New to neck turning

[eddywitay]

I just bought a Sinclair NT-4000 neck turning tool and a Sinclair digital neck micrometer and was wondering If there is a book I can buy or an article online that I can read to help me understand the basics about turning i don't have any tight neck chambers i just want to true up the necks on my Varmint rigs and because i like to go that extra step to get the most out of my rifles any hopes would be great.. Thanks

 

[wapiti25]

The normal run of the mill brass will have about .002 of variation in neck thickness. In theory the thin side will expand and release the bullet before the thick side. By turning to a uniform thickness you make the release more uniform. Turn a few pcs. and shoot for groups against un-turned and see if turning helps in your gun.

 

[savageshooter86]

http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/neck-turning-basics/

http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/reloading/complete-precision-case-prep/
Look at Step 5

 

[Larryh128]

Everyone has their own favorite way of doing things but what has worked well for me is to turn everything to .013. Usually this will just clean up the neck without creating a bunch of excess slop. It will definitely improve your groups. I set the cutter with a 13 thou feeler guage.

 

[eddywitay]

Thanks the tips are helpful now I have another question even if I just clean up the necks will i have to use a bushing die or will a standard die work I most always use redding comp. die sets I was just wondering if I would kinda be required to use that type of die..

 

[joejo]

as long as they are not turned too thin. brass varries alot from one manufacture to another so a clean up won't make the neck to small.

i have lapua and rem 260 brass. the rem stuff usually measures about 13.5 thou neck thickness and the lapua about 15 thou. each brand has about 1-3 thou runout. i don't bother turning the rem stuff. the lapua i will take down to 14 even just to make everything nice and uniform.

 

[fdshuster]

eddy: Get some scrap brass in the appropriate caliber and make some practice cuts. I've tried various outside neck turners & my Sinclair 4000 is my favorite.

A few practice cases & you'll be turning them like an old pro.

 

[Zia Hunter]

Eddy:

I neck turn all my rifle brass for my bolt and single shot rifles using the NT-4000. I have found the carbide neck mandrels provide the most consistent results and prep all new brass before firing. The following are the steps in my process:

1. Expand with expander mandrel
2. Trim to length
3. Debur and chamfer
4. Neck turn
5. debur flash holes
6. Uniform primer pockets
7. Neck size w/o expander

Some folks like to size their brass prior to step one but I generally don't. I try to turn all of one caliber to a consistent thickness and only trim to bring the cases to within .0005. Also make sure you use a cutter that is appropriate for the shoulder angle.

 

[lpreddick]

how common is it to have to turn a neck again after several firings? reason for question: had a 22 BR made with a .251 neck. i turned the 6mm BR brass enough so that after doing it and necking down to .22 cal (in two steps so as not to create a donut i'm lead to believe) the loaded neck measured .248. they shot great, then groups opened and primer pockets got very loose...load was not very hot, but pressure was excessive. measured necks again and they were .250! turned them again and loaded round was .248 and small groups returned. brass flows and need trimming. is this flowing also thickening the necks, as i suspect, or did i not turn enough initially? you probably wouldn't notice with a sloppy neck dia but with tight necks is this common?

 

[Catfish]

I turn neck only for tight necked chambers. With factory chambers I found that the only thing you really do is to shorten the case life.

 

[Juma]

http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/neck-turning-basics/

http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/reloading/complete-precision-case-prep/
Look at Step 5

Really rate this article. Read it slowly and digest what it says. Very informative.

 

[LHSmith]

how common is it to have to turn a neck again after several firings? reason for question: had a 22 BR made with a .251 neck. i turned the 6mm BR brass enough so that after doing it and necking down to .22 cal (in two steps so as not to create a donut i'm lead to believe) the loaded neck measured .248. they shot great, then groups opened and primer pockets got very loose...load was not very hot, but pressure was excessive. measured necks again and they were .250! turned them again and loaded round was .248 and small groups returned. brass flows and need trimming. is this flowing also thickening the necks, as i suspect, or did i not turn enough initially? you probably wouldn't notice with a sloppy neck dia but with tight necks is this common?

Most Benchrest shooters that I know, turn necks only once, even though they may reload the case 60 or more times .....It should only grow in length. If you fail to cut far enough into the shoulder, the neck does tend to get thicker at that juncture. The problem with turning a second time is all brass does not retain it's springback at the same rate....not even if they came from the same lot, loaded to the same pressures, and resized the same number of times. Although annealing make it more consistent, I always end up culling a few that have questionable neck tension, or, continually throw a shot. I actually did re-turn some PPC brass once......and the old guys were right....results were so poor I ended up having to make new brass.