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Neck turning?

bdh308

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 14, 2009
374
7
50
Paris,Tennessee
Hey guys...I havent got into neck turning my cases yet and was wondering how beneficial it can be. I only use Lapua and Winchester cases. Also is there one neck turner thats better than another as far as brand goes? Not looking to spend very much.
 
Re: Neck turning?

In my opinion, its a waste of time in a tactical rifle. I have tried it with winchester brass, but neck turning is tedious.

James
 
Re: Neck turning?

Its not horrible but i have been doing it for a while now. If you looking to improve the brass a little inside neck reamers will be alot better for what your doing. You can control the sizes alot better by going up .0005" at a time. They just go into your case trimmer replacing the pilots in them.
 
Re: Neck turning?

Are you talking about a Tac semi auto or Tac bolt action rifle? I just here some guys on here say that it improves accuracy but I can see where it would be pretty time consuming job. The reamer sounds like a better way to go so you dont turn to much brass. Right now I only use a Lee hand case trimmer so Im assuming you can buy the reamers for this?
 
Re: Neck turning?

i think neck turning sucks and don't give you shit in a tactical rifle. i would love some one to fire 5 rds @ 7-900yds with the necks turned and the bullets as concentric as you can get them and fire 5rds of unturned and unstraightened shit and show the results. i have done it and i just don't see the benefit. my .02 anyway. ymmv
 
Re: Neck turning?

Unless you have a tight chamber that requires turning the necks to fit the chamber, neck turning won't accomplish anything for you. Reamers are for removing donuts or just removing excess material when reforming brass for wildcats.
 
Re: Neck turning?

I started neck turning when I was benchrest shooting. Yes you can gain from it. At least if you are capable of shooting as good as your rifle. If you or the rifle either one isn't up to par, it's a waste of time.

The Pumpkin turner is the best on the market if money is no object. But I made one I used for years. Or Sinclair's sells several different types.
 
Re: Neck turning?

I was under the impression that neck turning was to ensure an even amount of brass around the bullet, so as not to have more tension on one side than the other so the bullet leaves the brass evenly?

Just in case I got the hornady one. I'm just starting out myself and learning....
 
Re: Neck turning?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Winchester 69</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Unless you have a tight chamber that requires turning the necks to fit the chamber, neck turning won't accomplish anything for you. Reamers are for removing donuts or just removing excess material when reforming brass for wildcats. </div></div>

Ok seriously guys? I know that the brass you guys use every day even the lapua is all perfect. If you guys think its a waste of your time and i dont mean to be rude but you have something to learn. It all depends on what you expect out of it. If you want the extra accuracy that it gives you then its a must.
 
Re: Neck turning?

I have neck turned Lapua .308 brass before on my pumpkin, and belive me when I tell you that even Lapua is not perfect! Not nearly as bad a Win brass, but not perfect either.

While I do not own any tight neck rifles, I do neck turn to uniform the necks. It is fast and very easy to do for me, and its only done once per batch of brass so I really dont mind the extra step.
 
Re: Neck turning?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 1911.it</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Waste of time in a tactical rifle, double if you have Lapua brass. </div></div>

This is suppose to a tatical rile of sorts but here's a test I ran yesterday and today. Know you have to use factory stuff at work but sure helped mine out with the reloads. 175 SMK's pushing right at 2700fps. Still getting use to rifle.
2009_021900101-1.jpg


These pictures aren't the best but it's a repeat of a test I did yesterday. Pictures of the other didn't do well because of the paper tearing up and holes looked smaller with most of the rounds inside rips, so I left the targets on the cardboard today where you can see the actual shots. I've always said that neck turning will help any accuracy because it will give a more uniform grip on the bullet. Most people thinks it a waste of time but if you have a decent shooting rifle I think these pictures are proof enough. I made believers out of two people at the range today and my rangemaster was one who is also the designated snipper for the police department here. I took 100 rds of new Winchester brass and did a full case prep, I uniformed the pockets, trimmed all to the same length, cambered and trimmed. I then set up my flash hole tool and did all the flash holes where I knew they would be the same. Then I took 50 cases and turned the necks. All the cases were within .1 grain of the same case weight and everything used in the loadings were out of the same lot numbers. The ones that I didn't turn the necks on are on the first target and the turned ones on the next. I fired 5 shot groups for the first 3 diamonds alternating from one target to the other. The last diamonds on each target I took time about and fired one then the other. I think the results speak for themselves. I'll let you be the JUDGE & JURY, verdicts please! I still working with the rifle you'll have to excuse the groups but overall size is what I'm talking about.

