How to check I have a safe level of neck tension

[dellet]

Release the bullet: I never wonder how long it takes the neck to expand when releasing the bullet, it is important the neck has enough room to expand. Someone should wonder about the difference in time it tales the neck to expand. It was not that long ago when members did not believe gas passed the bullet before the bullet hit the lands.

F. Guffey

The neck expanding has almost absolutely nothing to do with anything. Unless the neck is overly soft, or crimp overly tight, it will take more pressure to expand the neck, than it will to push the bullet into the lands, where more pressure will be needed to continue the movement.

The pressure point the bullet starts to move, release, will be the first factor in many, that will determine the quality of the burn rate of the powder.

If a bullet is seated into the lands, the gas won't beat it there. If a bullet is breech seated, the gas will not beat it there, if a bullet is loaded from the muzzle, the gas won't beat it there. Depending on the distance the bullet needs to travel to get to the lands, it's a race. So you are only correct less than 25% of the time at best.

In a fixed cartridge load, gas will always pass the bullet until the point that enough pressure builds to deform the bullet enough to seal the leak. It's also possible, but not ideal, that seal will never happen.

There are only two factors that need attention when loading for accuracy/precision. How you control these is negotiable.

Will the bullet enter the bore straight.

Will the powder ignite and burn the same every time.

How tight the bullet fits the neck only comes into play for one of those, and only then if you choose to use that method to aid the other.

 

[dcali]

Now don't laugh but you can test how much pressure it takes to move that bullet.

Load a case with NO POWDER or even a primer. Prepare the case as you see fit then seat a bullet. Now you are going to ruin that bullet but get a feel for how much it takes to move that bullet. Push it down on a bathroom scale and watch as the pounds go up. When it moves you now have an idea of how hard it it sot move that bullet.

I did multiple tests with 30-30 ammo a number of years ago. Different annealing procedures, neck wall thickness and neck tension. 30 - 60 lbs was the range of pressure I had to push on to get a bullet movement. Flat messed up my hand pushing that hard. Still, it is an idea.

I’m not going to laugh because it’s better than nothing, but there is one porblem with pushing the bullet in rather than pulling it out - the neck sizing operation may or may not have sized the neck past the most rearward edge of the bullet’s bearing surface. Since the neck almost always yields on seating, it could take a bit more force to push it it than pull it out. Just something to watch for.

 

[SGK]

The Swede will outperform the 'new' 6.5's all day long if you handload them...

BTW, SGK are you anywhere close to me in West Auckland ?

Hi. I'm now living in Miami, FL, USA. I popped back to NZ for about 6 months last year while my immigration stuff was being sorted. Was great to be up in the Kawekas.

 

[jr600yd]

SGK, lots of really good shooters in SFLA. Check out Port Malibar Rifle and Pistol Club. They have a 600 yd range and shoot a lot of pistol and rifle disciplines. It’s a really nice range with good people.

 

[SGK]

Thanks. I actually stumbled across that range online yesterday while searching around. Looks nice. I popped down to Homestead Training Centre on Friday. Nice people running the place. It's not a big place, no electronic targets etc but has rifle targets at 100-500 yards. I couldn't shoot because the police had booked both 100 yard bays and in order to shoot beyond 100 I needed to demonstrate capability at 100. I didn't mind though. I'm glad they have good safety policies. I was, however, a bit disappointed when they said I would not be able to do any loading at the range. It would be great to be able to use a classroom or even a bench to load cases in order to speed load development. But I am simply keen to get back into things.

(At the time I didn't appreciate how spoiled I was having Bisley as my 'local' range (about a 45 minute drive). https://nra.org.uk/nra-bisley/ranges/ 3000 acres of facilities. That link covers just the ranges managed by the NRA. I used to do mostly running boar, running deer and stalkers' disciplines at the British Sporting Rifle Club as I did a lot of hunting. Hence my rifles. https://bsrc.co.uk/facilities/ A private range club and facilities within the same grounds at Bisley. On top of all that there are two very large wooded areas for simulated game shotgun shooting. https://www.bisleyshooting.co.uk)