223 Remington reamer question

[marwitz89]

I'm currently having a 223 Remington barrel chambered for my BAT MB action by Lester Bruno. Lester is ordering a reamer for me for future barrels. I would like to turn the necks on the brass and was curious what neck dimension would be good for turning the brass. Lester suggested ordering the reamer with a .245 neck diameter but that seems small. If I run .001 clearance, that would suggest I need to turn the brass to .010. I believe the Lapua brass I am using is about .013 thick so I would need to remove .003. Is that too much?



Thanks,
Joe

 

[fdshuster]

Joe: I spec'd my PTG 223 Remington chambering reamer with a .253" chamber neck for my Lapua (blue box) brass, loaded round neck diameter of .250". If you want just a little clean up outside neck turning, a .250" to .249" would work fine.

.245" seems a little thin to me also. I don't like to remove any more brass than is required to true it up.

p.s.: Thinking about it and I realize my msg. may be confusing. My .253" chamber was setup for a no-turn neck. .250" is the loaded round neck diameter without outside turning.

 

[Laurie]

It depends at least partly on what you're going to use the rifle for. A 0.245" neck chamber and VERY heavily turned brass with 0.002-0.003" overall clearance might work in benchrest. Those clearances are 'tight' for FTR, varminting or similar where the round-count between chamber and barrel cleans is higher and there is a risk of fouling build-up. If you run at one to one and half thou's at any given point around the case-neck (0.002-0.003"), you have no margin at all for any out of the ordinary event.

PT&G's 223 'ISSF' chamber is designed for long-range TR and FTR use with lightly turned Lapua brass and is specified at 0.2527". That (in effect) 0.253" neck lets you run with necks turned to 0.0125" for a 0.004" overall clearance, and still accepts unturned cases running on or just below 13 thou' thickness. Most batches of Lapua 223 run in the high 12s to low 13s.

Still, 223 with necks turned down to 0.009" might work really well, but I've not heard of anybody who has tried it to date. This is a big forum, so somebody with such experience might appear.

 

[Phil]

Turn `em to .012

.224+.012+.012=.248

.250 chamber


What bullet are you shooting and how much free bore????


Phil.

 

[marwitz89]

Phil, that's what I was thinking. I changed the reamer to a .249 neck diameter. Not sure what freebore Lester offered, I told him I wanted to shoot 77 mk bullets.

 

[Phil]

Off the top of my head, i THINK my reamer is .075?????????

I shoot the 75 amax in mine, please don`t take my guesstamated free bore as truth, my memory isn`t all that.....

Phil.

 

[rocketron]

Off the top of my head, i THINK my reamer is .075?????????

I shoot the 75 amax in mine, please don`t take my guesstamated free bore as truth, my memory isn`t all that.....

Phil.

Your thinking is probably correct. Mine is .080 free bore and with the 75 amax at touch it will just feed from a aics mag.

 

[Phil]

RocketRon,

Thanks for the vote of confidence..... ;D


Phil.

 

[stinnett1981]

Mine is a .252" neck for no turn necks and a .064" freebore. It good for 80 grain bullets and down to 53 grain Vmax.

 

[MDM]

Mine is .2525 for no turn on Lapua brass and .085 FB. I'm running 80 vlds and 60vmax for yotes.

 

[jsthntn247]

Go with a .251 if your using lapua and turn them .001 per side.

 

[boltman223]

Hi marwitz, I have a little bit to add. I don't know if factory ammo is on your radar at all but, with a
.249 neck factory ammo is about 100% out of the question out of the question.

I started with a .250 neck reamer and went to a .253 because it was nice be able to shoot some factory ammo every once in a while or shoot some unturned stuff if I wanted to load some new brass up real quick to go shoot for fun and fire form.

With my .253 neck I still clean up my necks and I get great accuracy! Just my thought on this

 

[amlevin]

Hi marwitz, I have a little bit to add. I don't know if factory ammo is on your radar at all but, with a
.249 neck factory ammo is about 100% out of the question out of the question.

I started with a .250 neck reamer and went to a .253 because it was nice be able to shoot some factory ammo every once in a while or shoot some unturned stuff if I wanted to load some new brass up real quick to go shoot for fun and fire form.

With my .253 neck I still clean up my necks and I get great accuracy! Just my thought on this

Same, same here. I prefer to just clean up the necks after they've been fireformed. Hard to do if you can't get the neck in the chamber to begin with.

Rifle shoots great with this combination.

 

[wapiti25]

I have a reamer with a .246 neck and that is too small for some use. I'm shooting 600 yds with it but turning that much is a pain. I would go with a .250 neck and lightly turn the brass for future builds.