Case Neck turning w/ RCBS toolage

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snake plisken1

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Anyone use the auto feed neck turner kit from RCBS that converts the manual trim pro to a bench mounted neck turner? The pilot is a built in reamer so your cases get reamed inside while you shave outside material @ the same time. Never have seen it discussed on the forums here and was wondering.
 
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Originally Posted By: snake plisken1Anyone use the auto feed neck turner kit from RCBS that converts the manual trim pro to a bench mounted neck turner? The pilot is a built in reamer so your cases get reamed inside while you shave outside material @ the same time. Never have seen it discussed on the forums here and was wondering.

You really don't want to turn the neck at the same time as you ream it - do one or the other.

Because they make it, does not mean it's good.
 
Originally Posted By: ninehorsesCan you post a link to what you've found.

I didn't find it on a link - I have been turning case necks for more then 40 years....
 
Not you CatShooter, I went to the RCBS and Midway sites to see what snake plisken1 was refering to, and couldn't find anything but their usual stuff. I thought it was something new. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Originally Posted By: ninehorsesNot you CatShooter, I went to the RCBS and Midway sites to see what snake plisken1 was refering to, and couldn't find anything but their usual stuff. I thought it was something new. Sorry for the confusion.

I found it...

http://outdoorwriters.atk.com/resource_library/catalogs/RCBSCatalog.pdf

In page 13 (or so my Adobe PDF says)... under neck turning accessories.

The problem with this is that when you turn a neck, you are running a cutter over a smooth mandrel - and you get a neck that is within 2 or 3/10,000th of an inch - it is easy.

But if you are running a reamer cutter inside of the neck, it cuts whatever is in front of it - if the neck is smallish, the cutter take a huge chunk out of the neck, if it is loose-ish, the cutter takes little or nothing.

you have NO control over what is cut with an inside cutter - they are not designed to work like that.

What has happened to RCBS over the past few years makes me sad.

Some of you old guys will remember the days when RCBS and Lyman were tops in the hand loading business... I was the largest RCBS dealer/wholesaler of RCBS tools east of the Mississippi, when Fred Huntington owned the company.

Back then, Lyman was BIG too. Then "Leisure Products Group" (a holding company) bought Lyman, because all the sons and family wanted to go in different directions.

They stripped Lyman of all the nice, top of the line stuff and cut quality on everything else.

Lyman took a big hit in sales - so they moved to a smaller building. Then they lost their standing in the reloading tool community. they tried to "fix it" by painting the tools black instead of the classic Lyman Orange - and they took another hit in sales and moved to a still smaller building... after a while, Leisure Products dumped Lyman.

... now they are in a teeny building (about 10 miles from me)... customer service sucks, and they are trying to crawl their way back, but it is a hard road.

I see some of the same signs at RCBS since ATK took them over. ATK is just gobbling up companies thatare related to firearms and ammunition. RCBS is making cheaper copies of other people's tools, and their catalogs have information that is not correct.

This is a good example - the neck turner (inside and outside) doesn't work that way - the people at RCBS that proof read the catalog, don't know how the stuff is used.

Not a good sign.

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Cat Shooter, If I'm getting then what you are putting down, that means the process of doing inside neck reaming and outside neck turning is not proper when done together, which is probably why the folks like Sinclair don't offer high end tools that do that together. With that said, if the pilot reamer can be swapped out for a regular pilot like RCBS offers in their hand outside neck turner tool, it would be ok to use the converted trimmer to neck turner provided that inside reaming does not get done alongside outside turning. I like the idea of a bench mounted tool vs. hand turning, and if you look at the hand neck turner that RCBS offers, their pilot for that kit is not a reamer type, like the pilots for the auto feed. Weird that they offer two different pilot styles for tools that do the same thing.

Also, in your reply back, when is the appropriate time to consider inside neck reaming anyway? Thanks in advance
 
If you want to turn necks, KM Neck turners are one of the best in the market at the price. Neck reaming in inferior in all ways to neck turning. Once you have the cutter set to the proper thickness it's very easy to cut 1000 cases with the drill attachment from Sinclair. If you're going to do it right, do it the first time. Adam
 
Originally Posted By: snake plisken1CatShooter, If I'm getting then what you are putting down, that means the process of doing inside neck reaming and outside neck turning is not proper when done together, which is probably why the folks like Sinclair don't offer high end tools that do that together.

You got it man...

Quote:With that said, if the pilot reamer can be swapped out for a regular pilot like RCBS offers in their hand outside neck turner tool, it would be ok to use the converted trimmer to neck turner provided that inside reaming does not get done alongside outside turning. I like the idea of a bench mounted tool vs. hand turning, and if you look at the hand neck turner that RCBS offers, their pilot for that kit is not a reamer type, like the pilots for the auto feed. Weird that they offer two different pilot styles for tools that do the same thing.


The inside reamer is for removing the "donut"... which is such a convoluted thing that I won't get into it, cuz some guys complain how long my posts are and the donut thing would be 5 or 6 pages - but I will say it is only for very tight necks when you are working with a few thou neck clearance and loooong bullets.
lol.gif


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Also, in your reply back, when is the appropriate time to consider inside neck reaming anyway? Thanks in advance

Never...

For neck turning, I use the Forster tool, with a drill adapter - it is extremely fast and will run circles around the hand tools, both is speed and quality of cut.
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Anyway. I can nix the idea of using a standard pilot in the RCBS auto feed vs. the pilot neck reamer that is supposed to go w/ the auto feed. Different diameter shapes that attach to cutter assembly/housing. The housing by way of pictures in the rcbs catalog look like the cutter housing on my 3 way cutter and the pics of the rcbs hand turner pilots look too large to make it work. Hey, Cat, thanks for the assistance, and for future posts back to me you will never hear me complain about you or anyone else on here about being long winded in replies or explanations of different sorts. So if you must, pm me. I am here to learn and advance my skill set. Thanks
 
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Reviving an old thread im having a buddy machine a new pilot for this set up to eliminate the inside reamer. I measured the expander ball on my dies and had him go 2 thousands smaller on the new pilot. Is that enough or too much? Depending on how it works I may have him make me one for a couple different calibers. Not sure the neck turning will make a huge difference but I'm trying to wring out as much accuracy as possible out of an off the shelf rifle.
 
I remember reading this thread when it was current and thinking "glad I avoided that RCBS neck turner". Fast forward to last year I bought the neck turner attachment that's not self feeding, along with a 17 cal pilot to turn necks on my 17/223 brass.

I gotta say I think it works nearly flawlessly. I have my trim-pro powered up with a cordless drill and it makes pretty easy work of it. The only potential problem is that the case holder part barely has enough holding power to keep the case from spinning out while turning, so I hold it with my fingers to assist. As far as the reamer part, the reamer goes in first; by the time you get to the turner the pilot is a solid mandrel. I don't seem to have a problem with it and it does what I want it to do. Here's my trimmer:

 
Have you tried tightening the 2 pins that hold the shell plate in? Sometimes mine unscrew and the case turns even when running it by hand. Just a thought. Also do you have a link for the mandrel without the reamer
 
No link but it's at Midway.

Edit I mis-read, I have the mandrel with the reamer, but got the cutter head that's not self-feeding. The reamer is way ahead of the cutter, so it's through the neck before the outside turner starts cutting. I think it works pretty good.
 
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