Brass much thicker right by neck?

Are you using an expander button with sizing die? When I was only neck sizing and I wasn't using the expander button. The same thing happed to me. Had to turn the necks, could definitely see where the brass was thicker. I went back to a Redding S die and now am after sizing the neck and bumping the shoulder and I use an expander die and mandrel and haven't had the issue since.
 
I've had this problem; in my experience the flaring at the case lips is due to the expander ball or mandrel getting hung up . I think the mandrels are less likely to do this. I also think that inadequate lube in the necks makes the problem more likely. I've removed the expander balls from all my dies, and try only to use the mandrel on necks that are noticably dinged.
 
So how do you decide how much to turn your necks do you measure your chamber , the fired brass neck the loaded round to figure this out ?
 
Would a video such as AGI's handloading for the long range shooter be of use to me to help me better understand things like neck sizing , neck turning , using an expander ball vers a mandrel , reaming vers turning ?
 
Any cases I have measured have neck wall thickness in the 0.013-0.015 range prior to turning so I find it odd that his cases are 0.017-0.021 thick. Is this typical of his brass manufacturer? I always trim to length when reloading, it's the rare case that doesn't need a little touch up at least, just to square the case mouth. I'd be turning the necks.
 
The Oregonian said:
Yes, I bump the shoulder...I think/hope it is the case mouth peening.
Click to expand...

Trim your cases to minimum length and debur, trimming the cases should remove the thicker section of the case mouth. And stop listening to the worthless advice that has nothing to do with case mouth peening.

Step #1 trim a case and see how much thinner the case mouth becomes.
 
bigedp51 said:
Trim your cases to minimum length and debur, trimming the cases should remove the thicker section of the case mouth. And stop listening to the worthless advice that has nothing to do with case mouth peening.

Step #1 trim a case and see how much thinner the case mouth becomes.
Click to expand...
Agree...I am going to turn necks as well but I think the peening is the issue. Neck turning is just to get everything even, and if the trimming doesn't work the turning will take care of it.
 
The Oregonian said:
I have a borescope and didn't see elements of a carbon ring but I cleaned anyway. How would i clean the chamber neck? Same way but don't go into the barrel?

I feel like my head is going to explode...not having someone who taught me anything or having a local resource sucks. I figure everything out as problems come up, not knowing what is causing them or if anything I am doing is causing it. And it could be carbon in the chamber, sizer, seater, annealing, etc.

Bc the brass isn't thicker and it is a flare, I feel like it is something I am not doing correctly with sizing or seating, but those seem pretty straightforward. Theloaded rounds measure .317 and I am using a .314 bushing and expanding to .315 and getting .0025 shoulder bump. And the bushing is floating as I can hear it when I shake. The seater seems straightforward and I am getting the desired length with minimal runout during the whole process based on finished rounds...most are .002 or less with the rest being maybe .004 or less. Maybe I will try a .315 bushing...but at this point I am ready to pull hair out.
Click to expand...

How are you expanding the necks to .315 ? If you're using a mandrel to do that, maybe it's got a burr on it that is causing your problem. You may also be pushing it in until its shoulder hits the case mouth, and that could be doing it. Backing the die out of the press a turn or so might help, if that's the issue. The expanding die may just be getting dirty, or the mandrel may be accumulating lube or something. I was just reading about this process of expanding necks with a mandrel, and this came to mind when I saw your thread.
 
Again I will say, the only time I've had neck thickness problems in any of my casings has been when the case was at its maximum length and fired again. The mouth of the case had no room to expand, it was against the case lip in the chamber, and the brass couldn't flow forward any farther. I just trimmed the casings to trim length and de-burred/beveled the case mouth and the problem was solved. And it only happened a couple of times, with Federal brass, which I consider a little soft. And I use the supplied expander ball in all of my dies. The ball expands the inside of the case mouth just fine. I will lube the inside of the neck slightly every 7th or 8th casing, and the ball works easily without a lot of effort or any misalignment of the neck. I also don't clean my brass after every firing. I limit cleaning to every 5th or 6th reloading. This keeps the brass case mouth from being peened and work hardened/thickened due to hitting other brass in the cleaning process.
 
greenejc said:
I also don't clean my brass after every firing. I limit cleaning to every 5th or 6th reloading. This keeps the brass case mouth from being peened and work hardened/thickened due to hitting other brass in the cleaning process.
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter if you wet tumble after every firing or wet tumble after the 5th or 6th firing.

Every time you wet tumble the case mouth is peened, and the longer you wet tumble the more the case mouth will be peened.

This is why I trim my cases to minimum length every time I wet tumble and cut off the peening and the thicker case mouth. This isn't rocket science and I can't believe some of the answers given in this posting.

The OP wet tumbled his cases four hours and pounded and peened the case mouths, end of story, trim the cases and fix the problem.
 
greenejc , I have limited experience reloading but what you say makes sense to me the forces on the brass have to go some place and forward is the only available direction for it to move now that you have explained to me that there is a step in the end of the chamber before it transitions to the smaller free bore that the brass will come into contact with if not properly trimmed I can understand the importance of keeping the brass the correct length .
 
When I started to reload an older guy that didn't have much in the line of equipment told me to clean my outer neck with 0000 steel wool so I could look for cracks he had no way to tumble his brass . he did measure the length with a vierener caliper
 
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