I think I need to neck turn..can anyone verify?

[WVHick]

I'm new to the whole precision shooting ordeal, and I have a 260 Rem done by LRI. I was recently having problems getting a reasonable ES and SD looking at my chrony results and decided to investigate. I have an AnD FX-120i scale so it's not my powder weighing.

I was looking at the reamer specs and it lists the neck diameter of my rifle is .2955 with a freebore of .095.

I'm using Lapua 260 Rem brass and my loaded round diameter is around .2945-.2950. This doesn't seem like enough room for expansion. Should I turn my necks down .002? Is it ok to do this after the brass has been once fired if I run it through an expander die before turning?

Thanks for the help!

 

[okie]

I'm new to the whole precision shooting ordeal, and I have a 260 Rem done by LRI. I was recently having problems getting a reasonable ES and SD looking at my chrony results and decided to investigate. I have an AnD FX-120i scale so it's not my powder weighing.

I was looking at the reamer specs and it lists the neck diameter of my rifle is .2955 with a freebore of .095.

I'm using Lapua 260 Rem brass and my loaded round diameter is around .245-.250. This doesn't seem like enough room for expansion. Should I turn my necks down .002? Is it ok to do this after the brass has been once fired if I run it through an expander die before turning?

Thanks for the help!

loaded should be 0.264 plus case neck walls...??

 

[fm1947]

You must have some numbers wrong, I'm not sure how you could have a loaded round at 245 or 250 when your bullet diameter .264 then add brass thickness at least .o14 so .028 +.264 = .292 should be your loaded round, well around that number, that would be perfect for a .295 neck are you sure you have a 6.5 bullet or .264

 

[okie]

loaded should be 0.264 plus case walls...??

and there are lots of things I would check before turning necks.

 

[WVHick]

Sorry, I forgot to insert a digit. My loaded round numbers are .2945-.295.

I'm using 130 gr 6.5mm Berger VLD Hunting bullets.

 

[BoydAllen]

Yes you do need to turn necks. I would do some experimenting until I had a loaded round neck clearance of about .003. Just last week I spoke with a fellow who has done well in 600 yard benchrest and he told me his standard for neck thickness is to be able to just slip a bullet in a fired case. Whatever you do, work with one case until you get what you want, and then turn a small batch and test. Every so often I run across some fellow who has gotten all wound up with an idea, does it to all of his cases, and then figures out that what he really should have done was something different. Don't be that guy.

 

[okie]

Sorry, I forgot to insert a digit. My loaded round numbers are .2945-.295.

I'm using 130 gr 6.5mm Berger VLD Hunting bullets.

ok that makes sense, I dont know the numbers on that brass, might swap brass to another brand and get by, someone on site could tell you if rem brass is thinner, norma used to be a lot thinner on the 6.5x.284 than the lapua... might save some time...

 

[okie]

and good luck with it

 

[fm1947]

That's better start with .001 that will be .002 minus what you have now, don't start with more you can always take a bit more but you can never put it back

 

[Brians356]

Is it ok to do this after the brass has been once fired if I run it through an expander die before turning?

Yes, it's ok to turn fired brass. You would want to run them through a full-length sizing die, not necessarily adjusted for full sizing. (I would adjust the FL die to barely set back shoulders, say .002". Do you have a tool to monitor case lengths at the shoulders?) Then the necks would be expanded with a mandrel of a size appropriate for your neck turning mandrel.
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[jim_k]

One way to guarantee that you DO need to turn the necks is if you cannot drop a bullet down the neck of a fired case. If the bullet will not fall through smoothly with gravity (assuming ejection did not deform the case mouth), no one would argue that you need to turn the necks to be safe. I totally agree that the numbers point to the need to turn them.

 

[Geno C]

Should be a neck of .298 for Lapua brass. .295 is for Remington brass. PPU 7-08 necked down would work too otherwise it would be best to turn. I have a gun that is .000" clearance and shoots amazing! I never get upset when something goes wrong chambering a round though because I know exactly why it happened.

 

[Willie]

I'm new to the whole precision shooting ordeal, and I have a 260 Rem done by LRI. I was recently having problems getting a reasonable ES and SD looking at my chrony results and decided to investigate. I have an AnD FX-120i scale so it's not my powder weighing.

I was looking at the reamer specs and it lists the neck diameter of my rifle is .2955 with a freebore of .095.

I'm using Lapua 260 Rem brass and my loaded round diameter is around .2945-.2950. This doesn't seem like enough room for expansion. Should I turn my necks down .002? Is it ok to do this after the brass has been once fired if I run it through an expander die before turning?

Thanks for the help!

