Neck turning.

DustThroughaFan

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2023
Messages
89
Location
Texas gulf coast
First time turning necks so I know nothing about it. Turned me a mandrel in my lathe and sharpened up some hss then I turned a couple pieces of remington 300winmag. Finished neck thickness after they cleaned up was .0105

Is that too thin or is it good to go. There was about one and a half thou difference in most cases, some had two thou. Before turning. Turned, they were spot on.
20230322_195343.jpg
20230322_195428.jpg
 
I usually end up with .011 to .014" neck wall thickness after turning on most brass as I recall. Hopefully someone who recently turned some 300 WM will comment. What brand of brass are you turning?

I would try it out and see how well it holds your chosen bullet.
 
Thanks for the quick replies, I'll do a more in depth search here later. Didn't have a lot of time at the moment and figured I'd throw a quick question out there.

My reloading room doubles as a storage room and the wife has got me assembling shelves in there at the moment. Shelves are up, now I'm off to fill them.
 
First time turning necks so I know nothing about it. Turned me a mandrel in my lathe and sharpened up some hss then I turned a couple pieces of remington 300winmag. Finished neck thickness after they cleaned up was .0105

Is that too thin or is it good to go. There was about one and a half thou difference in most cases, some had two thou. Before turning. Turned, they were spot on.
View attachment 450464View attachment 450465

Thanks for sharing your neck turning set up.

That's how I turn necks. Mandrel turned in place. New mandrel turned again once removed. Just finished prepping 7-08 brass from M852 brass. Skim cut while 30, resized to 7-08, shoot.

20230324_194511.jpg
20230324_194829.jpg
 
IMO that is way too much. Short range BR guys do not do that much. All you need to do is clean up high spots if that. Never under 13 thousands. Lot Of guys now in 600 and 1000 matches are going no neck turn and shooting sub 2 inch groups at 1000.
I thought it a little much myself, that why I only did a few. All that I did was clean it up. Tried to take as little as possible. I'll probably abandon it for this brass and shoot it like it is.

It's a Saami chamber that's been throated for 215 berger hybrids so it's not on the tight side. Just looking to get everything I can out of it.
 
Finished neck thickness after they cleaned up was .0105
Is that too thin or is it good to go. There was about one and a half thou difference in most cases, some had two thou. Before turning. Turned, they were spot on.
Couple things;
You shouldn't turn brass just for the sake of that.
Normally there would be a plan associated with your choices.
So you should not be asking anyone if .0105 thickness is right. What's your plan?

Also, if your brass thickness at necks varies so much there, it varies as much everywhere.
This will cause cases to banana with FL sizing, and expand differently under pressure.
So unless your next step is to turn the entire length of cases, you're better to toss thickness departing brass in the trash can.
Keep those that match, and turn necks, or not, per your plan.
 
"Finished neck thickness after they cleaned up was .0105. Is that too thin or is it good to go"

Generally speaking - I prefer .003"-.004" of neck release on a hunting rifle. Your loaded round neck diameter will be .329" with the turned brass. It would be helpful to know what the chamber neck diameter is. If there is too much neck expansion upon bullet release, the necks will get work hardened as you reload or you could get premature neck cracking.
 
If there is too much neck expansion upon bullet release, the necks will get work hardened as you reload or you could get premature neck cracking.
There is also gas blow back between chamber and case preventing consistent sealing, and formation of a carbon ring where sealing finally occurs.

I've read where some BR shooters had turned necks all the way down to 8thou thickness. Pretty extreme, but I'm sure it's part of their plan. Their chamber must be set up for that.
The only advantage in potential there is LOW neck tension. Low tension = low variance of tension, and a high starting pressure can still be obtained through bullet jamming. I might do that if I shot a 6PPC.

Most of the time, I turn necks. But not where that action would leave excess clearance.
I consider anything over 2thou clearance as excessive already.
I've had guns with more clearance than that, but there is nothing I can do about it, and I definitely do not need to turn brass for it.

So what would it hurt if you don't turn necks? IMO, nothing.
If you have enough clearance, and you cull out cases departing in thickness and variance, and mandrel expand in a pre-seating operation, You can make straight ammo with consistent bullet release.
You'll gain nothing with turning.
 
Top