Neck Tension / How much do you like and why?

[BoydAllen]

Lynn,
Did you determine these things shooting 133 in a 6PPC, or are you making inferences from other cartridges and powders? One of the fellows that I spoke of is a current world record holder.

At the top node, it can take considerable care to get the charge in the case at a consistent level. Also, using no neck tension can result in a stuck bullet and dumped powder if the seating depth is at jam, and a cease fire is called during a match.

Have you decided to build that 10.5# 6PPC with a tuner yet?

Boyd

 

[Cheechako]

[quote author=German Salazar . . .Ray, I wonder the same thing. Having never re-annealed a case, maybe I'm missing out and don't know it. My take on it is that re-annealing is of some benefit after cold-working the neck enough to make it hard and brittle and prone to cracking. . . [/quote]

German

I think we do things very much alike - close chambers, minimum re-sizing.

The reason I asked the question is because in all my years of competition I have never annealed a case neck. Like you, I thought maybe I was missing out on something. But in all of the comments I read on the various shooting forums there doesn't appear to be a concensus of exactly when to anneal. I have a feeling that a lot of it is not really necessay but is done simply because that's what everbody says.

I have shot point-blank Benchrest cases as many as 100 times without anything more than minimum neck sizing. For long-range Benchrest I usually make 150 to 200 cases and shoot them until the barrel is no longer competitive, again with nothing more than neck sizing. That can be anywhere from 5 to 10 firings each.

I'd still like to hear from more shooters with some actual numbers and reasons behind them.

Lynn - If you didn't try to shoot those 850 grain bore-riders at 4500 fps you'd probably get a few more shots out of those cases before they split. 8)

Ray

 

[JERRYHM]

Ray,
Here is a number for you == 20 times without any type of failure.
Hot load in a 308 case, fired neck = 0.344", sized neck = 0.335", and loaded neck = 0.338". I will shoot them some more and see if I can get a failure>>>
Jerry

 

[tripcrow]

To what Forum Boss wrote I’d like to add:

Don’t assume that the number on the bushing is going to be the diameter of your sized case. Mic your sized cases before loading, being sure to use the same point on the neck, to see what that bushing is actually doing to that group of brass. My Reddings vary from the stamped size much more than my Wilsons. Writing down what each bushing does comes in handy when you want to change the tension.

Tumbling just sonic cleaned cases in corn cob media can get rid of most of that neck stickiness and make them load a lot more like they had been fired already.

 

[Preacher]

Thanks Lynn I'm starting to see the error of my thinking...
Just hard to get into my head that a hardened case springs back more than one in it's natural state... I would have thought it would loose it's elasticity when it got hardened...
Never to old to learn new stuff....

 

[BoydAllen]

Lynn,
I think that if you want to shoot LV, HV and Sporter with one rifle that it will have to be no more than 10.5#, and I would be interested in how a 30 BR would be at that weight. I would imagine that it would take the free recoil heads up option off of the table. I have been interested in the 30 BR for some time, and I think that it may be a better option for someone that wants to try preloading. The fly in the ointment is that I am not sure if it is practical to shoot free at LV/Sporter weight. As to the neck tension thing, I didn't say that I tune with neck tension, just that I got better results when I increased it. I have been using the same .257 bushing for some time. The kicker is that the more neck tension you use, the better the fit of your seater die needs to be to preserve alignment. As to the point of the achievement level of the person who I copied, the point was that the advice came from a source that was credible, nothing more. As I said earlier, different calibers, bullet weights, and powders create their own realities, and while there are many shared truths, some may not be. (My case necks are under .009 thick and I have less than .150 of the bullet shank in the neck.) I would encourage your thought of shooting short range. They are a great bunch, and I think that you will have a good time.
Boyd