Neck Turning Not Necessary

[Gordy]

I am somewhat new at reloading and wanted to talk with a person I considered an expert about neck turning. He told me to take a fired 308 Win case (I was talking about this rifle) and stand it on end. Take a 308 bullet and release it exactly over the case. If the bullet freely drops into the case then neck turning is not necessary. My chamber neck size is .344 and of course the bullet freely dropped into the case. He told me I should not have to neck turn. My question is do you agree with this method of whether you should neck turn or not?
Gordy

 

[P1ZombieKiller]

not 100% sold on that method, but a 344 neck chamber does not "NEED" necks turned (assuming the neck of the brass is less than .018 thick). .344 - .308 = .036 so you divide that by 2, and you get .018 for each wall.

If you have a factory barreled 308, none of them "NEED" turning. Some people choose to slightly turn the necks on the brass to make sure the neck tension is consistent at all points.

I see what he is getting at. General rule of thumb is that a fired case will have .002 spring back once fired. When you fire it, the mouth should expand to the chamber, and then spring back .002 of an inch. Thus if the bullet falls into the fired case, the neck is large enough that the brass opens enough and does not need turning.

If you know your chamber is a .344, then you know more about your barrel than the average Joe, and I suspect the neck of your fired case measures somewhere in the neighborhood of .340-.342 if this theory is correct.

 

[fullersson]

What that method tells you is the neck area of your chamber is large enough that neck turning isn't required to physically chamber the round into the rifle. That would be considered a no neck turn chamber and it doesn't mean that you shouldn't turn your necks it just means you don't have to if you don't want. The purpose of neck turning is to even out the neck wall thickness giving you more consistent neck tension and setting depth. Target shooters use tight neck chambered rifles so that after they fire the rifle they aren't over working the brass by having to size it down so far. You'll get different opinions on whether to turn your brass all I'm trying to do is to explain why shooters turn their brass. If neck turning is done correctly it is an improvement in acccuracy, how much of an improvement depends on how far the brass was out from the factory. As an example, you'll see more improvement from brass prep work with Winchester brass than you will see with Lapua brass. Good shooting, Brian.

 

[jonbearman]

I would just switch to lapua brass and your accuracy should get better.I turn my necks in factory chambers by about .0001 or less just to make them truly round and it made a remarkable change in accuracy.I shoot ragged holes with my stock remington VS model.I actually have three of them and they are all great shooters.Try the lapua and dont look back.All you need is i bag of their brass to get started.

 

[bozo699]

Jon,
..0001 or .001?... and I agree with you on the Lapua brass.
Wayne.

 

[dennisinaz]

I would just switch to lapua brass and your accuracy should get better.I turn my necks in factory chambers by about .0001 or less just to make them truly round and it made a remarkable change in accuracy.I shoot ragged holes with my stock remington VS model.I actually have three of them and they are all great shooters.Try the lapua and dont look back.All you need is i bag of their brass to get started.

Lapua sells brass in bags now??

this is bad news, all the bagged brass I have seen has dented necks etc...

 

[Steve Blair]

Lapua sells brass in bags now??

this is bad news, all the bagged brass I have seen has dented necks etc...

I think Jon was writing euphemistically. Lapua brass is now sold in blue plastic boxes. They still sometimes have dented necks. Always run new brass over an appropriately sized expander before loading.