. As noted by some of the other posters, if some of your brass is .0095, it is not safe to shoot in a .262 barrel- .0095 x 2= .019. .019 + .243= .262. That is virtually no clearance and could cause pressure spikes.

.0080 to .0083 necks will give you proper clearance although a lot of guys set records using .0086.

If you are going to shoot a .262 neck ppc, you may as well learn how to turn necks or pay someone to do it for you, because ppc brass ran hot wears out primer pockets.

Also, forgot to add, I am not sure about your chamber length but my guess is you should be trimming to 1.490 or so.

 

[drop_point]

I am not sure if what I am doing is right, but I only size about 2/3-3/4 the way down on my necks with a Competition Neck Sizing Die. I also use a body die as a separate stop.

 

[D Coots]

If you are going to shoot a .262 neck ppc, you may as well learn how to turn necks or pay someone to do it for you, because ppc brass ran hot wears out primer pockets.

What would be considered hot?

 

[rayporter]

if you could scrounge a no turn neck barrel most of your fussing would go away.

 

[COLT45SA]

if you could scrounge a no turn neck barrel most of your fussing would go away.

Boy, that's the truth~! Kinda sad that I don't shoot often enough to justify the cost of installing a new barrel. . If I win the lottery I'd probably go for a 6MM ARC chambering.

 

[jackieschmidt]

My sizing 30BR and 6PPC dies sizes the case about 3/4 the way down. The straight portion of the bullet shank never gets near it.

My advice to the OP would be get a Gunsmith to run a a 273 neck reamer in the neck portion of the chamber and just shoot a no neck turn 6PPC.

 

[divingin]

I bought supposedly once-fired .262 necked Lapua 6mm PPC brass. All was .0085 to .0095 thick at the neck.

This part doesn't apply to your problem directly, but does your rifle have a tight-neck chamber? Brass is usually neck turned to get a cartridge to fit a tight neck chamber (though a clean-up skim turning doesn't hurt.) If you run brass turned for a tight neck in a standard chamber you're going to be working the brass in the neck quite a bit, which will probably require frequent annealing.

As far as your outside "donut", it's caused by the bushing not sizing down to the shoulder/neck junction, and is very common with neck-sizing-only dies. A lot of shooters actually prefer having that, as it will act as a false shoulder and help to center the front of the cartridge in the chamber. Do not turn it off, as it will thin the brass too much at the neck/shoulder junction. If you don't like having the unsized portion, you need to adjust/machine your die to get the bushing to go lower on the case neck at full throw (without pushing the shoulder back too far.)

LE Wilson says that if you want to size to the shoulder with their arbor press neck die, you have to machine off the die bottom to get the bushing to go lower on the neck.

Redding has an adjustment for how much the bushing will get pushed up into the die before being forced onto the case neck. I'm not sure how much adjustment is available though.

Not familiar with other neck dies, so can't advise on those.