Neck sizing

[284winner]

How important is neck sizing ? How much accuracy gain comes from neck sizing in reality vs the extra work ? Considering it but would like some feedback. Not that it's a ton of extra work as winter is long and I DO have time in the off season. Just curious. I do shoot 600/1000 yards but not in competition but rather for ground hogs and game.

 

[dedogs]

INMO only the given rifle can answer that question. What are the results on paper at a given range with turned vs. not turned. In long range, consistency seems to be very important. dedogs

 

['Freak]

Define specifically what you mean as to “neck sizing”, using what, and shooting ‘em from what?

 

[coford]

Are you talking about sizing the neck or turning the neck to a specific thickness?

 

[ireload2]

Neck sizing with just a neck die or bushing die is no extra work. It may or may not make any accuracy improvements and it might make it worse of you size the necks and they wind up off center to the case body and shoulder. If there is a lot of difference in the diameters of your FL die and your rifle chamber, the neck die may produce superior case life. However neck sized brass often only fit the one rifle it has been fired in.

Turned necks are to make the brass more uniform and/or to fit tight necked chambers.
Necks are also turned when brass gets thicker due to sizing down a larger caliber neck.

Brass turned and then used in some of the very generous SAAMI chambers may be a waste of time since it does little to insure alignment in the neck.

Brass turned to provide a close fit minimum clearance condition in a tight chamber neck may aid accuracy if you are capable of high quality neck turning and other precision loading techniques.

 

[284winner]

Sorry guys. Neck turning with a neck turning tool. Just purchased one here in the classifieds due to a great price. Just turned a 284 win case slightly enough to basically skim it round. Just curious how much difference it actually makes in accuracy ?

 

[jr600yd]

This subject has been beaten to death numerous times. Of course tight neck chambers must have the brass necks turned its a safety thing. Does neck turning improve accuracy? Ask ten shooters you'll get ten different answers some yes some no. What neck turning, even just "skimming", does do is its extend your brass life. Whether you use a bushing die or an expander ball you don't work the neck as much during sizing. This is the main benefit for a chamber that is not a "tight neck".

 

[BoydAllen]

To give a good answer to your question requires a lot more information than you have provided. We need to know about the quality of your brass, specifically neck thickness variation, its average thickness, the ID of your chamber's neck, some things about your rifle, like a description of your barreled action, stock, bedding system, and trigger pull, and scope. Then there is the matter of how your testing is done. What sort of rest and bag setup, use of wind flags, sturdiness of your bench. My experience with excellent brass in factory dimensioned chambers, shot in average rifles, on less than the best equipment, is that no improvement could be detected.

 

[K22]

Ground hogs - I have shot over 1,500 with custom rifles, factory varmint rifles, etc. and never turned one neck in 40+ years of hunting and reloading. You do not need to turn necks to achieve sub 1/2 moa accuracy with a quality rifle / scope. Don't make this too complicated - its not necessary for hunting ground hogs and predators. Once you develop a load in the 1/2 moa range - stop - start to focus on field marksmanship skills. Learn how to shoot in the field and read the wind and mirage - this will pay way more dividends that turning necks which is not recommended anyway for factory rifles. Even my custom rifles don't require it. Keep is simple and have fun.

 

[Dan Boone]

Ground hogs - I have shot over 1,500 with custom rifles, factory varmint rifles, etc. and never turned one neck in 40+ years of hunting and reloading. You do not need to turn necks to achieve sub 1/2 moa accuracy with a quality rifle / scope. Don't make this too complicated - its not necessary for hunting ground hogs and predators. Once you develop a load in the 1/2 moa range - stop - start to focus on field marksmanship skills. Learn how to shoot in the field and read the wind and mirage - this will pay way more dividends that turning necks which is not recommended anyway for factory rifles. Even my custom rifles don't require it. Keep is simple and have fun.

My experience x2. I will say that I have seen fairly decent improvements when using a bushing die to get the neck pressures more consistent. I thought that this combined with neck turning would make an even more notable improvement but the neck turning added noting that I could detect. That said ... I'm loading for long range hunting rifles ... not precision bench guns.

 

[284winner]

Well that's what I'm basically asking. I don't shoot bench rest or F class matches. I'm in the field to hunt mostly. My guns do shoot sub moa easily without turning necks. Just thought I'd ask for some opinions of guys that do who would know. Thanks for the input.

 

[Joe R]

284winner, I shoot F-TR regularly (I'm a SS at 1K, so I'm far from an authority) and I turn necks.

There are many reasons people turn necks, the most common one it to get concentric ammo. Common opinion is that straight ammo shoots better than ammo that has a lot of runout. IMO concentric ammo is the byproduct of a good reloading process and lack of it is an indicator of brass prep issues, not a goal. Some may differ.

IMO the real reason anyone should turn necks is to achieve consistent neck tension on all sides of the case to achieve a clean bullet release. Common sense tells you that different neck thicknesses will have different tension and result in inconsistent bullet release.

As Erik Cortina once taught me the Holy Trinity of precision ammo are:

1. Powder (selection, measuring, etc...).
2. Seating depth.
3. Neck tension.

Of the 3, neck tension is by far the toughest nut to crack. One cannot understate the importance of neck tension.

Toward that goal, neck turning is just the first of many steps that I take toward achieving consistent neck tension and bullet release, annealing is another.

I hope this helps. Kindest regards,

Joe

 

[284winner]

Thanks. My reamer was built to cut a .318 neck chamber. My sized and loaded brass is around .312 depending on what brass I load with. I think your exactly right about the neck turning and it's purpose from everything I'm seeing. I've skimmed 100 rounds just to make round and take any imperfections out. Took my brass to about 310-310.5. I just don't want to work the brass more than necessary. With the 284 win saami neck, it's .322. That's alot of expanding and sizing on brass. The 318 neck shouldn't work it excessively and shouldn't have feeding issues. As far as accuracy goes, I'll do my own experimenting at the range with both turned and non turned necks. Thanks for all the personal knowledge. I'll remember it.

 

[Joe R]

284Winner,
I wouldn't worry too much about all the brass movement if you are annealing. I agree that it's not an ideal situation.

My loaded rounds are .332 and my chamber neck is .341, I too was concerned about over working the brass, but I've done it for about 4 firings on this brass and I haven't lost any cases or seen any problems, but I anneal after each firing.

Good luck.

Joe

 

[284winner]

I never have annealed brass so it's a subject I have little or no knowledge in. I'll shoot the brass and see what kind of longevity I get and go from there. Using Lapua, Nosler and Winchester brass. My 6.5-284 uses the same make brass and all 3 give me several reloads.