Neck Clearance trend

[Rtheurer]

Am I seeing a trend toward larger neck clearance on Match rifles? I personally have gone to having .003 min to .004 for my match rifles. I have a couple of reamers yet that are in the .002 and really don't like them being that tight. a slow move to larger neck clearance has what appears to me make brass prep easier and more consistant. Using Lapua or Norma has allowed me to not HAVE to turn necks if I choose not to, but can skim them if I so choose.
In the past I went the .002 total neck clearance based off what others where doing in the late 90's having to turn necks on hundreds of cases. I thought that a rifle could not be competitive if I did not do that. Age has a way of changing your thoughts based off of actual personal Experience. I think most will agree on that..Ha!

I shoot NRA prone so My requirements are a little looser than most here. Is this trend the same in Long Range Bench rest, Fclass both FO and FTR, Short Range Benchrest?

Am I seeing this trend or just happen to run across a few guys doing it? What are your thoughts?

Russ T

 

[338 Mollett]

Hi Russ, You are not alone in your thinking.The last 10 or 15 barrels I have chambered have had from 4 to 5 thou. neck clearance.Maybe the benchrest guys need tighter chambers but I think for our kind of shooting F class,and prone,it won't hurt a thing.

 

[dannyjbiggs]

Hey Russ. On my 7mm's (.284 Whitley, Shehane, and RSAUM wildcats), I run up to .006 total loaded neck clearance. The two .284's each have chamber necks of .315, while the RSAUM's have "no turn" necks at .320. Nevertheless, I neck turn the RSAUM's down to .314/.315 loaded neck. The two .284's are neck turned to .309/.310 loaded neck. I may be the stray cat on Team Berger with these clearances!!

My friend, Jerry Tierney, did significant testing on .284 neck clearance back in the early 2000's, settling on and using the .284 Whitley. He published his findings on this website. He held that, at least for the .284, one must give them a lot of neck room to achieve good accuracy. I basically use what Jerry used.

Dan

 

[artbosco]

In short-range I've gone from .0015" to .002" Total. Not much of a trend. Some have gone from .001" to .0015" to .002" Total. Now that may be a trend.

 

[ARIZONA_F_CLASS]

From what I have heard. Bench rest shooters with the 6ppc use .001 to .002 clearance. On my .308 heavies I have to use .006 At .005 I get pressure signs.

 

[jonbearman]

Go on you tube and look up jack nearys series on benchrest. He uses somewhere in the range of .003 to .004 if I remember correctly.

 

[Lapua40X]

Can't say whether it's a "trend" or not but neck turning at my bench is currently limited to ensuring that case neck wall thickness is uniform over the entire surface of the neck or, where a tight necked chamber is encountered, to achieve the .003 - .004 clearance I'm looking for.

 

[Lbart]

I may be the stray cat on Team Berger with these clearances!!
Dan

Dan,
You are not alone on Team Berger.
My Shehane reamer (older than my 7/270 WSM) has a 0.314" neck. My loaded rounds measure 0.310" for 0.004" total clearance.
My 7/270 WSM reamer has a 0.318" neck and my loaded rounds are 0.312" for total clearance of 0.006". Both shoot quite well with the edge to the WSM.

 

[Scott Harris]

Our 284 Shehane uses a .317 neck with .311 loaded rounds. 308 WIN has .342 neck with .334 loaded rounds

 

[BradY]

My 284 shehane reamer is a 318nk and I use unturned brass. I do however inside ream to remove donuts. 5-6 thou clearance.

 

[bheadboy]

this is a very interesting exchange of info,

I have recently acquired a 700 rem in 223 and the neck total clearance for loaded round is .006 - I am wondering if this is high for a 224 dia round

your comments seem to be 7mm and 308

bob

 

[CatShooter]

I have a 1,000 yard match rifle that has 0.008" neck clearance and it is one of the most accurate large calibre rifles I own.

When I saw how large the neck was, I complained to the maker, and he said, "Try it, if you don't like it, I'll return your money"... I still have it.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Neck clearance does not have an effect on accuracy, unless its too tight. Contrary to popular belief the case and or bullet are not centered b y the neck, they are centered by the freebore. Looser seems to be better.

 

[Scott Harris]

Neck clearance does not have an effect on accuracy, unless its too tight. Contrary to popular belief the case and or bullet are not centered b y the neck, they are centered by the freebore. Looser seems to be better.

That's a really good point and would explain why ample neck clearance does not harm accuracy.

 

[Erik Cortina]

"Turn thin to win..."

 

[ShootDots]

Two (2) of my rifles, a 284 Shehane and a .260 A.I. both have "moderately" tight necks. My Shehane has a .315 neck and the .260 A.I. has a .295 neck. BOTH necessitate complete "clean-up" of the necks. I have become a fan of "moderately" tight necks. My Shehane has 4K clearance and the .260 A.I. has only 3K. They both shoot extremely well. I believe that "more" clearance will not hurt a thing>>>too little (read that "not enough") clearance has hampered accuracy..

 

[Macropod]

Within reason a tighter clearance should be easier on the brass right? Too much a brass life would reduced from overworking I would have thought.

 

[TC260]

Annealing negates the effect of a little more work hardening.

 

[CatShooter]

Annealing negates the effect of a little more work hardening.

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What he said...

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Neck clearance does not have an effect on accuracy, unless its too tight. Contrary to popular belief the case and or bullet are not centered b y the neck, they are centered by the freebore. Looser seems to be better.

That's a really good point and would explain why ample neck clearance does not harm accuracy.

Obviously when there is not enough clearance we are disturbing a consistent bullet release. Other than that, how can clearance around the neck effect accuracy? Once the bullet has been released it doesn't care how much the neck continues to expand. Aside from working the neck more (anneal) and causing a little more runout during sizing (runout means squat). I have test both runout and neck clearance at 1k, both are a non issue.