To neck turn, to ream or not to ream?

[Alibiiv]

Okay I need some help with this. I have tried deciphering all of the threads on this site and a couple of other sites about whether to turn the case necks, or to ream out the doughnut or to do both. I do not know what the sequence is to turn or ream case necks, when to resize and then turn the necks, or not resize and ream the neck out first and when do I need an expansion mandrel and for what!! I am in the process of finding a case neck turning tool, but do not know what to get because I am not familiar with what needs to be done, when and how to do it. I presently have a Forster Original tool case trimmer, from what I have seen this doesn't appear to be a bad too to add on a neck turner and neck reamer. Thanks for any direction you can provide.

 

[Mikecr]

Read 'Handloading for Competition'.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/096269259X/?tag=lrhmag19-20

 

[Deleted member 25294]

Okay I need some help with this. I have tried deciphering all of the threads on this site and a couple of other sites about whether to turn the case necks, or to ream out the doughnut or to do both. I do not know what the sequence is to turn or ream case necks, when to resize and then turn the necks, or not resize and ream the neck out first and when do I need an expansion mandrel and for what!! I am in the process of finding a case neck turning tool, but do not know what to get because I am not familiar with what needs to be done, when and how to do it. I presently have a Forster Original tool case trimmer, from what I have seen this doesn't appear to be a bad too to add on a neck turner and neck reamer. Thanks for any direction you can provide.

We need a little more info, are you necking a case down for a wildcat or just wanting to neck turn for consistency?
I have been forming 6.5 SAUM cases from 7 SAUM, and in this case it is recommended to use a pilot reamer to remove a potential doughnut.
I use a K&M neck turner tool with a .264 pilot reamer, pretty inexpensive and easy to use.
Basically you will need an expander mandrel and run it through the case after sizing down, this guarantees consistency for neck turning.
With the K&M tool neck turning and reaming is done in the same step.
If you have any more questions send me a PM with your number and I'll give you what info I can.
Good luck

 

[Alibiiv]

We need a little more info, are you necking a case down for a wildcat or just wanting to neck turn for consistency?
I have been forming 6.5 SAUM cases from 7 SAUM, and in this case it is recommended to use a pilot reamer to remove a potential doughnut.
I use a K&M neck turner tool with a .264 pilot reamer, pretty inexpensive and easy to use.
Basically you will need an expander mandrel and run it through the case after sizing down, this guarantees consistency for neck turning.
With the K&M tool neck turning and reaming is done in the same step.
If you have any more questions send me a PM with your number and I'll give you what info I can.
Good luck

Thanks for the reply back. Actually looking to do both. Presently have two rifles being built in .280 Ackley Improved the original wildcat. My plans have been to size either .280 or .270 Win brass up to .30 caliber and then resize them down with a .280 Remington die and fire form the brass, or get a set of hydro form dies and eliminate that process altogether. I also have some 35 Whelen brass and some .358 Winchester brass that has been fired once or twice and I'd like to bring that brass back to specs and turn the necks or ream (?) this brass also. I've been reloading for many years, however just really getting into the precision reloading aspect of shooting, thus all the questions. In one of the replies Mikecr recommended a book on reloading, I plan on ordering it tonight. I have a lot of reloading manuals, however none of them really go into depth about turning necks, reaming and fire forming brass. Thank you for your help with this. I will send you a PM as soon as I have some time to speak with you.

 

[Alibiiv]

Thanks for the reply back. Actually looking to do both. Presently have two rifles being built in .280 Ackley Improved the original wildcat. My plans have been to size either .280 or .270 Win brass up to .30 caliber and then resize them down with a .280 Remington die and fire form the brass, or get a set of hydro form dies and eliminate that process altogether. I also have some 35 Whelen brass and some .358 Winchester brass that has been fired once or twice and I'd like to bring that brass back to specs and turn the necks or ream (?) this brass also. I've been reloading for many years, however just really getting into the precision reloading aspect of shooting, thus all the questions. In one of the replies Mikecr recommended a book on reloading, I plan on ordering it tonight. I have a lot of reloading manuals, however none of them really go into depth about turning necks, reaming and fire forming brass. Thank you for your help with this. I will send you a PM as soon as I have some time to speak with you.

I've also been looking at the K&M neck turning tool, do they have an attachment available where you can use an electric drill or does the turning have to be all by hand?

 

[L.Sherm]

I've also been looking at the K&M neck turning tool, do they have an attachment available where you can use an electric drill or does the turning have to be all by hand?

Yes, to the electric drill

 

[Alibiiv]

Read 'Handloading for Competition'.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/096269259X/?tag=lrhmag19-20

Glenn Zediker has two books, "Handloading for Competition", and also "Top Grade Ammunition, Step by Step Guide to Creating Quality Ammunition". Do you know if one is better than the other or it is a newer version? Thank you again for the reference.

 

[TOM H]

This may help you

http://www.6mmbr.com/neckturningbasics.html

I use K&M also Sinclair.

