Neck Turning—Chuck Brass case directly in Drill Motor?

[HTSmith]

Will this work? My case holder won’t work with the ppc but the case will fit directly in the drill chuck. This brass is too expensive for me to screw up. Thanks for input.

 

[BoydAllen]

It should work. If you are just learning how to turn cases, I suggest that you expand up found .22 CF cases to 6mm just as you would .220 Russian, and use those for practice. I have a bag of this kind of brass, picked up at the range, that I keep just for checking turner adjustment. I use an old bore brush in my drill to clean the insides of the necks (fired cases), lube the insides of the necks, use my long tapered 6mm expander on them and turn, checking the results with a neck mic, that reads to .0001. Different brass will turn to slightly different thickness with the same tool setting, but it will be very close, and you should be able to save making expensive mistakes.

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

I know @KMart does this, maybe he will give you a few tips.

 

[ricco1949]

HT Smith:

I did as you are contemplating for years with a hand drill 1/2 inch chuck.....no problems.

I now do the same using collets on a Bridgeport.

 

[HTSmith]

Follow up question. My chamber neck is 263. Brass neck thickness is .0105. Looks like I need to turn down to .009 neck thickness to get .002 clearance? Does that sound right?

Got me several scrap pieces to practice on

 

[BoydAllen]

The typical PPC bullet has a pressure ring at the base or transition to BT. Seat a bullet in one of your cases. measure over the pressure ring. That should tell you what you want to know. Personally, I would want between .0025 and .003 clearance. This assumes your cases have enough neck tension to hold a bullet. If they do not, you will want to come up with a way to size them so that you can expand them to a uniform fit on your turning mandrel. An inexpensive one piece die might be a good way to do that. By any chance are you working with Norma brass?

 

[charlesasmith]

Boyd:

Glad to see that you are still willing to help others out.

 

[M-61]

A floor mounted drill press is what I use for turning necks. I think it's Lee case holders chucked in the press. Slowest speed (which it is on always) and a bit of lube I feed the mandrel of the cutter up. Always being sure if the cutter locks on to the neck it pulls it OUT of my hand, not into it.
Actually has worked well for years for me and really just requires common sense. I doubt OSHA would approve of this. Works well enough for me I have no intent or reason to change.

 

[HTSmith]

The typical PPC bullet has a pressure ring at the base or transition to BT. Seat a bullet in one of your cases. measure over the pressure ring. That should tell you what you want to know. Personally, I would want between .0025 and .003 clearance. This assumes your cases have enough neck tension to hold a bullet. If they do not, you will want to come up with a way to size them so that you can expand them to a uniform fit on your turning mandrel. An inexpensive one piece die might be a good way to do that. By any chance are you working with Norma brass?

Yes sir it is Norma brass. I have a blue box of 220 Russian, but hoped to learn on already formed brass. Thanks for all your help

 

[BoydAllen]

Yes sir it is Norma brass. I have a blue box of 220 Russian, but hoped to learn on already formed brass. Thanks for all your help

Glad to be able to help. Good luck with your PPC. What powder will you be shooting?

 

[Herzo]

Forester has a neck turning adapter that works nicely. By removing the crank handle and substituting a 1/4" hex adapter, an electric drill with a hex socket works very well.

 

[KMart]

HT Smith:

I did as you are contemplating for years with a hand drill 1/2 inch chuck.....no problems.

I now do the same using collets on a Bridgeport.

Works for me as well. Seating the case into the drill chuck cuts way down on the wobble you get when you use one of the Sinclair case holding adaptors.

 

[HTSmith]

Glad to be able to help. Good luck with your PPC. What powder will you be shooting?

I have 1lb of n133 and 1lb of h322. Hoping things will get better soon.

 

[HTSmith]

Forester has a neck turning adapter that works nicely. By removing the crank handle and substituting a 1/4" hex adapter, an electric drill with a hex socket works very well.

I do have a Forester trimmer but will be using a 21st Century cutter setup. Thanks

 

[Dave Marshall]

There are several types of locking shell holders available to do what you’re asking. The case is locked into the shell holder which is chucked into the drill, and you can then turn it against whatever tool you wish. There are also stand alone electric motor units that do a better job of this.

 

[coldboreshot]

Will this work? My case holder won’t work with the ppc but the case will fit directly in the drill chuck. This brass is too expensive for me to screw up. Thanks for input

Will this work? My case holder won’t work with the ppc but the case will fit directly in the drill chuck. This brass is too expensive for me to screw up. Thanks for input.

Will this work? My case holder won’t work with the ppc but the case will fit directly in the drill chuck. This brass is too expensive for me to screw up. Thanks for inp

Will this work? My case holder won’t work with the ppc but the case will fit directly in the drill chuck. This brass is too expensive for me to screw up. Thanks for input.

 

[coldboreshot]

My computer illiteracy is really shining today. I meant to respond by suggesting that you take a look at the Sinclair case holder chuck. Sinclair (or Brownells) number is 749-002-494WS and it is specifically for PPC.

 

[HTSmith]

It should work. If you are just learning how to turn cases, I suggest that you expand up found .22 CF cases to 6mm just as you would .220 Russian, and use those for practice. I have a bag of this kind of brass, picked up at the range, that I keep just for checking turner adjustment. I use an old bore brush in my drill to clean the insides of the necks (fired cases), lube the insides of the necks, use my long tapered 6mm expander on them and turn, checking the results with a neck mic, that reads to .0001. Different brass will turn to slightly different thickness with the same tool setting, but it will be very close, and you should be able to save making expensive mistakes.

Well I tried it and it worked better than the case holder I'd used before. I did learn that you can't take the cutter tool increments at face value. I really had to sneak up on it to get .0085 thickness. Thanks for the help.

 

[BoydAllen]

Well I tried it and it worked better than the case holder I'd used before. I did learn that you can't take the cutter tool increments at face value. I really had to sneak up on it to get .0085 thickness. Thanks for the help.

Big smile.