Neck turning

GrizleyHunter

GrizleyHunter

New member
I would like to start turning the necks on my brass.
But the set up has to be motorized,what would be a good set up to get started.
I have only seen hand held units and dont care for another step if it has to be done by hand.
 
I used an RCBS case trimmer with a neck turning attachment.It worked real well and was motorized.Then I modified it to accept a handheld drill motor to speed it up.I was doing alot of brass for 22-250 ackley.
 
Griz,

Unless your planning on playing with the benchrest croud, it's probably a waste of your time, but knock yourself out, it's your time!
 
Originally Posted By: ninehorsesGriz,

Unless your planning on playing with the benchrest croud, it's probably a waste of your time, but knock yourself out, it's your time!

Unless you have to turn there is no reason to turn. Factory chambers are [beeep] enough to not need turning and turning for varmint hunting is a waste of time. I have turned for several calibers and let me tell you this never again will I turn a neck on a standard varmint round, ever. Adam
 
if it's not a tight neck you will just make it worse .dont turn unless you need to .
 
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Griz:
What cal? and you can get the K&M turning tools from Bruno's of Phoenix AZ, and other places, the case holder may be used in a cordless or other drill but should be used SLOW.The advantage of turning necks is to eliminate irregular pull of the bullet as it starts into the Lands, this WILL reduce the inbore Yaw and provide additional accuracy. The process should include the champhering of the neck on the inside to the point of being almost sharp (I said almost) this is to eliminate some of the blowback of the cartridge and gain some FPS and reduce the soot on the neck an shoulder. One should look at the case neck tension also as too much neck tension will cause bad TIR when seating bullets, the less tension the better the TIR will be BUT the less rough treatment the round will take, like in your pocket.
have fun & don't squat with yer spurs on.
 
Im not going to tell you that you should or should not turn necks.....Im about to start turning some necks myself on 6.5 and .308. If your chasing the accuracy ghost, everything plays a part. Also, this is a hobby, your free to put as much effort into as you want.

First things first....Do you have a neck wall thickness gauge? You need to see if the necks actually need to be turned from one piece of brass to the next. You can do this with calipers, but you have to be precise with it.

Also, its not about having or not having a "tight neck" chamber. Yes, this can cause you to be forced to turn necks if you have a tight neck chamber, but there are also benifits to it regardless of the neck measurment of the chamber.

Take a look on Accurate Shooter at the archives and read the article on Neck turning.
 
I bought the Forster set up because I had a batch of Lapua .243 Win brass with very random wall thickness, making for a b**** of a time getting uniform neck tension.

I also bought the .22 caliber arbor to do my .22 PPC brass, some of which came with the rifle turned and some just raw for future use.

What a dream to use. In short order I had all of my .243 brass (100 cases at the time, now over 300) turned to 80% clean up and it has been awesome ever since. That was maybe an hour of my time. This set up leaves no ridge or "doughnut" at the base of the neck and is extremely sharp.

I start by sizing the brass in a Lee collet die to form it over a uniform mandrel. This give an exact slip fit over the neck turning mandrel with all variation going to the outside.

The Forster comes with a tool intended to clamp the brass so you can hold it. The idea of holding my brass that way creeped me out so I emailed them to ask about the use of the tool and then just set to work using my fingers.

They responded (quite soon actually) that no one ever complains about deforming brass using the shell holder so maybe it works great. I'll never know because I've turned a few hundred cases without using it.

It's a simple tool. No electricity, no complicated set up just you sitting and thinking about brass.
 
I ordered the Sinclair nt-1500 neck turning kit and also ordered a neck wall micrometer today.
My brass has random wall thickness and I want to correct the neck tension because I feel(hope)it is effecting what I call FLYERS.
I have tried just about everything else to correct the problem and hope that this gets me a little closer to the perfect load.

trevor73402 and aftCG thanks for the info
 
In a factory chamber, if you turn the brass all the way around in a clean cut you will likely not get adequite tension with a standard die, and will need a bushing type die. The downside to this is the min sized neck in a relativly sloppy factory chamber will cause your brass to be worked too much. Ideally in a factory chamber I'd find my best necks, and my worst necks and shoot for an average. In most cases I end up with brass that's turned 1/2 -3/4 of the way around the neck. Those with almost no metal removed, or with a full cut around the neck I set aside. This "partial turn" still makes the brass more uniform than standard, and prevents the overworking issue.

Also, I use a Hart shell holder in my drill press to hold the cases. Then I hold the Sinclair turning tool by hand and just run the case down and up the mandrel. Despite popular myth they don't have to be run slowly. I keep a little container of Marvel Mystery oil, and a q-tip on hand. Dab a little on the mandrel every couple of cases for lube. The time it takes to shut the drill down and change the cases will let the mandrel stay cool. Every ten to fifteen cases, I put a little sweets on a cleaning patch and wipe the mandrel off really well. Then wipe it clean with a dry patch and re-oil and go at it. Did 5000 17 Mach IV from 223 just a while back and it wasn't too painful!!!
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Trevor, the flyers that you mention are likely from wind changes.

You should invest in a couple of simple wind flags...they are litteraly worth their weight in gold when it come to saving on components.

If you do clean up your necks, don't clean them up all the way around.

Good luck
 
gunhaus makes some great points. I should have mentioned that I do use bushing dies, with bushings chosen after I determined the desired wall thickness.

Also, like he and ackleyman mention, minimum removal to get the consistency you're looking for.
 
i have a K&M setup and love it. run the brass through the neck expander which pushes all the imperfections to the outside then turn them until the necks are perfectly concentric. works great for me on my tight neck chambers and factory chambers.
 
I have over 200 rifles in wildcat cartidges, only have two turn necks for one rifle, which was made extra tight. otherwise its a waste of time, you could be doing something more constructive with your time.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanTrevor, the flyers that you mention are likely from wind changes.

You should invest in a couple of simple wind flags...they are litteraly worth their weight in gold when it come to saving on components.

If you do clean up your necks, don't clean them up all the way around.

Good luck

I didnt mention anything about flyers sir.
 


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