Help with neck turning technique and tools

[RichAllen]

I'm jumping into BR shooting with both feet. Borden is currently building a 6.5x284 Shehane for me. Along with the rifle comes custom made reloading dies and a few sticks of brass.

I'm going to need the proper tools to turn the necks on my future brass.
There seems to be a lot of different information about neck turning so I would like to get a firm consensus on the procedure and tools that works best.
My brass will be Lapua and my trimmer is Wilson/Sinclair.
Jim told me that I would need a turret press for reloading. I'm currently using a Lee's cast, any information on which turret press to buy would be helpful as well.

Thanks in advance,

Rich

 

[Eddie Harren]

I'm sure Borden will have the correct answers to all of your questions.

 

[billmo]

Rich, the best approach to turning your brass would be first of all to know your chamber neck diameter. At that point you would be able to take a dummy round,bullet seated in case only - no powder and primer) and get a diameter measurement from the neck and determine how much clearance will be needed. Usually, from .002 to .003 clearance on BR rifles would be what you want. With that being said, it seems there is a trend now to cut the chamber neck area to a degree of which very little neck turning is needed therefore just a light clean up or a tad more is about all that you would be taking off. I have one of Jim's Rimrock actions on my 6 X 47 Shehane and it is a fine action. From judging my action, he will be able to explain in detail all that you need to know, I'm sure. On my Lapua necked down 6.5 X 47 brass I only had to remove app. .0025 to get down to .268 loaded round neck diameter to fit my .270 diameter chamber. I only turned 20 pc. before I decided to turn my brass before I necked it down from the 6.5 to 6mm. The unfired brass seems to be more staight by turning and then necking down. At least for me anyway.
I hope this helps, but it takes a little time thinking about the whole process and realizing exactly what you are trying to obtain
The turning process is a little intimidating to begin with so you will want to practice on a couple of pcs. of old brass before you start actually turning that high dollar stuff. Follow the turning instructions carefully and ask questions as you go.
There is plenty of info on this site concerning neck turning and plenty of knowledge stored in a lot of thes guys "melons" to help you out. In my opinion, K & M and Sinclair are two very good sources for purchasing your neck turning tools and accessories and both will be able to give you solid advice that you can depend on. Bill

 

[RichAllen]

Thank you for the reply Bill.
I got smart and called Bill Shehane directly, he gave me the run down on turning the necks. He recommended using the K&M neck turner so that's what I ordered.

This going to be exciting!


Rich

 

[Winchester69]

Jim told me that I would need a turret press for reloading.

Did he say why? Your process should determine your equipment needs. I don't see the advantage unless he thinks you need a lightweight, portable piece like the Harrell press. Do you plan on loading at the range?

For a standard turret press, the Redding T-7 is a cut above the others, and is the only one I would consider for accuracy loading. A turret allows you to keep your dies permanently mounted, but a set of Hornady LNL bushings for your Lee Cast will serve the same purpose.

I doubt that he was recommending the Lee Turret, which is a different animal.

 

[RichAllen]

Winchester; Jim specifically asked me if i had a turret press, I told him that "I owned a press" then he asked "but is it a turret press?".
Obviously I don't have a turret press so he said I would have to get one.
I didn't ask why the turret style was recommended but since my rifle won't be finished until late April I have plenty of time to ask questions.

Rich

 

[RichAllen]

Hey Linn,
I talked to Jim and for some reason I had everything backwards..
He recommended a arbor press and asked if I owned a turret press.
He didn't recommend the turret style.

Damn I'm slow sometimes.

Rich

 

[chris308]

Lynn,
I never thought about dipping the k&m into ice water. I find that my cuts get less and less and have to adjust my cut deeper as i keep going only to have real deep cuts the next night, very frustrating indeed. When you said the aluminum will expand you`re talking about the body of the turner right? that explains everything.. also getting the turner wet won`t hurt anything will it? do you dry it completly after evry turn? what is your technique on this? Glad you posted this, am turning 6br`s right now for a .262 neck thanks chris

 

[RichAllen]

Lynn, if two rock is the range near Petaluma that's where I'm shooting this weekend.

