SmallCaliberCentral

Looking for some information on neck turning.
Is neck turning something you do to the case 1 time, or do you need to turn the neck at every loading?
I assume you have to resize cases before completing the neck turning process, is that correct?

Any info for a neck turning novice would be appreciated. Thanks

Zepher: PM sent with this subject and the one you PM'd me about.

Cheers!

Thanks Rick!

I have been considering getting into this but I have a factory barrel, will neck turning be of any benefit to me or is this a step best reserved for those who have a custom barrel with a tighter neck?

To be honest I haven't measured for consitency in the thickness of the Hornady brass that I use, but I do know that when weighing them I found a large variation in the weight of individual cases.

Once the barrel is wore out I do plan to replace it with a custom match grade tube, should I wait until then?

surfclod wrote:I have been considering getting into this but I have a factory barrel, will neck turning be of any benefit to me or is this a step best reserved for those who have a custom barrel with a tighter neck?

To be honest I haven't measured for consitency in the thickness of the Hornady brass that I use, but I do know that when weighing them I found a large variation in the weight of individual cases.

Once the barrel is wore out I do plan to replace it with a custom match grade tube, should I wait until then?

Hornady brass usually measures between .0005" to .0007" in wall thickness variation in my test of .204 Ruger, .223 Remington, and 6.5-284 calibers. Even recent Winchester cases in .22-250 varied by no more than .001" to .0015". That batch of Hornady cases had some flash hole problems with heavy burrs, and shoulder dents, but the necks were uniform. Nosler cases are sold in weight matched boxes, and are very uniform in neck thickness, which is why they cost more. It isn't worth it to me to turn those cases. I do have to turn cases for a custom chambered .257 caliber rifle with a tight neck, and a 6mmPPC rifle, but otherwise I avoid it when I can. Custom chambers can be set up with no turn necks, and with premium quality brass, they should shoot to the level of your ability.

I have got the equipment on order from Sinclairs, the neck turning attachment was relatively inexpensive so I added that to the list.

I got the tool for measuring cases for runout and neck thickness and so on, I will go through my brass and see what is up, so far I only checked a couple for neck thickness consistency.

Right now I have it set up to check the runout and I have been checking and catagorizing my loaded ammo so I know what to use for a fouling shot or close range stuff.

I guess I will have to see how the consistency of my Hornady brass is and then make a decision as to neck turn or not. I did clean up a fair number of heavy burrs in the flash hole area and sorted them all by weight.

Nosler brass is avaliable locally so I have that option if I so choose.