I am in the process of prepping some brass for a 22-250. So far I have uniformed the primer pocket, debured the flash hole, and chamfered the end. I plan to turn the necks just enough to true out about 75-80% of the neck circumference. Is it better to turn now, or after the first firing? I am using the Forster hand held turner. Brass will be neck sized with a Lee collet die.

Fire form first, and then neck turn all the way to shoulder. Be careful not to dig into the shoulder too much. Due to individual chamber variation, you might turn too much or not enough. You could get dreaded donuts in your necks. If you're looking for the n'th degee in accuracy, I suggest you get a set of Wilson Bench Rest dies. These include an in-line bullet seater and neck die. You can use these either with a mallet or an arbor press. Check out Sinclair International or Kinnemann's. They'll have all you need. www.sinclairintl.com , and www.kinneman.com

A/CGuy, be careful to not over turn your necks. If you have a factory chamber, then you have the right idea. Just turn enough to clean up the necks.

A/C,
You may want to try turning just a few cases, and then verify your intended sizing method, i.e. the Lee Collet Die. One of the Collet Die's main problems, is that it does not control neck tension very well. That will not improve any if you reduce neck wall thickness. I'm not saying you can't get it to work, but you may have to be prepared to reduce the diameter of the sizing/decapping mandrel of your die, until you get the turned brass to size correctly for proper neck tension. This will most likely be by trial and error. Alternatively, you could consider using a die, which will give you better control over the neck tension, most likely a bushing die of some sort - Redding is probably the cheapest option and most readily available in various calibers, the Wilson dies suggested above would be another option, although I don't know if they offer dies in .22-250??

- mike

I did the clean up pass with my 22-250. I did not see any diffence with a factory chamber,that does not mean it will not work in your gun. Good dies will make a world of difference. If you go to deep/thin you will split necks and brass will not last as long, I got the tee-shirt on that one LOL. Too little and you will get small returns, if any. You need to clip the shoulder a smidge to keep from the donut, but you can not go too deep. Give it a try. I would take and turn 5-10 peices of virgin brass and test them agaist your loads now to see if your gun responds well, before getting blood blisters from turning a few 100. If you are going to use power, do not use a drill a power screw driver is plenty. A drill will cut way deeper than you want.

If you have a factory chamber you are wasting your time and energy turning case necks. I myself only turn for those rifles that I have that have tight necks.

quote:

Originally posted by dmickey:
If you have a factory chamber you are wasting your time and energy turning case necks. I myself only turn for those rifles that I have that have tight necks.

I sure hope he's around still to appreciate the advice ????? roger

quote:

If you have a factory chamber you are wasting your time and energy turning case necks. I myself only turn for those rifles that I have that have tight necks

Yep, It doesn't do any good unless it's a tight neck to begin with, in which case you often have to turn the necks just to get them in the chamber to begin with.

I'm in the "if it's a factory rifle it ain't worth the trouble" camp. I've tried it both ways and neck turning will give you a very small return because you are uniforming the bullet pull but it is such a small return that you have to do a lot of shooting to prove it.
But since you've already got the gizzie, you might as well give it a try. As posted, fire form the brass before doing it. And don't cut into the shoulder. You can end up with a neck seperation that leaves the neck in the chamber and then it's a real booger to get out. Don't ask me how I know.

There are two reasons to neckturn. One is for tightnecked chambers, or fitted neck brass(wildcat thing). The other is "I want shinny necks". Now there is nothing wrong with shinny necks. But as was said by several others factory chambers are not likely to show any accuracy improvement. More latter.
Here is where My opinion on neck turning differs from above posters. I always cut onto the shoulder. But just onto it.
I turn necks on 17 Mach IV, 20 BR Norma, and 6mm BR Norma. I have been doing it this way for over 15 years. I have never had a neck seperation. never lost a case to split necks, and don't fight the dreaded doughnut either. The Mach IV and 20 BR are "fitted neck", the 6 BR is a tightneck. I turn my 6mm case necks to .0085" thickness.
All three cartridges must have the cases turned before fire forming.
I would think that if one is going to see neck separations due to cutting up the shoulder I sure should have seen at least one.
Shifting gears a little.
I also tried the 75 / 85% "clean up" neckturning for NRA highpower competition. I was sure I would at least see my scores improve at the 600 yd line. But I saw no gain at all period.
Experiment see what works for you. I think that is a lot of the fun in reloading. You get to try different ideas and techniques.

muck

Muck is spot on.
I turn my 6mm BR and a custom 260 Rem.
With factory chambers i have never found any improvement-

Gary

2nd Antelope Sniper...Muck...and Wasbeeman....no need.....Brasso will serve the same purpose....shiny necks with no gain in accuracy....I keep a data book with every rifle with a round count....u will know when your chamber and throat starts to erode and gets out of spec....and adjust your brass specs accordingly before rebarreling....

???? the idea is not to make the stuff shiny, it's to make the necks uniform. Shiny brass don't get no extra points nor does it kill stuff deader.