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223 neck issues

plunker20

Bullet Lobber
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 4, 2012
412
0
Watertown SD
got a question for you guys i had a bolt gun built in 223 and it will group some of the time. me and a buddy went out shooting today and it shot two groups in the .4 and then it will just throw one at random at the paper. my buddy grabbed some of the brass and the necks arent really opening up they areso tight you can barely push a bullet back into them. any suggestions on what to do. im using once fired lake city brass. and i dont have any issues out of my sbr or 20in ar's.
 
You have a tight neck chamber, look at PTG 223 Rem Match and Clymer 5.56 Nato item "F" the military 5.56 neck is .004 larger

223-556_zpsf4f56449.jpg


You either turn the necks of your Lake City brass or buy commercial brass with thinner necks. You may even need to turn the necks of commercial brass, you need to ask what chamber reamer was used on your rifle.
 
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it was a ptg 223 rem match if i remember right. now i get to learn how to do a new part of reloading........ yay
 
Since its a bolt gun you should be able to get a decent gauge of your chamber neck diameter by measuring the neck diameter of your fired brass. As long as you can get your loaded ammo down to a couple thousandths under that you can avoid neck turning.
 
ok. so i need a neck turning tool not a big deal. which one do you recommend. and who wants to come to sd and show me how to use the damn thing
 
Your fun with a tight neck chamber has just started, Accurate Shooter is a very good site and they do reviews on reloading equipment such as neck turners. Read the link below you will need an expander die like in step No.4 for the best results.


Preparing Cases for
Long-Range Accuracy

Complete Precision Case Prep within AccurateShooter.com
 
Or you can do neck reaming on the fired brass with the Wilson inside neck reamers. Lots of controversy as to which works best...most say the outside neck turning is best. However, since you are using the Lake City instead of Lapua or other more precision brass, it seems to be a moot point. Try Winchester brass before you buy the equipment. The necks have been thinner in my limited (60 year) experience and may not need turning. By the way, if you have the Wilson neck reamers, if you get the dreaded Do-nuts, the reamer takes care of that problem with much less fuss. AND, by the way, measuring the fired Lake City brass to find the proper diameter may NOT work...if the brass is so tight that it cannot expand to fit the chamber with the bullet still inside, you will NOT get a consistant fired diameter reading. You need brass that has a fired diameter less than the chamber plus bullet to give you a correct measurement. Been there, made those mistakes.