IMG_6019-1.jpg


IMG_6018-1.jpg
 
Re: Neck turning?

I turn necks because I once did a test and found that the average runout on my loaded rounds was .0045 but with turned necks my average runout was .0012.

I shot groups just like you did and the cartridges with less runout were more accurate. I use a hand held model from Sinclair's but if I went through a lot of brass, I would look at something faster.
 
Re: Neck turning?

I do it while sitting in front of the TV so my times not totally wasted. I use a Forster cutter and have some over sized surgical tubing to hold the cases. Didn't care much for their little tool. I would like to find something that would work like a case trimmer though.
 
Re: Neck turning?

Thats what I thought...I can see were some guys think its a waste of time but it just makes since to uniform the neck so the bullet while under pressure comes out straight. Are most of you turning the outside or the inside? I think Im goin to go ahead an invest in one so any recommendations would be appreciated.
 
Re: Neck turning?

I have a match rifle and 2 tight neck varmint rifles that i have to turn the necks on.I too, do it in front of the tv.I use a cordless screw driver and a case holder from Sinclair,and hold them over a plastic bowl, like a puke bowl from the hospital.I put 1 drop of light oil, like tap magic or shooters choice fp10 on each case neck and touch the mandrel to it so it gets a little lube,too.Adjusting most of these tools is not easy, I usually use old cases for setting up, as yuo usually ruin a few.I also buy a new tool for each new caliber I turn for, because of the aboue reason.Maybe more info than you wanted,just for what it is worth. Lightman
 
Re: Neck turning?

Turned necks = uniform neck tension, low runout on loaded ammo and better accuracy.

What else do you need to know?
 
Re: Neck turning?

Mr Roscoe, am new here. Just wanted to say that I find your posts very interesting.Really enjoy the 'How To' on gunsmithing.Thanks Lightman
 
Re: Neck turning?

Recommendation on a neck turner....Do I just need a pilot for the drill or do I need to buy the whole thing? Budget friendly.
 
Re: Neck turning?

Hi Bdh308, there are many brands of tools out there and many opinions about them.I would buy the hand tool type turner,made by a company that you like.You will need a pilot for it that is caliber specific,and probably a special expander die with a caliber specific mandral, and if you are turning for a tight neck chamber, some kind of good quality meausuring tool to know what/how much to cut.If you just clean up 60-70% of the neck, you can skip the meausuring tool.I really like the stuff that Sinclair sells. Its expensive,but works well and is always high quality.Good Luck with this! Lightman
 
Re: Neck turning?

Go to www.benchrest.com, then to Forums, then to the gunsmiths corner forum and search on Neck Turning. You will find everything you could ever want to know about neck turning. I have shot bench for the better part of 30 years and I will tell you that I don't know more than a handfull of benchresters that turn necks on anything other than benchrest rigs. These guys have their own reamers that they send to their smiths every year when they get their new barrels for the season. They are typically very tight, a few so tight that they don't even have to size their brass. If you want to try it just take a light pass that will clean up the high spots on your brass. Typically, one side may be .001 higher than the other. However, if you have a Saami minimum standard chamber you won't gain much if anything. Your best bet is a blueprinted or custom action, custom barrel, an outstanding minimum chamber, great trigger, and a comfortable stock with perfect bedding. Buy the best components or Factory ammo you can go for it. Reloading in the gun I just spoke of gives you brass that is fit to your chamber, concentric rounds and bullet seating tuned to your barrel; the rest is up to good eyes, steady nerves, good breathing and the ability to read wind and mirage. Have fun
 
Re: Neck turning?

I neck turn just to clean up the brass and make it the same neck thickness. I don't feel it is a waste of time. It only makes sense to me to try and have even tension on the bullet. I use Sinclair products, but K& M looks good also.
 
Re: Neck turning?

K&M is really good stuff. I use a expander first that .002" bigger then the pilot on my neck turner. You MUST get the whole neck turned or you will have a donut at the shoulder intersection. Sometimes i even expand it up to the next caliber the neck it back down after its turned. Russ Haydon's shooter supply is a great place to buy all this stuff.
 
Re: Neck turning?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pete Theodore</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Mr Roscoe, am new here. Just wanted to say that I find your posts very interesting.Really enjoy the 'How To' on gunsmithing.Thanks Lightman </div></div>

Thanks and you're welcome.
 
