Inside Neck Reamer

[APDDSN0864]

I am trying to help a friend with a custom rifle that he recently acquired.

The rifle is chambered in .450 Howell, a cartridge based on the .404 Jeffrey case. The .404 case is trimmed to 2.500" in a trim die, but needs to be neck reamed in order to properly hold the .458 caliber bullets.

Instructions in Dr. Ken Howell's book "Designing and Forming Custom Cartridges" call for inside neck reaming. Having never done this, I have several questions I was hoping someone could help me with.

Is the neck reamed before sizing in the sizing die or afterwards?

I cannot find any inside neck reamers in the usual online sources.

Is there a place in particular I need to look?

If this is a custom piece of equipment, does the reamer have to be sized slightly under .458" in order to give the proper bullet tension?

What else am I missing to get this done correctly?

Is there a resource out there that could answer all of my questions at once?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Ed

 

[Steve Blair]

RCBS makes a large number of neck reaming dies. Although I don't see .450 Howell listed, they would probably make one. [br]
http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSearchQuery=neck+reamer+450+Howell

 

[APDDSN0864]

Thank you, sir!

Ed

 

[Baddog0302]

http://www.forsterproducts.com/store.asp?pid=26888&catid=19938
Forster has advice on neck reaming and may be able to make a custom reamer for you

 

[wapiti25]

It might be easier to turn the outside of the case. you need to know the chamber neck dia.

 

[jonbearman]

Call Wilson, maybe they would make one for you.

 

['Freak]

Wilson does inside neck reamers for use on their case trimmer replacing its usual cutter. Per Sinclair the reamers are sized for use on fired, unsized cases and measure .0025” to .003” larger than bullet diameter. Custom sizes are available with a 6-8 week wait time. Sinclair’s #749-058-061 and $30 gets you a standard .458” bullet diameter reamer that’ll be .4605” to .461” in diameter.

'Freak

 

[wboggs]

I have used RCBS with good results in .378WBY necked down to .338. It is used after resizing. Top quality workmanship at RCBS Custom Dept.
Bill

 

[Outrider27]

It might be easier to turn the outside of the case. you need to know the chamber neck dia.

Having the dubious honor of getting in on the ground floor with the 7mmBR with an XP-100, I can tell you why you need to inside neck ream when forming some cases from their parent cases. You haven't seen a neck ring in the inside of the case neck until you have done case forming for certain calibers, 7BR from 308BR or regular (LR primer) 308 Win cases for one, and you will not get rid of the ring without inside neck reaming. Period. Inside neck reaming is just a necessary step in the formation of certain wildcats; in the case of the 7BR it was just another annoyance, but it does yield a case that requires minimum work to establish and maintain consistent neck wall thickness down the road by outside neck turning. I wouldn't go against the recommendation to inside neck turn at initial case forming where it appears in published instructions.

 

[timeout]

Check here: http://www.mcmaster.com/#reamers/=uovu1b

Not the easiest to work with, but with the proper size and careful use these will work. They usually have virtually any size you need in stock.

 

[barefooter56]

APDDSN0864,
Do you have any loaded rounds of the cartridge or fired cases ? Using a ball end micrometer to measure the neck wall thickness of a formed cartridge case can help you find what size reamer you will need. Neck turning NEW brass to the neck wall thickness found with the method above will be a lot easier and you will get a better result though. Reamers have a tendency to follow the neck. If the neck is at an angle the reamer will ream at an angle. If you notice a "donut" at the neck/shoulder junction after firing use a L.E.Wilson customer size reamer (.457-.458) to nip out the donut on FIRED UNSIZED BRASS. Hope this helps!
Take care,
Phil Hoham
Berger Bullet Tech

 

[conor m]

ed , if you know the chamber neck size for the gun that you are talking about contact alan or dan warner thay can bore out the cases this will do away with the problem of donuts , its not cheap , got them todo a batch of cases for me a few years back best money i ever spent . the problem with reaming out a case neck is that you need to support the case neck on the out side as the reamer will want to expand the case neck due to the elascity of the brass .

conor m