One more lesson learned

[DShortt]

I took some Mexican Aguila brass and have been learning about case prep, Nothing fancy just learning the setups and the tool.

I have conducted a bunch of experiments personally just to see what works for me. So I understand that.
Sometimes, what I read on forums proves to work for me. Sometimes not. But either way, I can find no viable solution apart from personally testing things if I want to know facts.

Apparently, things aren't always what they seem, and few things work consistently for everyone. So it goes.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

I find the Hornady machine adequate for the amount of neck turning that I do.

 

[reloaderguy]

A .0005 interference fit between the neck and mandrel will give you a more consistent cut. You will have to lubricate the brass and neck turning mandrel.

I used a friend's Hornady neck turning station and it convinced me to buy a 21st Century.

 

[Bojo]

Mount that trimmer to a longer piece of flat wood or steel plate permanently. Clamp the unit down with the longer plank on both ends.


One single clamp on a steel bench and that unit probably walks around a bit ?

 

[mikecr]

1. You should turn cases before firing them, for best turning mandrel fit, after mandrel expanding necks to drive thickness variance outward (to cut away),
2. New cases will wobble. It is for this reason that one side of the turning assembly should be floated (yours is not).
3. Don't sweat the wobble. As long as one side of the cutting setup is floated, all will wobble together and you will have good results. Then when you fire the turned cases they will completely straighten out to remove new case runout.

That's the process

 

[Pheasanthunter]

1. You should turn cases before firing them, for best turning mandrel fit, after mandrel expanding necks to drive thickness variance outward (to cut away),
2. New cases will wobble. It is for this reason that one side of the turning assembly should be floated (yours is not).
3. Don't sweat the wobble. As long as one side of the cutting setup is floated, all will wobble together and you will have good results. Then when you fire the turned cases they will completely straighten out to remove new case runout.

That's the processing are the shoulders shiny are you turning them ? No wobble if you have case in correctly.

 

[Just Say Moe]

Is there any way to make this POS more concentric ? It seems to have too many moving parts on the shell clamping end.
The adjustment and micrometer work fine on the cutter end. Cases are coming out OK but I hate seeing that much runout.View attachment 1619206View attachment 1619207

I use a 1/4 inch wrench on the end with my hand on the knurled part to tighten it just a little. This helps tremendously with run out. In my experience, hand tight did NOT work.

 

[Lance21]

I literally threw mine in the trash yesterday. Pretty much anything Hornady has left my reloading room.

 

[Bill K]

You should be turning the necks to rid the high spots prior to loading. That Hornady tool works just fine, but get the power attachment for easier work.

 

[Webster]

Is there any way to make this POS more concentric ? It seems to have too many moving parts on the shell clamping end.
The adjustment and micrometer work fine on the cutter end. Cases are coming out OK but I hate seeing that much runout.View attachment 1619206View attachment 1619207

I thought you were supposed to just touch the shoulder when turning, you cut the entire shoulder?

 

[Ccrider]

How many of you saying that you are suppose to turn brass before firing have actually tried firing and then turning? What were your results? I know what my results were.

 

[Multiracer]

I thought you were supposed to just touch the neck when turning, you cut the entire shoulder?

No its just a touch, then scotch brite.

 

[mikecr]

How many of you saying that you are suppose to turn brass before firing have actually tried firing and then turning? What were your results? I know what my results were.

Fired necks have thickness variance hammered to the inside. They're expanded and no longer fitting the turning mandrel correctly. You could FL size the necks back down and re-expand with your expansion mandrel, but why would you want to do all that?
There is no advantage to firing necks before turning them.

 

[TheCZKid]

I have use the same Hornady neck turner, a lot, and one "trick" I found to make the brass not wobble, is while you insert the case into the holder, make sure (1) it's all the way bottomed out in the shell holder slot, then (2) I pull the case neck end toward the mandrel - away from the shell holder - and then tighten the case in the shell holder. It seems to make it straighter in alignment with the mandrel, and the neck end wobbles less. It's subtle, but seems to do the trick.