 

[Alibiiv]

This may help you

http://www.6mmbr.com/neckturningbasics.html

I use K&M also Sinclair.

Thanks the article is a great help. I printed all 17 pages!

 

[ar10ar15man]

just for the record,
mikecr will not provide bad info.
do the new rifles have tight necks ?

 

[J E Custom]

Just an opinion, but years ago I tried neck reaming. it was extremely difficult to produce case necks with uniform thickness that were concentric because the reamer wanted to follow the neck bore and only reduced the neck thickness of the neck. but did not uniform the thickness. Then I tried neck turning and had much better results.

The problem was that with different case brands and thicknesses, I had trouble getting the turning mandrels to fit realy good in the different cases. I ended up making different size mandrels for each caliber.

looking to up grade even more and getting better results, I looked at different neck turners and realy liked the Sinclair tool with the expander mandrel concept of sizing the case neck first to fit the turning mandrel and then turning the outside of the neck to consistent and precise thicknesses.

There are other brands of neck turners available now that weren't then and they should do good also.

The best thicknesses, most uniform and concentric necks I have achieve to date is by using the expander method on new cases before the chamber has a chance to move neck off center because of the differences in thickness before they are sized or fired.

I prep all of the new cases and run them through the sizing mandrel first, then i turn the necks (By hand because I found better precision
that If i used a drill or motor drive for the cutter) It is slower but the results were better for me.

Using bushing dies, uniform neck thicknesses are extremely important, so time is not important for some processes.

If all the turning is done correctly, the chamber has the last word as to how precision your brass is. When fired the first time my cases are not only concentric to the bore, (Very important to precision loading)
they are uniform in thickness there is no run out inside and outside
of the neck.

Precision loaded ammo relies on precision cases and this method has produced the best for me. I know that when I load, that I am starting with precision cases and any run out or concentricity found after loading is the loading process and no fault of poorly prepared cases.

Turning by hand is no doubt slower, but the results are better in my experience and that is the purpose of all this turning in the first place
to get better accuracy and more consistent bullet grip.

Other people get good results differently, but this works best for me.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Alibiiv]

Just an opinion, but years ago I tried neck reaming. it was extremely difficult to produce case necks with uniform thickness that were concentric because the reamer wanted to follow the neck bore and only reduced the neck thickness of the neck. but did not uniform the thickness. Then I tried neck turning and had much better results.

The problem was that with different case brands and thicknesses, I had trouble getting the turning mandrels to fit realy good in the different cases. I ended up making different size mandrels for each caliber.

looking to up grade even more and getting better results, I looked at different neck turners and realy liked the Sinclair tool with the expander mandrel concept of sizing the case neck first to fit the turning mandrel and then turning the outside of the neck to consistent and precise thicknesses.

There are other brands of neck turners available now that weren't then and they should do good also.

The best thicknesses, most uniform and concentric necks I have achieve to date is by using the expander method on new cases before the chamber has a chance to move neck off center because of the differences in thickness before they are sized or fired.

I prep all of the new cases and run them through the sizing mandrel first, then i turn the necks (By hand because I found better precision
that If i used a drill or motor drive for the cutter) It is slower but the results were better for me.

Using bushing dies, uniform neck thicknesses are extremely important, so time is not important for some processes.

If all the turning is done correctly, the chamber has the last word as to how precision your brass is. When fired the first time my cases are not only concentric to the bore, (Very important to precision loading)
they are uniform in thickness there is no run out inside and outside
of the neck.

Precision loaded ammo relies on precision cases and this method has produced the best for me. I know that when I load, that I am starting with precision cases and any run out or concentricity found after loading is the loading process and no fault of poorly prepared cases.

Turning by hand is no doubt slower, but the results are better in my experience and that is the purpose of all this turning in the first place
to get better accuracy and more consistent bullet grip.

Other people get good results differently, but this works best for me.

J E CUSTOM

I like the idea about turning the necks on new brass first before even firing them. From what I am gathering here, good brass makes sense. Before reading this forum, I thought that "brass was brass", now realize that is not the case! There certainly is a lot of information to process about neck sizing, turning and reaming. I currently have the Forster Original trimmer, they too have a neck turning and reaming process that is done at the same time. I'm thinking either Sinclair or K&M and get the entire set up to turn the necks. I am also researching annealing, another process that seems to be technical and challenging equally. I'm starting to think, "just buy the equipment, use it, make mistakes and then ask questions": however, that can get very costly very quickly. I have to thank all of the people on this forum for taking the time and for sharing their experience and knowledge.

 

[TOM H]

I shoot couple tight neck rifles including 6ppc. this is from Br site

http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?64743-when-to-inside-neck-ream

 

[jrock]

JE, that is about what I do for my brass now. I turn on my lathe and make the mandrel by turning some drill rod, then slide the brass on and turn. Guaranteed way to get uniform neck thicknesses to the spec I want.