Neck turning on a lathe

[birdiemc]

Turning some necks today so I thought I would share my setup.
I pulled the ram from my lee handheld press. Looped that on a j bolt held by a chuck in the tailstock.
I turned down a mandrel with a shoulder to stop the brass forward movement, but the cutting tool clears it.
Use the ram in the tailstock to press the case onto the mandrel, then use it again to pull it back off.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

Neat set-up does a good job, looking at a 21st Century neck turner myself. Its just a little mini lathe I guess.

 

[Rich Coyle]

How long does it take to turn ten necks?

 

[birdiemc]

I did 25 in 37 minutes yesterday, but during that time I stopped and posted those pictures, then realized i didnt like the grind on my tool so i re ground it to just barely kiss the neck shoulder junction.
So I figure one I get into a rhythm I probably run 1 per minute.
I'm hand feeding the carriage left to right, never touching the cross feed once it is set up.
My mandrel is just some crappy gummy cold rolled I picked up off the floor, but I used a shear tool to get a nice finish. Compliments of tubalcain on youtube.

 

[birdiemc]

How long does it take to turn ten necks?

How long does it take on one of the neck turning tools that folks have?

 

[DUSTY NOGGIN]

there is one thing that may be happening there that may prove useful over a standard hand held neck turning tool ..

example .. when i turn some once fired brass that have been prepped to for the pilot of the neck turner .. sometimes i get a wobbly one. but because im holding with 2 hands i turns anyways and let my hands act as a u-joint kinda action ... anyone that turns knows what i mean

my question about your set up is are you using the tailstock to press the brass neck over your pilot like an expander mandrel ? i think that would be doing something that no other hand held turner type turner is doing

 

[birdiemc]

there is one thing that may be happening there that may prove useful over a standard hand held neck turning tool ..

example .. when i turn some once fired brass that have been prepped to for the pilot of the neck turner .. sometimes i get a wobbly one. but because im holding with 2 hands i turns anyways and let my hands act as a u-joint kinda action ... anyone that turns knows what i mean

my question about your set up is are you using the tailstock to press the brass neck over your pilot like an expander mandrel ? i think that would be doing something that no other hand held turner type turner is doing

Yes sir. And after doing it that way I measured the ID of the neck with a pin gauge and have about .0015 neck tension, perfectly consistent across the board. Not as much as I was shooting for, but I'm going to turn down the mandrel, with that shear tool I can take off .0005 easily and achieve the desired neck tension. So next batch I am going to remove the expander ball, and use the turning mandrel for a sizing mandrel too. Gonna see what that does for me. Hoping it gets me better alignment, as these bodies wobble quite a bit relative to the neck.
BTW Dusty youre the inspiration behind this setup from conversations we had long ago.

 

[West Calamus]

OK this will be my one uninformed stupid question of the day. I first noticed tighter throat dimensions that require neck turning when placing a order for a Shilen barrel. The question is what is the goal and advantages of tighter throats
that require neck turning?

 

[birdiemc]

OK this will be my one uninformed stupid question of the day. I first noticed tighter throat dimensions that require neck turning when placing a order for a Shilen barrel. The question is what is the goal and advantages of tighter throats
that require neck turning?

The case neck thickness is not consistent so it can cause your bullet to be seated out of alignment with the case body and chamber, so it enters the barrel at a disadvantage. By turning the necks they are the same thickness all the way around and gives a better chance at loading rounds without runout.

Take a look at this thread, post #3 JE Customs does a good job explaining it briefly.

Full Length or Neck Only; What's Best Resizing for Accuracy?

Does one method end up with bullets better centered in the bore when fired? If so, why?

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[West Calamus]

The case neck thickness is not consistent so it can cause your bullet to be seated out of alignment with the case body and chamber, so it enters the barrel at a disadvantage. By turning the necks they are the same thickness all the way around and gives a better chance at loading rounds without runout.

Take a look at this thread, post #3 JE Customs does a good job explaining it briefly.

Full Length or Neck Only; What's Best Resizing for Accuracy?

Does one method end up with bullets better centered in the bore when fired? If so, why?

www.longrangehunting.com

Question: Now y'all have me putting thought into start turning necks so once I buy a neck turning tool will this pretty much eliminate me following up buying a runout or concentricty tool? Or put another way will neck turning by itself correct the runout to tolerances one would what?

 

[Rich Coyle]

It will not.

 

[West Calamus]

It will not.

So if I measure runout and bump the bullet back to concentric have I not just lost neck tension? How do we measure neck tension? Forgive me for the rookie questions please.

 

[birdiemc]

Neck tension is the difference between the inner diameter of the case neck and the outer diamter of the bullet. On the ones I showed in my picture on the lathe up there, the ID of the case neck is .263 and the bullet is .264.
I measure the ID of the case neck using pin gauges, they are precision ground rods, my set goes from .225 to .500 in .001 increments.

 

[West Calamus]

Neck tension is the difference between the inner diameter of the case neck and the outer diamter of the bullet. On the ones I showed in my picture on the lathe up there, the ID of the case neck is .263 and the bullet is .264.
I measure the ID of the case neck using pin gauges, they are precision ground rods, my set goes from .225 to .500 in .001 increments.

Thank you sir