I read they have a 300 yard range and i wanted to try out some 308 ammunition i made up.

Rich

 

[chris308]

Lynn,
thanks for the excellent tip! I`m turning 6br`s right now. Am doing it in 3 passes with 3 seperate cutters. 1st cut to about .011, 2nd to about .0092 then my last cut to .0088. I do 5 cases at a time,1st cut for 5 cases let them cool,do a 2nd cut,let them cool amd so on.) do you recomend cooling off the 1st and 2nd cutter or just the last final cut?
i never gave any thought that the body of the cutter was the problem. i just thought the manderl was heating up and changing the dimension of the brass neck. chris

 

[rstreich]

...Drop your neck turner into the ice water....

I put a sheet of plastic wrap over the bowl of ice. It won't cool quite as fast, but it sure is a lot less messy. I hate it when the water gets on the case and spins up onto my glasses.

I also found that assembly lube works a lot better than the die wax. When I'm turning 17s and other little necks, the mandrel heats up pretty bad on just one case. With the assembly lube, it only gets warm.

 

[AlNyhus]

I use a plastic bowl filled with rubbing alchohol that I set the turner into. When I'm ready for the next case, I swish the tuner around in the alchohol and use an old toothbrush to remove any brass shavings from it. This keeps the turner temp. constant. The alchohol evaporates quickly. I drop it in the alchohol, take the case off the driver, chamfer the neck and set it aside. By the time I pick up the turner from the alchohol, it's cooled and ready to go.

James Mock gave me this tip sometime ago and it works really well. -Al

 

[rstreich]

That's a good one, Al. It can get a little tedious sweeping out the bits and pieces. I think I'll try that next time.

 

[Silverfox]

If you are going to turn the necks on your casings and not stop until you make a slight cut onto the shoulder, then there is one very important step you need to perform BEFORE beginning to turn any of the necks on your casings. Trim all your casings to the exact same length. Otherwise you will not get the small cut onto the shoulder as some folks recommend you do. The mouth of the casing will bottom out in your K&M turner before you get to the shoulder on any casings that are longer than the one you set your cutter up for.

 

[RichAllen]

I now have the K&M neck turner and I think it's a great piece of equipment. I bought it mainly for my 6.5x284 gun,still being built) but I have another F-class rifle as well.

The other rifles are both 308, one is FN SPR-AG3 and Savage F/TR. I'm using the Wilson case trimmer, flash hole debur and Redding competition dies for reloading this caliber. Should I turn the necks for the factory rifles? I understand that neck turning is generally for tight BR barrels.


Rich

 

[billmo]

Rich, I agree. The K & M tool is top notch. If you check your brass neck walls for uniform thickness and find no more than .0015 difference, I don't see much use in turning them. If you decide to anyway, run the case necks in your expander and just do a very light clean up and take down the highspots"ONLY" in order to not create an even larger void between your brass neck and chamber neck area thus not increasing the amount of brass movement when resizing as most factory chambers are fairly large. I hope this helps. Bill

 

[RichAllen]

Good morning Bill,

Thanks for confirming the light cleanup of the necks for these two guns. I just got a sinclair neck micrometer so I can check all the brass fairly quick.

I've been trying to develop loads for these two rifles and yesterday had great success, i laid down .198 moa with my factory FN using

Norma brass
Fed 210 primers
Case trim 2.02
44 grains varget
COAL 2.80
155 Gr SMK

I did have the occasional flyer but i attribute that to my inexperience reloading.

Thanks again,

Rich

 

[billmo]

That sounds mighty good man. Keep plugging along and things will continue to improve. Sometimes, at the best we all can do we get an unexplained flyer. Don't get all wrapped up in it. It just happens.

I have a FN .308 SPR with the A-5 Mcmillan stock and mine really shots tight with the A-max 168 gr. non-moly bullets. I am using Lapua brass and other than that we are using the same components

Are you shooting 5 shot groups at 100 yds.? Bill

 

[RichAllen]

Hi Bill,

I've been shooting 5 shot groups at 100 and 200 yards just to get get trigger time.
Another member lives close by and shoots at a local spot with a 300 yard but I haven't had time to go.


Rich