How tight is too tight?

[Terry]

Tight neck chambers are popular. How tight is too tight? I remember reading about a tight chambered gun that did not require resizing the brass after firing.

Terry

 

[Terry]

http://www.benchrest.com/FAQ/2.4.shtml

Your thoughts?

 

[BoydAllen]

Although matches have been won with different approaches to management of a tight neck chamber, it seems to me that the trend has been away from cutting brass for such a close clearance that the necks do not require sizing, for a long time. 10-12 years ago I posed the same question to a couple of long time competitors who own current records, and their very qualified opinions were that more consistent neck tension is achieved by using enough clearance that sizing is required. Recently, I spoke with one of that pair about the details of his loads, as part of an interview relating to 100yd. unlimited aggregate that was being sent in for record measurement, and he told me that he tries for two and three quarters thousandth neck clearance. Based on that conversation and others about what some of the top shooters are using, I have re-cut some of my brass thinner. I keep waiting for this to reduce the effect of misreading my flags. So far, no luck. If you have seen the six part tuning workshop that Jack Neary has posted on Youtube you know that he is an advocate of more rather than less clearance, and tells of his experiences with both.

 

[Catfish]

In actuality neck thickness does not matter as long that the amount of presure it takes to to pull the bullet is the same. The whole reason for turning necks is to get the smallest varation in bullet pull that you can posibly get. I like tight necked chambers and like to turn my case necks for .002 expantion. The reason is that with zero tolerance any dust will may the rounds hard to chamber and my guns are mostly hunting guns. The less expantion you have the less you work your brass and the longer it will last.

 

[gpoldblue]

Terry...Ed Watson was one of the winningest benchrest shooters in the history of the sport and he used a total neck clearance of .001".(see Precision Shooting,March 1984 article by Ed Watson). You can't argue with success. Lots of shooters are using more than .001" clearance with great results. Personally,I think shooter skill is far more a determining factor than neck clearance.... within reasonable tolerances. I like to be able to JUST slip a bullet into a fired case after brushing inside of the neck with a nylon brush.. a nice snug fit. You have to find what works for you. I like abt .002" total neck clearance. Good luck.

 

[GSPV]

There are lots of ideas out there. Some are contradictory. Personally, in my 6PPC, I use 1.5 thou per side, keep the necks trimmed to 1.500 in a 1.525 trim-to neck and bump the shoulders 1 thou. Take that for what it's worth. I'm a duffer.