Case neck turner options? Please help

[BountyHunter]

I like the K&M turner with carbide donut mandrel. cost is about $80 also buy his expanding mandrel to match the cutter ($15). Accurate to .00002 inch. (717) 292-3175. Ken Markle will ship with receipt in box so you just send money in when you get it.

use black and decker 3.6 volt power screw driver with versa pack batteries $20 and sinclair internatinal power screw driver case holder heads ($44 for 3 set for all calibers) for turning at 180 rpm. Makes slick clean wobble free cuts. www.sinclairintl.com

by holland neck micrometer for $65 from www.hollandguns.com

use fp10 or the imperial size wax ken will send you to lube necks.

must size necks first, then expand with matching mandrell. use old brass to practice.

YOu can find more expensive but none better or easier.

Good luck

BH

[ 02-27-2004: Message edited by: BountyHunter ]

 

[Lee in OH]

K&M is the way to go. I have them in 17 cal, 22 cal and 6mm. Going to get 6.5 next.

Great products and great to deal with.

 

[Sako7STW]

Well I called Ken and got the turner on the way. Got it for 7mm for my STW, .257 for my .257 Weatherby, and .243 for my .243 Win.

Talked with him for a bit and was blown away by his knowledge. This turner sounds top notch no doubt about it. I am suprised by his trust. There is no way I would send product out of my company without some money up front. One thing about it though he will get my money!! Funny thing was he hadnt heard of the Barnes TSX so I filled him in LOL. He's sending me one of their catalogs as well. Now I just have to get this RCBS stuff returned.

 

[Sako7STW]

Well I bought a case neck turner from RCBS that goes onto thier case trimmer. I guess mine must be a different model or something but it doesn't fit. So now I have to return this one and find the next best thing. I liked how the RCBS would do the inside and the outside at the same time though. SO what is a good turner to get and if you could, where is a good place to get one from? Link? Not many options to find one here in Wyoming.

 

[Brent]

BH,
Accurate to .00002 inch. You mean .0002" I think?

I've been able to adjust mine to .0001" between the marks with ease, and I can honsetly say it will keep within .00005" or so, and that's astonishing to me! Is that accuracy needed? I get less than .001" runout out on the bullet, almost less than .0005" really, and neck tension is very consistant, so it ain't hurtin!

I really like the K&M. The expandiron die w/mandrel, and carbide fluted reamer mandrel is also the way to go.

Sako, get the K&M!

 

[Andy Mass]

Aggree with all about the K&M neck turner, It is very easy to use, very consistant and relatively cheap. Buy the expanderiron at the same time as you need it give the correct sized neck on the cutter mandrell. Have used it in 224, 257 and 30 cal with excellent results.

 

[DANTEC]

I now use a lathe from my shop to lathe turn all my neck but for small quantity K&M is nice , new Sinclair NT2000 is easier to set up

use carbide mandrel and carefully check expander diameter to match to mandrel to avoid to turn "popatos neck "

use two step on for rought turning ( you can make that with your RCBS ) and final thickness with K&M

good shooting

DAN TEC

 

[HoytemanPA]

I use a sinclair NT-3000 and like it. But please explain the "popatos neck" in more detail. Also I bought the expander that goes with the mandrel but to me the neck seemed to have too loose of a fit on the mandrel after using it. I have since run new cases through a full length die, with button and then neck turn using imperial sizing wax. The fit seems much tighter and it does not leave any brass on the mandrel in doing this. What is the proper way to use the expander mandrel? I must have been doing something wrong.
Thanks,
HPA

 

[TOM H]

On my tight neck rifles I use a Forester for the first cut than make the final cut with either a K&M,Sinclair,Hart or Neilsen. I got some over sized mandels from Sinclair and they work great. I like to ream the inside of the neck after the first firing. I have tight neck rifles in 22,6mm,6.5 and 30 cal so have a set up for each. Neilsen is by far the best but at $150. and would would rate Hart next and K&M and Sinclair about the same. K&M make a great hand priming tool. I haven't tried the Wilson turner but looks pretty good. I had an RCBS for the first cut but when to a Forester and like their inside neck reamer. Wilson make a pretty good neck reamer also. Men and there toys!