Re: Neck turning?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bdh308</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Recommendation on a neck turner....Do I just need a pilot for the drill or do I need to buy the whole thing? Budget friendly. </div></div>

Buy the expander die body and mandrels from Sinclair and the Hart Neck Turning Tool and Piolet from Midway. Everything else is just a toy. I've tried them.
 
Re: Neck turning?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: wnroscoe</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bdh308</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Recommendation on a neck turner....Do I just need a pilot for the drill or do I need to buy the whole thing? Budget friendly. </div></div>

Buy the expander die body and mandrels from Sinclair and the Hart Neck Turning Tool and Piolet from Midway. Everything else is just a toy. I've tried them. </div></div>

Does the expander work that much better. If so I may have to get one. I use a carbide expander button now and works pretty well. I bought the carbide pilots, also.
 
Re: Neck turning?

What it does for you is start everthing off at the same size. I have forgot to expand before and the necks come out a different sizes or thicknesses. I wont do that again i ruined quite a bit of brass...
 
Re: Neck turning?

I looked at it when I ordered the carbide pilots. Is is more than just an expander or is what I'm doing sufficient? I want it to be right. I've checked the necks and they are the same as far as I can measure till I hit the neck.
 
Re: Neck turning?

Just my $.02...I neck turn my brass for my hunting rifle not a tight neck, but for the extra precision. I don't in my prairie dog rig because it's shoot and dial, but in my tactial (gap) I haven't yet. My handloads without neck turning are producing .25 MOA and that's good for me. But it does tighten the group in my hunting rifle which doesn't have the accuracy potential as my gap because it's carry gun. But I can get 3/8", 3 shot groups off the bags with it. It's a personal preference. I think the hart neck turning tool is good, it's tedious to setup but once set it's nice.

BT
 
Re: Neck turning?

BTT....Ha,
Well I broke down and spent the big bucks and got the new Sinclair 4000 and their case holder so I can run it in a drill...LOVE IT... Went back to the range today with the last of my test cases, had 40, 20 of each. I took 45 minutes and
fired 40 rounds so I got the barrel HOT since they were max lads. I guess you could say it was a blind test since I didn't take my glasses and didn't have either box marked as turned or not...This was by plan. It didn't take but till the second group to tell which was which but I still didn't know for certain until I got home and checked the necks. Sure enough the ones with the turned necks out shot the others so bad by the end the last group with the unturned brass was 1.379 and the turned brass was .468. I might add I don't think it would help you enough on the premium brass to make much difference but on the Winchester and Remington's of the world it can make a huge difference

Let me add this about the tool. It is a good size to hold in you hand and the mandrel is mounted in an positive adjuster that will adjust .0002 at a time with positive clicks or you can raise the knob a little and adjust however you want. I just set it up at Zero and took the .015 feeler gauge supplied and locked everything down. I will turn all necks to at least .015 but with the adjuster all I have to do is loosen a set screw and I can dial it down to .011 without a problem, which is where most of the 308 Winchester needs to be turned to get it anywhere near the same. Shell holder for the drill driver uses lee primer holder which I happened to have on and. Real simple to set up and use and gives a much better turning job. If you so desire (and I have on the last 100 cases yet to fire) you can turn the top part of the shoulder so as the brass grows longer you don't have to turn them again. I do take a Q-tip and put a drop or two of oil on it and wipe the pilot before turning the necks because it will heat up even using the cordless screwdriver. When I get done I tumble for about and hour and then run them back through the neck sizer to get the .002 tension I use. Did I say I "LOVE" it!
 
Re: Neck turning?

William,
Hart cutter is rounded in the neck-shoulder junction area and would not cut into the neck-shoulder corner all the way. It seems that part of the neck closest to the shoulder will not be turned ( unless cutter is pushed to cut into the shoulder itself, weakening it). That was my impression of the Hart tool. I did not even try to use it on the above assumption. Please share your experience.
 
Re: Neck turning?

IMHO, based only on my experience; if you are turning necks for multiple calibers K&M is not a bad way to go. They are less expensive than the Hart and some people will just have one for each caliber and leave it set up. (If you have not figured it out setting up a neck turning tool is a pain in the ass.)

Another option is the Hart with the MIC, it is the best because you can easily turn in 2 or 3 passes and get a smoother cut. Again, IMHO it is the smoothest and the weight makes it sturdier as the case is running on the mandrel.

Option 3, might be to contact Bruno's or Russ Haydon or RW Hart & son and find out if they will turn necks to your specs. They do it for 30br and PPC. If you are going to turn a couple hundred cases it is cheaper than buying all the stuff and learning how to do it. Getting someone like Bruno's or Haydon's to do it will also save you a lot of winter nights preping cases.

