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We want to see your skills! Post a video between now and November 1st showing what you've learned from Frank's lessons and 3 people will be selected to win a free shirt. Good luck everyone!
Create a channel Learn moreUse a carbide turning mandrel as it helps a lot in keeping any heating down if you wish to not use any lube or with lube, it tends to run even smoother when using just a little lube. They're not cheap, but they'll last your life time.Been reloading a lot of years and finally dove into buying a neck turner. Any advise on setup and process?
So what’s the order of brass prep?Use a carbide turning mandrel as it helps a lot in keeping any heating down if you wish to not use any lube or with lube, it tends to run even smoother when using just a little lube. They're not cheap, but they'll last your life time.
Make sure you use the correct angle cutter for your cartridge(s) and cut ever so slightly into the neck-shoulder junction. Be sure that you're trimming results in a consistent distance from the neck's mouth to the neck-shoulder junction so that cut into that area is also consistent and not too deep on some of them.
If you're turning for different calibers, use a dedicated cutter unit for each caliber. This way you can keep turning very consistent.
SizeSo what’s the order of brass prep?
Size
Trim
Neck turn?
Because virgin brass can have substantial differences between the neck-shoulder junction, I always fire form them first. Depending on your brass and whether you anneal the brass or not, that may be only one firing. Non-annealed brass often takes two firings . . . sometimes three. I only reload for my .308 and 6.5 PRC and since I anneal them, I find I only really need to fire form my cases once before I turn them.So what’s the order of brass prep?
Size
Trim
Neck turn?
Don’t bother lol.Been reloading a lot of years and finally dove into buying a neck turner. Any advise on setup and process?
Been reloading a lot of years and finally dove into buying a neck turner. Any advise on setup and process?
Basically speaking I’m trying to make “meh” brass good. It’s for a Weatherby cartridge so I’m stuck with Weatherby brass. If I could get norma or lapua I would just load and go. I want to get even neck thickness of 0.013. A few pieces I’ve measured had high spots up to 0.016 and 0.013 on the lowsAdvice for neck turning:
- Know why you’re turning necks. If the reason is a “tight neck chamber,” then you have the wrong reamer. If you haven’t chambered barrel, get the right reamer for your brass.
You use a tight neck chamber *because* you intend to neck turn, not after.
You should only be neck turning for a performance increase. More consistent brass prep and neck consistency. And you need to be 1) capable of exploiting this and 2) shooting a discipline which the exploitation is possible. I.E. shooting off a barricade has too much wobble to exploit minor precision upgrades.
- Decide if you’re going to skim turn outside, full turn outside, or full turn inside and outside. Each has different reasons and may require different tools.
- fireforming before neck turning is currently only done when you will be radically changing the brass during fireforming.
Most any top F or BR shooter now is turning virgin brass and just cutting into the shoulder.
If you’re necking down a lot that induces runout, or you’re changing the dimensions drastically, then you need to fireform first (provided your chamber has enough neck clearance to chamber a round).
Otherwise, just turn virgin and into the shoulder.
Basically speaking I’m trying to make “meh” brass good. It’s for a Weatherby cartridge so I’m stuck with Weatherby brass. If I could get norma or lapua I would just load and go. I want to get even neck thickness of 0.013. A few pieces I’ve measured had high spots up to 0.016 and 0.013 on the lows
I was just watching one of Erik’s videos today on the idod. Seems like a nice piece of equipment. Once this barrel burns out it will be 6.5-284. And the vast tolerance inconsistencies on $2.75 a piece brass will go away when I can get $1.50 a piece Lapua . When I get a couple cases sorted that agree with one another this is what the gun and load are capable of. Just trying to keep everything on the rails until this barrel dies.That’s a valid reason.
For that much, you could benefit from having someone do the ID and OD on an idod machine.
Definitely not ignoring! A lot of good tips in here and taking noteOP asks for tips then ignores tips.
Definitely not ignoring! A lot of good tips in here and taking note
I turn for 3 rifles with tight neck chambers. I've never found any improvement turning case necks for a factory chamber. But I'm all for experimenting so go for it.
I run the brass through a sizing die first and then trim it. If I'm removing very much brass I make multiple cuts. For my way of thinking thats somewhere between 2 and 3 thousands. I use different tools for this. When I get one adjusted I mark it and leave it alone. Sometimes its hard to get the tool adjusted and its easy to cut too much and ruin the brass. So I have several tools. K&M makes an excellent tool.
I use a tubing micrometer to measure with. I use a shell holder and lock stud from Sinclair that fits in a drill. When I'm finished turning I'll spin the case neck in 4/0 steel wool while its still chucked up in the drill. I lube the case neck with a very thin oil. I don't even put a drop on it, just what little oil weeps from the bottle when I turn it up.
Good luck with your turning adventure!
- Decide if you’re going to skim turn outside, full turn outside, or full turn inside and outside. Each has different reasons and may require different tools.
I’d call this guy up and let him do it for a feeBeen reloading a lot of years and finally dove into buying a neck turner. Any advise on setup and process?