What neck thickness when turning? 223, 308, 6 Dasher, 6.5 x47, 284 Win, 300 WSM?

[Kurt Blasser]

Interested in what is commonly done for 223, 308, 6 Dasher, 6.5 x47, 284 Win, 300 WSM. Not OD but thickness of the wall after turning.

 

[Big Mc]

Interested in what is commonly done for 223, 308, 6 Dasher, 6.5 x47, 284 Win, 300 WSM. Not OD but thickness of the wall after turning.

If you don't need to turn down for a tight chamber, I turn mine too 0.013 -0.012 . Just take the high edges off. Just my two cents Tommy Mc

 

[Uncle Ed]

The more the neck thickness is reduced the more the neck will expand when fired. This means the neck when sized will be reduce even more than normal. So food for thought, reloaders buy bushing dies to work the necks less but many neck turn and increase the amount the neck is worked in sizing.

Neck turning=less is more in a factory rifle

In a factory SAAMI chamber I would only skim turn the necks only taking the high spots down.

I would also recommend using the Redding neck thickness gauge to check neck thickness and for sorting cases. Also, note Redding recommends if the neck thickness varies .002 or more then size the necks .002 to .003 smaller and use the expander to set the final inside diameter.

Below the Redding neck thickness gauge, and with one turn of your wrist you will know the quality of your cases and the neck thickness variations.

 

[ronemus]

Be careful - if you turn too thin a standard die won't size the neck enough. I find that standard dies usually work well with necks turned thin enough to get ~95% cleanup, but measure first or you'll need a bushing die and will have to size in steps of no more than 0.004" to avoid runout.

 

[CaptainMal]

For every caliber you have in the title I assume you have a rifle. That means to answer the question of how much to turn necks you would need to list the neck size in the chamber on each rifle.

For example, for a 6mm with say a .269" neck a good brass neck thickness is .0115" That gives you a good .003" release clearance.

Your question cannot be answered with a blanket response unless the exact measurements are presented for each chamber you are dealing with. If you are not "into" this and just using factory rifles my suggestion is two-fold.

1. Forget neck turning and just use whatever factory brass you have without messing with it. You probably have no clue what the factory chambers are.

2. Read and learn on this forum about this issue. There is much you can learn.

 

[PopCharlie]

The more the neck thickness is reduced the more the neck will expand when fired. This means the neck when sized will be reduce even more than normal. So food for thought, reloaders buy bushing dies to work the necks less but many neck turn and increase the amount the neck is worked in sizing.

Neck turning=less is more in a factory rifle

In a factory SAAMI chamber I would only skim turn the necks only taking the high spots down.

I would also recommend using the Redding neck thickness gauge to check neck thickness and for sorting cases. Also, note Redding recommends if the neck thickness varies .002 or more then size the necks .002 to .003 smaller and use the expander to set the final inside diameter.

Below the Redding neck thickness gauge, and with one turn of your wrist you will know the quality of your cases and the neck thickness variations.

I use this Redding tool. It is a great tool and Will tell you neck wall thickness variations around the entire circumference of a neck. An advantage IMHO.
PopCharlie

 

[PopCharlie]

.223, I turn to .012. 6.5x47L, .011. 6mm br, .010 (.266 chamber). I only turn necks when the thickness variance is .0015 or more. Except for my new 6br, it has a .266 neck.

PopCharlie

 

[AWS]

For a factory chambered gun I wouldn't bother.

 

[skeeljc]

I turn Lapua and Starline .223 to .012". Nosler is thinner to start so I turn it to .011" thickness,

 

[MikeMcCasland]

Turn it until you get 100% clean up. Lock that setting in, and write it down. Turn your entire batch that way. Better yet, never touch the turner/tool head again.

So long as you're not turning them "stupid thin" (i.e. .005) you'll be just fine.

 

[fatelvis]

Turn it until you get 100% clean up. Lock that setting in, and write it down. Turn your entire batch that way. Better yet, never touch the turner/tool head again.

So long as you're not turning them "stupid thin" (i.e. .005) you'll be just fine.

If you just “clean up” the necks for use in a factory chambered rifle, do you think the accuracy rewards would be evident?

 

[MikeMcCasland]

If you just “clean up” the necks for use in a factory chambered rifle, do you think the accuracy rewards would be evident?

I think it has less to do with the factory chamber/barrel than it does the variance in your brass thickness; if it wasn't consistent before turning, you'll probably see some improvement. As to if it will show, I think it will but there are certainly other things that matter way more (being in a stable node, having a good depth, etc.)

I'll also add that there are folks on here that shoot better than me that don't turn their necks. I just know when I started turning necks (on Lapua brass) my scores went up at 1k.

Just a guess, but the whole "no need to turn necks with a factory chamber" thing comes from folks who think you just need to turn for clearance reasons.

Just to clarify my earlier statement, when I said "cleaning up 100%", I meant taking a full cut across the neck, just removing as little as you have to in order to achieve that.

My 2c.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I only turn if clearance is needed and the brass needs it. If it needs it due to being thicker on one side, as is often the case, then I will skim turn removing the high spots only. I only clean up 90-95% of the neck, only time I turn down to the neck/shoulder juncture is on tight neck chambers, which I am glad to say I no longer have very many, just 3 barrels for F-class which will be replaced at the end of this season and no more tight neck chambers for me. I will still turn necks on the new barrels, but not for clearance reasons.

Cheers.