I have also found that I don't see the accuracy gains until after the new neck turned cases have been fire formed to my chamber.

Have fun.
 
Re: Neck turning?

I've found that its not neccesary to get 100% of the neck turned to make a huge difference I started just hitting the high spots so that 75% or so gets turned down. try it you might like it.
 
Re: Neck turning?

Unless you are shooting competitive benchrest with a tight neck chamber, I agree with Greengo, just hit the high spots.
 
Re: Neck turning?

If you are going 3/4th of the way why not go all the way and keep a constant and even neck tension, just takes a little twist on the cutter. If you aren't going to be consistent why do it at all? It's bound to be better, but why not make it the best it can be?
 
Re: Neck turning?

What sort of cordless drill are people using and where do you get them? I went to Home Depot and didn't see any that would take a chuck. And how do you know if the case is spinning true? I hooked up my case holder to my drill and it was all over the place. Supposedly that won't happen with a cordless drill?
 
Re: Neck turning?

I use an 18 volt DeWalt 1/2" drill with the keyless chuck. (I already had the drill. Probably any good 1/2" keyless chuck drill will work.) I can turn all my brass except the 300 WinMag. I haven't tried that one yet. I never use an adapter. The keyless drill chuck works better than any of the half dozen or so I've owned. Really, if you haven't tried it like that, you don't know what you're missing. Put it in back gear (slow range) put the case in the chuck and hand tighten and away you go. If you are doing this for neck turning be sure and keep the cutting tool mandrel lubed well. I use the leftover drops of oil from the Mobil 1 motor oil bottles. It seems there is always a couple of teaspoons of oil left in each one after an oil change.
 
Re: Neck turning?

I use a couple of different cordless screwdrivers with the angle grip, but the case holder from Sinclair is made for that type use as is the pocket uniformer. I also have several battery powered drills that can be used. One of the drills is a B&D Fire Storm that the chuck snaps on & off and has the bit chuck under the drill chuck. We usually keep a brush in it to clean the inside of the necks and snap it off to use the primer pocket uniformer at other times. All of them I use has torque settings on them so if something hangs it doesn't screw up the case.
 
Re: Neck turning?

Has anyone noticed the differences in the Lapua brass (308win) neck thickness.
I have been using Lapua brass for quite some time now. And it seems that the more recent the the lot numbers are the variations in thickness are greater.
Some measuring .010 to .140 in the same box and lot. And I'm not talking a couple of cases here and there, I'm saying close to half the box when sorting.
The older holds all very close to .014
 
Re: Neck turning?

Sinclair, K&M, Hart and I am certain several others make a case holder for cordless drills. There are a couple of keys; don't go over 200rpms, and trust, even though it wobbles in your hand, that the cutter will draw the case over the mandral straight and true. You can go to www.benchrest.com and search the forums for neck turning and learn more than you ever wanted to know.
 
Re: Neck turning?

Enios,

Some thing to consider when cleaning up the whole neck vs 60-80%.

Say you have a stock chamber with 5 thou neck expansion with fired case on virgin brass and you totally clean up the neck"neck turn" which in most cases takes another 3 thou off for a total of 8 thou neck expansion now.What ends up happening is the necks will start splitting.The extra couple thou makes a big difference sometimes.

The other thing is that you might not have enough neck tension now with taking off the extra 3 thou for bullet seating.So you will have to buy a bushing die to get enough neck tension.

Guess how I know all this,LOL

I've learned to order my own reamers cut for certain brands of brass and custom dies so all this is kept to tight tolerances.

Steve
 
Re: Neck turning?

I just started turning necks a little over a year ago but had bushing dies before I every started. One of the reason I started turning them was I had to ability to play with the tension. Never had a split neck yet but doesn't mean it's not going to happen. I never take more than .002 off a neck which cleans up 90% of the cases. Most firings I have are 6 on any turned necks but I had 4 on a 100 rds of Black Hills Match and had to can from the primer pockets giving out. Loads are pretty hot and they had been turned to .011 for the 308. I'm sure there are some rifles out there that shouldn't have anything but Norma in them but none of mine fit that category and if the chamber was that loose don't think you could help it turning a neck anyway. You are very right, if you turn them to much a regular sizer might not put enough tension on the neck to hold the bullet. I don't use an expander, but for those that do they can tell pretty quick if it sized them enough or not.