Question in regards of brass wall thickness when neck turning ...

[AnotherNewbie]

I got a century 21 neck turner and starting with 223 then going to use it with my 6.5 and 308 and my question
is what is minimal wall thickness safety wise on those 3 calibers ?

I was assuming nothing below 10 thousandths would be safe and just looking for clarification and if my assumption is correct.
FYI,
I used lapua brass on all 3 calibers for reference.

 

[Threadcutter308]

I got a century 21 neck turner and starting with 223 then going to use it with my 6.5 and 308 and my question
is what is minimal wall thickness safety wise on those 3 calibers ?

I was assuming nothing below 10 thousands would be safe and just looking for clarification and if my assumption is correct.
FYI,
I used lapua brass on all 3 calibers for reference.

I measure wall thickness before I begin and try to remove only enough to get all the low spots. .223, 6 x 47L and .308W run between .0135" and .014", going from smaller caliber to larger. Remember, you only want to remove just enough to get consistent neck wall thickness. Others might do it, but I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about .010" walls....

 

[AnotherNewbie]

I measure wall thickness before I begin and try to remove only enough to get all the low spots. .223, 6 x 47L and .308W run between .0135" and .014", going from smaller caliber to larger. Remember, you only want to remove just enough to get consistent neck wall thickness. Others might do it, but I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about .010" walls....

I am in agreement. I was kinda Leary of anything below .010 on any of the above stated calibers just for safety . Think for safety reasons I'll stay above 0.11 and have a buffer from 0.10 .
Agreed measure 1st and only take enough off to be concentric.

 

[Threadcutter308]

I am in agreement. I was kinda Leary of anything below .010 on any of the above stated calibers just for safety . Think for safety reasons I'll stay above 0.11 and have a buffer from 0.10 .
Agreed measure 1st and only take enough off to be concentric.

Yep, no benefit to taking off any more than the minimum amount necessary......

Oh, and entertain the idea of buying multiple turners, permanently set up for your caliber of choice. Yes, I'm lazy. But, I don't like wasting brass and time re-setting turners for different calibers...Whenever I buy new brass, out comes the appropriate turner and we go to town.

 

[ZiaHunter]

+1 on what Threadcutter stated. I have multiple C21 turners for different calibers.

 

[culater]

For my lapua brass in 308 I turned them down from .017 to .015 using the 21st century lathe. That was good enough for me with the AMP annealer everything was much smoother seating pressure. I saw much improved groups pass 600 yds and consistent muzzle velocity. It definitely cuts down on flyers. But you'll still have one some where. Just take that case and crush it with you boot. I have over 700 cases that i did and very happy with the results. Hopefully you have a great scale to complement your efforts to get more consistent ammo.

 

[remaction]

There are two reasons to turn necks. 1) you have a tight neck chamber and have to turn the necks to a certain thickness in order to be able to safely fire the round (let’s say at least .002” clearance per side). When fired this round will have minimal expansion of the brass in the neck and as such will allow many reloadings. 2) you simply want consistent neck thicknesses. If that is the case, threadcutter308 is right on in that you only want to clean up the necks just enough to make them consistent. Any more than that and you will be overworking the necks due to additional stretching during firing and the subsequent resizing of the necks which can lead to short brass life. If number 2 is your sole reason for turning, I myself just turn them enough to clean up about 3/4 of the neck surface in order to minimize the stretch/resize working of the brass.

 

[Threadcutter308]

There are two reasons to turn necks. 1) you have a tight neck chamber and have to turn the necks to a certain thickness in order to be able to safely fire the round (let’s say at least .002” clearance per side). When fired this round will have minimal expansion of the brass in the neck and as such will allow many reloadings. 2) you simply want consistent neck thicknesses. If that is the case, threadcutter308 is right on in that you only want to clean up the necks just enough to make them consistent. Any more than that and you will be overworking the necks due to additional stretching during firing and the subsequent resizing of the necks which can lead to short brass life. If number 2 is your sole reason for turning, I myself just turn them enough to clean up about 3/4 of the neck surface in order to minimize the stretch/resize working of the brass.

Yep....

I have “less than” .002 per side for “snug neck” loads, but I make everything, including dies, excluding the reamer itself. I can reasonably control the parameters of the load I am putting together via the reamer and die characteristics.
I always leave as much meat on the necks as possible....

 

[AnotherNewbie]

Thanks to all I am getting .0135 ( 3/4's neck surface ) pretty consistently with lapua 223 brass with taking off bare minimum. I probably could go .0130 and be perfect with it but for my 1st batch of brass I would rather go less and have a little give later if needed.
Oh the idea of have 2 or 3 of these little jewels is tempting Threadcutter308 and as I go along and move to next caliber I probably will do same.

 

[Threadcutter308]

Thanks to all I am getting .0135 ( 3/4's neck surface ) pretty consistently with lapua 223 brass with taking off bare minimum. I probably could go .0130 and be perfect with it but for my 1st batch of brass I would rather go less and have a little give later if needed.
Oh the idea of have 2 or 3 of these little jewels is tempting Threadcutter308 and as I go along and move to next caliber I probably will do same.

I use L.E. Wilson dies, including the neck sizing die. If you use an interchangeable "button" type neck sizer, please be aware that the Wilson (and possibly/probably others) has a taper of the ID of the button. You can run it "normal" with the size numbers facing up, which will taper the neck when re-sizing. I run my buttons upside down so that the button/die resizes the neck with no taper. I mention this because I don't think a person would want to neck turn brass that has gone through the die and has a resulting taper.

 

[AnotherNewbie]

I use L.E. Wilson dies, including the neck sizing die. If you use an interchangeable "button" type neck sizer, please be aware that the Wilson (and possibly/probably others) has a taper of the ID of the button. You can run it "normal" with the size numbers facing up, which will taper the neck when re-sizing. I run my buttons upside down so that the button/die resizes the neck with no taper. I mention this because I don't think a person would want to neck turn brass that has gone through the die and has a resulting taper.

I have redding buttons and there tech guys says there strait through so that should not be a issue for me but thanks good info still because I ended up with a wilson button and might have used it later on.