Inside neck reamer

[zap]

I am going to be looking for an inside neck reamer really soon. I am looking for something quick, and easy. What are my options ? I have dough nuts in 6.5 x 47 brass and I think it may be causing accuracy issues. I am just a casual target shooter, so I dont want to be spending too much, just want the dough nuts gone.

 

[357Mag]

Zap -

Howdy !

I DK whether you already have one, but a Wilson case trimmer w/ correct diam " inside neck reamer "
works superbly.

You can add a Sinclair adapter, to allow use of an electric drill to drive the reaming process.


With regards,
357Mag

 

[zap]

Thank you,
I will check that stuff out.

 

[zap]

I should have added this to my OP.
I am using Lapua brass for my .223 and 6.5x47 . I dont want to be taking any material out besides the dough nut at the neck/ shoulder junction.
I use a 247 neck sizing bushing for my 223, and a .288 and .289 bushing for the 6.5. Maybe that info will help.

 

[jlow]

I have a little experience with this tool but at least in the past with a K&M which does not appeared to be available anymore, the experience has not been good.

What I found is the tool (it is for a 0.308 but my guess is the method of use is similar for a 0.223) tends to scratch the inside of the case neck. I check the tool and its diameter is 0.307” which I presume means it is made for a .308 case with 1 thousands neck tension. The question is how does one make a case that provides a fit that does not cause the scratch. Obviously one can use a bushing die to size part of the neck but that would only size the part of the neck closer to its mouth which is the opposite end of where the donut would be. In the past I have heard that it is best used by carefully inserting the reamer and not to rotate until it reaches the bottom of the neck where the donut usually resides?

I looked at the Wilson neck reamer callout size for a .308 and according to them, they assume bullet size is 0.3086” and so their “Reamer Finish Diameter” is between 0.311-0.3115” which means that they are actually bigger by 0.0024-0.0029” (i.e. opposite to the K&M). So it seems their strategy is to ream a fired but unsized case? Again, the same question applies, which is unless one has a custom chamber made with this dimension and specific case neck thickness in mind (must be turned neck), I don’t see how one could use it?

Again, not using one currently but curious...

 

[jcampbellsmith]

Zap -

Howdy !

I DK whether you already have one, but a Wilson case trimmer w/ correct diam " inside neck reamer "
works superbly.

You can add a Sinclair adapter, to allow use of an electric drill to drive the reaming process.


With regards,
357Mag

I had no success with a Wilson inside neck reamer. All that happened was that the mouths of the cases got chewed up. I would borrow one of these reamers to try before actually buying one. I'm currently looking at K&M mandrels as an alternative.

Regards

JCS

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Iron it to the outside and cut it off there. Any of the inside reamers just mangle the necks up. Better still have your chamber throated properly to match your bullet/case combo and let it ride

 

[jlow]

No comment from someone who actually use this stuff successfully? I am truly interested since I am so stumped… ;D

It would be a great tool if it can be used effectively as it is not always possible to push that stuff out so that it can be turned and as we all know, donuts are real!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I think you got answers- nobody can recommend one that actually works

 

[liljoe]

Buy a chucking reamer from mc master and go to work. You can get them in .0005" sizes. Most are about $20.


Another thing to try, just sayin.

Joe Hynes

 

[jlow]

Not sure… Here to me is the dilemma.

You want the reamer to basically just take out the donut and bring it down to neck dimensions. So that means your reamer has to be very closed to neck dimensions. The problem is the closer it is to neck dimensions, the more difficulty you are going to have sliding it down the neck without scoring the neck or getting stuck.

If you have the neck sloppy like the Wilson, you are then less likely to score the neck but your reaming will likely be off centered which mean you will miss some of the donuts or score too deep in other areas.

I just don’t see how to get around this… I would be delighted to try but before I do, I feel I have to work though the above conflict in logic.

 

[asauer]

I had a donut issue with my 300 wsm I posted about here for help. I ended up taking everyone's advice and having the gunsmith lengthen the throat out. Problem solved- don't care about donuts anymore because I'm not seating into them.
Agreed with others above- there's absolutely no way to remove all of a donut yet not tear the heck out of the rest of your neck. Even if it were 0.0001 undersized, you'd still have that much donut left sitting proud in there, and have a hell of a time getting it started into the neck.
I also tried outside neck turning, to no avail. My theory is that brass is very resistant to "popping" the donut to the outside of the neck where outside neck turning could get at it.... Being that the donut is just past the neck/shoulder junction that angle has got to make it stiff.

And yes, I even tried cutting deeper into the shoulder than I felt comfortable with, to no avail.

 

[dkhunt14]

The thing about a reamer is it is hard to control the amount of brass you are removing. You end up with different bullet tensions and that can be bad for long range shooting or accuracy. Matt

 

[jlow]

Yes, lengthening the throat is the best way no doubt. Was just wondering if someone has some secret sauce method but my experience has been the same as Matt’s Luckily no donuts encounters yet but just in case… ;D

 

[asauer]

Where's cat shooter at?

The only real solution without lengthening the throat was suggest by him- to sand them out with paper on a dowel rod which is smaller diameter than the neck i.d. so you can get in there and remove just the donut. Would be way too painfully slow and tedious for me, but if you have the time and patience...

 

[spclark]

I use a .243 Wilson neck reamer when making 6XC cases starting with Lapua Palma brass.

Works fine.

Reaming fired but unsized cases will remove brass non-uniformly, causing problems as noted. For removing donuts you ought first to size necks so that the non-donut portion ahead of the shoulder / neck junction's ever so slightly larger than the reamer dia.

Usually has to be done just once once.

My use is to remove thickened neck brass from both sides during the reforming steps, otherwise neck thickness uniformity seems to go south. I also final size necks by using a sizing mandrel once necks have been reamed, neck turned then trimmed to length.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Where's cat shooter at?

The only real solution without lengthening the throat was suggest by him- to sand them out with paper on a dowel rod which is smaller diameter than the neck i.d. so you can get in there and remove just the donut. Would be way too painfully slow and tedious for me, but if you have the time and patience...

Yep, you could hone it out with stones also, but getting them to stay straight would be a bigger problem I doubt you could rectify.
Myself, I don't allow donuts to form in the first place. Fireforming results in much better case forming than sizing ever does. You don't have to use bullets, you know.

Cheers.
;D

 

[mikecr]

Donuts aren't just a problem with bullets seated into them. They also play hell with tension if FL sizing of necks -even while not seating bearing into them. This is why I suggest there is nothing good in FL sizing of necks.

Easiest management is to seat away from donuts and partial neck size(no more than the amount of seated bearing).
Choose a better design in cartridge that doesn't require so much FL sizing as to cause continuous trimming. When you're trimming, you're making donuts.
With this management applied you can go ahead and head em off with outside neck turning of new cases, into the neck-shoulder junction.

 

[spclark]

Easiest management is to seat away from donuts and partial neck size(no more than the amount of seated bearing).

Yep, that's my practice now too. Discovered it worked best first in 6HAGAR (before Hornady got behind the cartridge & did their first run of factory brass) then with brass for Palma. The 6XC stuff particularly so when forming 308 into the new shape. After first firing I rarely - if ever - FL size necks again.

 

[TimP]

I was shooting a .243 win that that would form a donut about every 4th to 5th firing. It is a mag feed rifle so throating it out wasn't an option. I send 3 cases to Wilson and had my reamer ground to just remove the donut. Not perfect but removes the donuts with minimal marking of the inside of the case neck.