Try to latch on to someone who is set up to turn necks, if possible. He should have a tubing micrometer to check out your brass thickness. Also measure the loaded neck diameter on numerous rounds before jumping in to neck turning. You may have measured some cases with excessive wall thickness. Getting setup for accurate neck turning is not cheap. It might be easier, depending on how much brass you have purchased, to locate brass with thinner necks for this rifle.

That said, I run several .296" necks and have to turn my Lapua brass. Did you know you were getting the tighter necked chamber?

 

[WVHick]

Try to latch on to someone who is set up to turn necks, if possible. He should have a tubing micrometer to check out your brass thickness. Also measure the loaded neck diameter on numerous rounds before jumping in to neck turning. You may have measured some cases with excessive wall thickness. Getting setup for accurate neck turning is not cheap. It might be easier, depending on how much brass you have purchased, to locate brass with thinner necks for this rifle.

That said, I run several .296" necks and have to turn my Lapua brass. Did you know you were getting the tighter necked chamber?

I did not know, no. I mean I could have looked at the reamer specs before picking but just told them 260. Then I got more into shrinking my ES and S.D. and started investigating. Found out it was .296

I’ll measure some more rounds before I make a decision to order the K&M neck turner, mandrel and expander die setup.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[WVHick]

One way to guarantee that you DO need to turn the necks is if you cannot drop a bullet down the neck of a fired case. If the bullet will not fall through smoothly with gravity (assuming ejection did not deform the case mouth), no one would argue that you need to turn the necks to be safe. I totally agree that the numbers point to the need to turn them.

I cannot do this. In fact, it takes a decent amount of pressure to get a bullet in a fired case.

 

[WVHick]

Yes, it's ok to turn fired brass. You would want to run them through a full-length sizing die, not necessarily adjusted for full sizing. (I would adjust the FL die to barely set back shoulders, say .002". Do you have a tool to monitor case lengths at the shoulders?) Then the necks would be expanded with a mandrel of a size appropriate for your neck turning mandrel.
-

Ok, I'll have to get a full length die. I have a Redding Type S FL busing die, but I assume I can't use this as it leaves a bit of the neck unsized due to the bushing?

The brass I'm going to neck turn is once fired, and has already been cleaned and ran through my Redding Type S FL die. So I need to run it through a normal FL die set to barely bump the shoulder and then run through an expander and then neck turn? I plan on getting a K&M expander, neck turner, and the required mandrels.

 

[WVHick]

Frankly, I am amazed that you haven't been hurt yet, given what you've described above.

Yes, you need to turn necks. You need a minimum of .003 of clearance for good bullet release, more doesn't hurt. That means your loaded rounds shouldn't be more than .2925. If you don't have a micrometer its time to bite the bullet and tool up. Good calipers and a micrometer are the foundation of every reloader's toolbox.

Your neck walls are not going to be as uniform as some claim. There will be variance, especially since you're a beginner. This is where the micrometer will give you an education. There are many good YouTube videos that teach you how to use one. My advice is plan for a .290 loaded round diameter, as your skill improves on you next batch of brass you can start experimenting with thicker necks.

I'm shooting F-Class and I'm running a 260AI. My reamer is .2958 neck and I wouldn't dream of loading a round with a neck diameter of .292 or more. The risk of overpressure is just not worth it (how much do you value your eye?), not to mention that your precision is likely to suffer as well.

If you want to learn lots about neck turning pm brians356 (see post 10), he is very patient and kind and willing to teach. He knows what you need to learn.

Good luck,

Joe

Good deal. I'll shoot for a .290-.291 loaded diameter and see if things improve.

 

[Danley]

In my opinion, 260 with Lapua brass needs to have a reamer with a minimum neck diameter of .298. Like mentioned above, you want a bullet to have a slip fit back into a fired case ... with that being said, most older 260 reamers were ground with Remington brass in mind (back before Lapua was available), which had thinner necks. Lots of useless reamers from that day forward.

 

[jim_k]

You could also get a gunsmith to run a finish reamer with a larger neck diameter through the gun, taking care not to move the shoulder. Talk to LRI.

 

[WVHick]

^ This is a good idea. It should cost you somewhere between $50-$100. That's less than the tools you'll need for neck turning, not to mention the work involved.

This will buy you time until you're really ready to take on neck turning. IMO you should get into annealing (it's easier) before you tackle neck turning.

Good luck,

Joe

I already have an Annealeez. I can anneal. I also have an anvil micrometer to measure the case neck thickness.

I have confidence I can tackle the neck turning, I just needed reassurance that it was necessary before I ordered the kit. Plus, I can use the kit into the future, as well. It seems everywhere has differing information. There was a guy earlier in this thread who said he had a chamber with no (.000) neck clearance and it shot great and then another telling me they're surprised my gun didn't explode so I was looking for a consensus on what was needed.

I'll order the neck turner and get my loaded diameter to where I'm at .005-.006 clearance and that should get me back into a normal and safe clearance range.