 

[nksmfamjp]

300 WSM....0.013” works for me. I use Win brass and 0.013” cleans up the necks.

 

[ShootDots]

I turn ALL my necks, no matter the cartridge, to 12 thousandths, which, in my not-so-humble opinion, necessitates the use of a custom reamer. On 6mm and 6.5mm I like a neck-to-chamber clearance of 3 thousandths. On 7mms and .30 cals I use a minimum of 4 and I actually like 5 thousandths clearance better. That SOUNDS like a lot>>>but even 5 thousandths is only 2.5 on each side>>>not a real lot. Take your calipers and move it to 1.5 thousandths, which is what is on each side of a neck clearance of only 3 thousandths>>>see just how little LIGHT actually passes between the two sides of the caliper! It 'taint much!

 

[RegionRat]

If you just “clean up” the necks for use in a factory chambered rifle, do you think the accuracy rewards would be evident?

These are soft topics since none of us has the resources to sample very many guns and calibers. However, I was lucky enough to have some tight shooting factory REM 700s in my youth and I tested turned necks versus no-turn with a rig that was .30-06 and capable of going 3/4 MOA at 600 yards. I ran that gun in silhouette and put the work into making my brass better since our commercial brass in that era was garbage compared to now.

I used the NECO gage style to measure concentricity and could get an improvement when compared to commercial Remington or Winchester brass that had values of over 0.004” to 0.005” in the neck thickness variation. Those paper targets have faded away in that many decades, but the difference was on the order of 1.25 MOA unturned and 3/4 MOA turned. I tested 40 shot batches and ran stats by hand in those days, so I knew it made a difference when the alternative was crappy commercial versus turned. On the other hand, you could also get 3/4 MOA by just rejecting the ugly ones and keeping the batch below 0.0015” thickness variation by sorting.
The other important point to bring up, is that non-turned brass was pretty poor compared to what we start with these days. So unless you are seeing gross thickness variations on that order, don’t expect to see a big difference after turning in that factory chamber context.

 

[Longtrain]

I don’t turn necks any longer, chambers are no-turn Lapua Blue Box.

But, when I did, all my 308 brass was turned to .0125, at that, it matched my chamber.

Way back, I did have a fairly tight necked .223 at one point, I can’t remember what the diameter was after turning, but I only had .002 total clearance, .001 per side. The reamer was borrowed from a guy that mainly shot bench rest and he sold me on the accuracy of tight necks.

Since most of my brass was LC and not something more consistent like Lapua, everything had to be turned or they wouldn’t feed. Turning all those 223 necks was a real pain, eventually I had that barrel rechambered into something a little more generous.

 

[fatelvis]

I don’t turn necks any longer, chambers are no-turn Lapua Blue Box.

But, when I did, all my 308 brass was turned to .0125, at that, it matched my chamber.

Way back, I did have a fairly tight necked .223 at one point, I can’t remember what the diameter was after turning, but I only had .002 total clearance, .001 per side. The reamer was borrowed from a guy that mainly shot bench rest and he sold me on the accuracy of tight necks.

Since most of my brass was LC and not something more consistent like Lapua, everything had to be turned or they wouldn’t feed. Turning all those 223 necks was a real pain, eventually I had that barrel rechambered into something a little more generous.

Have you noticed any difference in accuracy, since going to a more generous chamber?

 

[Longtrain]

Have you noticed any difference in accuracy, since going to a more generous chamber?

No, not really. I'm not a bench rest shooter and certainly those guys can wiggle out every single piece of accuracy from a round. I have no criticism of their ways or results, they are amazing.

My main rifle is a 6 Dasher, built on a 40X action, Brux barrel in an Eliseo Stock with a 8-32 Nightforce. My chamber is .2704 for Lapua Blue Box unturned. I shoot only Berger 108's behind N203B, jumping them .010. The rifle shoots, from a bench it will easily shoot under 1/2 MOA. So, on an F Class target at 1K the 10 ring is 10", the X ring 5". In order to be able to place your shots you need accuracy. My Dasher shoots just fine. Are there guys that have 1/4 MOA guns in the race, so that may give them a slight edge over my rig.

I get consistent results without going through a lot of work. I turned necks, they worked fine, but so again are the rounds i make now.

 

[Patriot007]

I think it has less to do with the factory chamber/barrel than it does the variance in your brass thickness; if it wasn't consistent before turning, you'll probably see some improvement. As to if it will show, I think it will but there are certainly other things that matter way more (being in a stable node, having a good depth, etc.)

I'll also add that there are folks on here that shoot better than me that don't turn their necks. I just know when I started turning necks (on Lapua brass) my scores went up at 1k.

Just a guess, but the whole "no need to turn necks with a factory chamber" thing comes from folks who think you just need to turn for clearance reasons.

Just to clarify my earlier statement, when I said "cleaning up 100%", I meant taking a full cut across the neck, just removing as little as you have to in order to achieve that.

My 2c.

One thing every one should keep in mind. Once you turn and fire that case. The Case wall thickness is going to shrink 0.0002 or 0.0003 as the case neck grows longer. (Lapua SRP/LRP 6.5CM Brass 2 Firings.) Some where some one said to turn your brass before the first firing.. Well,,, I say fire it at least 2 to 3 times before your ever True your necks. You will have to trim the case length on the third firing, and I suggest that you anneal after every firing. I shoot factory barrels and I True my case necks. In reality, in a factory barrel the thicker your brass is the better off you are. Provided that the case neck wall thickness is true, all the way around the case neck. After the 3rd firing, I check all of the case wall thickness in the groups, and hopefully I can turn them all to 0.0135 and then, I'm happy. I've never seen a need to whittle my pencil down to a nub for no reason.
Thin case neck walls leads to case neck tension issues you can not revers. Also cheap brass is the worst to turn. The deeper you go the more voids you run into. So don't even bother trying to turn it. You are just going to end up trashing it a lot sooner. JM2C.