 

[Sako7STW]

Holy Chit Batman, that was a big bill. I hope this is going to be worth it at $200 later. I got everything but the guage, kind wish I would have now but oh well. It looks very precise and well done. Now if I can figure out how to use it properly!!

 

[Len Backus]

A few months ago I acquired an entire Don Nielson case turning system. It is designed and built as well as my Mercedes Benz car. Amazing! What a joy to use.

I just got done photographing eagles all day in Alaska today and I am beat but I'll find and post his website tomorrow. (I am on a 2.3 mile per hour low-speed internet connection up here!)

Good night.

 

[Brent]

Sako,
Think about this a little more before you send it back.

I believe they all take a certain amount of attention to detail and aren't fool proof, and yes you can whack a neck up on the inside witht he reamer if you don't go slow and keep it straight.

There is a step or stop on the mandrel for the case mouth to contact, to set the depth of cut into the shoulder. This is what the Pilot Jack accessory he makes helps you do a lot easier than loosening the screw and adjusting the stop by hand, this should be in the instructions...

I know one guy who like to leave a case loose on the mandrel and ream the donut at the shoulder junction at an angle so it takes more off. I have a link to how he does it if you like to read it.

You should have two screws for the expandiron die mandrels, shot and long. I use a Dillon 550 press, and have the die body screwed in 3-4 threads is all, so it stays HIGH for the reason you explained. Ken needs to make a die that it taller, his is short for probably the PPC and it doesn't work well for the longer cases, the STW is probably worse than the 338 Lapua. Ken may make a longer die body, be worth a call because the expander works great. I just get by with the short bodied one I have.

I run mine into the shoulder .002 or so, enough I start to get a slight ridge fron the cutter at the end, stop and set it there, the shoulder is thicker so you don;t have to worry. Section a case, debur and measure it there if you want a better idea like I did.

Let the turner body float on neck, or chuch the turner in a drill by the mandrel and clamp the drill in a vice carefully like I been doing and run the case on it letting it float on the mandrel.

You may be set on offing it already, but good luck with it if you decide to figure it out. To my knowledge, they all work the same...

 

[Len Backus]

I realize this isn't anwering the original question of the thread. But...this Don Nielson neck turning system is so good I thought this would be a good place to mention it anyway. And besides, it's my forum.

Benchrest Toys

I turned about 20, 7mm Dakota cases a few months ago. These were my first-ever and they were done using the Sinclair system which is thought to be a pretty good system.

Then I saw a post on Benchrest.com about all the little problems you can have in turning and mentioned was the Nielson system. I thought: "Well, if I am going to be doing this neck-turning thing for a few more decades, why don't I get the very best system?"

And I did and it is!

I then turned about 60 more 7mm Dakota cases and it is so easy and fool-proof that I would almost do it for nothing for friends.

It certainly will make my upcoming 7mm-338 Lapua project easy.

 

[Sako7STW]

Hmmmmm, well I sat down last night and found some problems with the K&M system If I cant figure these out I will be sending it back. The first is the expander. When I extend the screw out far enough to stop the press it only has about 1 thread left because the STW case is so long. On top of that I use the RCBS Rock Chucker press and there isnt enough room to get the case in the holder while getting the screw in the mouth at the same time. So I have to remove the expander, put the case in and put the expander in and then expand it, and reverse the process, It took forever just to do five brass. Even then I think I was going to deep onto the expander because the lack of screw length.

Once I got that done then it was time to try out the actuall turner. I set it up as per the TERRIBLE instructions, if you can even call them that, and gave em a whirl. Well the first thing I didnt like was there is no way to guide the case perfectly streight onto the reamer thus giving me no confidence that the inside of the neck is true and the cutters scrathed the inside of the neck as well, I really really did not like this. Then when I started to cut on the outside the tool worked fantastic except that it was hard to tell where the neck and the shoulder joint was and I ended up cutting a few to deep and I feel that would weaken the shoulder/kneck joint. My ponit being there is nothing to stop the cutter from going to deep.

If any of you know ways around these problems please fill me in. As of right now I am not impressed at all cept for the ease of fine tuning the outter cuts depth. This pains me to say because I very much enjoyed talking to Ken and am not looking forward to calling him to tell him I am sending it back.