Best neck size for a 223 Remington

[artbosco]

Most 6PPC shooters believe a .262" neck gives the best accuracy.

Is there a 223 Remington neck that is thought to give the best accuracy in that caliber ?

If so, what is the size ?

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Clark]

My custom .223 reamer is a .250" neck, which is a common no turn custom chamber. I also get the throat shortened so light bullets can reach the lands.

 

[rstreich]

My custom .223 reamer is a .250" neck, which is a common no turn custom chamber. I also get the throat shortened so light bullets can reach the lands.

But .250" is probably too tight for Lapua 223. At least, it was for the last lot I bought. It measured right at .250" with 55 gr. V-Maxes loaded.

 

[vmthtr]

Most 6PPC shooters believe a .262" neck gives the best accuracy.

Is there a 223 Remington neck that is thought to give the best accuracy in that caliber ?

If so, what is the size ?

Thanks for your assistance.

That 262 number came from the crap brass that you had to use years ago. More and more are switching to a 269 neck.

Mike

 

[palma]

My custom .223 reamer is a .250" neck, which is a common no turn custom chamber. I also get the throat shortened so light bullets can reach the lands.

But .250" is probably too tight for Lapua 223. At least, it was for the last lot I bought. It measured right at .250" with 55 gr. V-Maxes loaded.

Same here for 80 bergers and lapua brass...right at .250".

 

[Preacher]

Plus 1 on the .262 neck no longer needed, and .269 is the way to go.

 

[Clark]

I just put a .224" 62 gr bullet in a new piece of Lapua .223 Rem Match Lapua brass, and it measures .249" for the first 90% of the neck and tapers up to .250" at the base of the neck.

I don't have that much Lapua .223 brass, but I have many other brands in my ~10,000 piece collection.

I have never had a cartridge that was reluctant to chamber in a chamber made with my .250" neck reamer custom made by Manson.

Both rifles made with it are 1903 Turks with 1 in 16" twist Douglas barrels. They only stabilize up to ~ 50 gr bullets.

 

[artbosco]

My unturned 223 Lapua brass with a seated custom made bullet measures .249" consistently. I use a .248" bushing when I size for neck tension. Is the .249 the best for accuracy? Would another size be more accurate? I don't know. That's the question. Based on the answers I've received so far, and information received from Dave Kiff at Pacific Tool and Gauge, and in the absence of better information, I'll probably stick with the .249" seated size and go with a .2515" or .252" no-neck-turn chamber dimension recommended by Dave when re-barreling. Thanks for everyone's interest and comments.

 

[billmo]

Art, if you can keep the neck tension down around .002 or a little less according to a fellow member I think the accuracy will be better. So, you would want to keep your resized neck at around .247 - .2475 if possible. My loaded rounds,Lapua Brass)
measures .250 and I am using a .247 bushing, but I am handloading for an AR-15 so I have to maintain a little more neck tension than you would need for a bolt gun. Bill

 

[artbosco]

Bill: I've tried both bushings, the .247 and the .248 and have had much better results with the .248. With the .248 bushing I'm putting .001" of tension on the bullet that is seated at .249. In fact, a couple months ago I shot a .084" 5-shot group using the .248 bushing. The neck chamber is .255. A little loose, but that's the way Fred Moreo smithed it. Next time, I'll send him a .252 reamer from Dave Kiff. I'm using a bolt action that's been highly modified for benchrest and have found that Lapua brass loaded with 26.0 grains of Varget and CCI BR4 primers gives me excellent results in spite of the .255 neck chamber. I did some pretty controlled testing and that's what my rifle seems to like. Thanks for your comments. Good Shooting!

 

[billmo]

Yea, sometimes the springback of the brass will be more than others. I have run into the same thing with my .308. I am actually using a .338 bushing and my loaded round neck diameter is .338. This bushing may be numbered wrong but whatever, it is working good anyway. Bill