Correct neck tension

[Fuj]

Personally, I always keep one fully functioning round available so I can shoot myself just before the "bear" arrives! Lol.
Paul

Not sure what part of Oregon you reside but, when I went out there to
ride, race, and hill climb the Pacific coastal dunes between Florence and
Winchester Bay, one of the buds loaned me a spare .357. Something
about them big cats out there walking around the camp sites at night
looking for a meal on the beach. Them paw prints are huge !! You don't
hunt them, They hunt you......Now there's some neck tension.....LOL

 

[markm87]

Agreed. A repeatable process with cleaning, lubing, brushing & bushing is about all we can do without one of those computer seaters things.
Mine ALL seat with the same feel & dial #'s

Thats what got me into annealing years back. Same Lapua .308 brass with the same firings ran through the same dies yielded wildly different neck tensions. For whatever reason, the brass seemed to work harden in the neck unevenly.

Maybe it was some other reason, but neck tension cannot be measured in inches. That's for sure.

 

[rwj]

Maybe it was some other reason, but neck tension cannot be measured in inches. That's for sure.

A better term is “fit.” The difference between the bullet OD and neck ID - a measure of how much the neck was “stretched” during bullet seating.

 

[TTE]

I will also crimp. On heavy game hunting loads,
you do not want them bullets pulling out under recoil and jamming
up a magazine

^^^
Depends on the recoil of the cartridge I think.
If you are shooting a 505 Gibbs you are going to want a considerable amount of neck tension.

 

[Charlie-NY]

Just my uneducated opinion but I think brass necks will just stretch to accommodate a bullet if you use more than .003" of neck interference. That's what mandrels are for. I have never seen a need for more than .003" and usually use .002". If more neck holding ability is needed, for some big magnum or other special application, I'd use a crimp tool after seating at a more conventional neck tension/interference.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Just for fun I sized some Hornady 204 brass necks to 0.196-0.197 inside diameter. No lube(new brass). Factory rifle barrel, rds touched at 100 yards(39 gr Sierra) shot a bunch loaded like that for prairie dogs. Went back to the "normal" -0.002 shot the same?

 

[searcher]

If you go heavier then .003" there can be an added issue. There is a very
good possibility that you can cave a shoulder in going tighter. I know this
personally. Some time back, I went to the range and a round chambered
tight, and the next one did not. Younger and dumber. I had just learned
about annealing and that heavy seating and softer shoulder made a large
enough bulge to tie things up......"DO" chamber check every round you
hunt with. You don't want this to happen when pissing off a bear, and your
back up is only a knife......LOL My bear back up is a .41 Mag

Good point. That brings up the differences between flat base bullets and boat tails. Some flat base bullets can cause fits when too much tension is used.

 

[ELR LVR]

Just for fun I sized some Hornady 204 brass necks to 0.196-0.197 inside diameter. No lube(new brass). Factory rifle barrel, rds touched at 100 yards(39 gr Sierra) shot a bunch loaded like that for prairie dogs. Went back to the "normal" -0.002 shot the same?

Once it stretches around the bullet, they should all be the same right?

 

[trebor244]

Being a benchrest shooter and a hunter, I look for consistency in the force it takes while seating a bullet.
Single feed (with a 6PPC), I like to have between 15-20 lbs to seat the bullet.
With a manual repeater, (bolt, lever, pump etc. about 25-30 lbs of force.
With a semi-auto 30-40 lbs.
The force to seat the projectile can be manipulated with neck wall thickness, use of an expander mandrel, and by putting a heavier crimp on the projectile, with the seater/crimp die.
If I've confused you all, welcome to my world