I shoot a few wildcats that are necked down from parent brass.
Most of the time, I don't need to inside neck ream.

I have 500 cases of 284 Winchester brass I got from Wiedeners (sp.) Supply that is very sturdy, long lasting stuff.

After sizing it to 25-284, I shoot and then inside neck ream the once fired case, BEFORE resizing (actually, neck sizing).
I am using the Forester kit (mini-lathe)...works great.

When I call Tech support at places like RCBS, they all recommend firing the cartridge once, before inside neck sizing.
(I should mention, the way I found out I needed to do this was I was seeing erratic velocities on my chronongraph...I then found that a once fired case wouldn't allow me to slip a fresh bullet in the neck...too much tension from excess brass....inside neck reaming fixes all this, and gives me better accuracy)

Does anyone have any experience with sizing down the neck on a case, loading a bullet (no powder), and then pulling the bullet out, and THEN inside neck reaming?

I hate to waste the wear on my barrel by shooting rounds that I know are inherently inaccurate.

Then again, 100 cases of this stuff would last me a lifetime...it's that tough.

Garrett

It depends on the accuracy level you want to achieve. The absolutely best way to do this is to rurn the neck of the parent case before forming the wildcat, going through the forming steps, and then inside reaming after the final FL sizing operation.

The problem you'll encounter with your Forster is tha it does not have the alignment and case support to do this. You'll spin the case when the cutter gets wedged in the neck unless you cut very very slowly.

All the case trimmer accessories designed to ream the inside of the case neck are inadequate for anything other than removing by doughnuts caused by brass flow. These doughnuts are small rings of metal. Lightweight setups can remove them.

What you have is an inside taper on the neck that requires alot of metal removal. You should use an inline neck reamer die. It is well worth the money.

My shortcut on inside neck reaming is to avoid it. The reamer just follows the metal anyway. There is little hope of making things uniform.

At least outside neck turning can be done over a mandrel.

What about opening up the chambers neck? That would save a lot of work on the brass.

Wildcats

Because uneven thick brass is difficult to work with, causes runout, and unnecessarily high neck tension.

In an inlime reamer die, the cutter does not follow the metal.

It seems to follow the metal on the one I have. The reamer is supported an inch or so away and indeed the case is held tight by what is really a FL die. So we are both half right.

Such inside neck reaming setups are expensive and a pain to use. I am so glad my wildcat barrel is worn out and off the action. Never again. It was exciting and fun at first. I don't regret it. It's not like getting burned on a hot stove. There was some fun to it but the end result was all education and no performance on the target.

This may have some application to benchrest shooting but for hunting wildcats it's a waste of time and money.

What do you use?

RCBS made up a set of dies for me to form a 7mm RM to a wildcat .224" The case is shortend to 2.0", the neck was .300" and the shoulder and body taper remain the 25 degree standard.

Most of the cases I made were from the 6.5 RM as there is less to cut back. The drill RCBS supplied broke and my late dad fitted a reamer with a special leade to ream out the necks.

This works quite well for the first year or so. After ten years of it I would rather use the entire idea for a target rather than a rifle.

The only highlight of this wildcat excursion was not my doing. A friend who is a top engineer and rifleman made up the chamber and cartridge drawings. The design headspaces on the shoulder of course as one can eliminate the belt on a wildcat.

One of those quoting on the reamer was Hendrickson and he wrote that the drawings were the finest that he had ever seen. He was refering to the drawings and not the design or concept.

I have a RCBS setup as well.

Mine came with a zero-clearance reamer, not a drill. It makes the inside of the neck perfectly straight and has reduced runout by 50% in my experience.

Some people have suggested that my Wilson seater is the cause of my runout issues. I ordered a Neil Jones seater. I'll compare the two and will post the results.

POS Wilson seater with inside-reamed brass vs. Neil Jones seater with neck-turned brass. I should have it in a couple of weeks.

I have a custom RCBS inside neck ream die for my 5.7 Johnson/Spitfire, but I have to say this Forster unit is pretty slick (as well as faster and easier).

I have been using it for several years, and don't have much problem with it.
I am using my cordless drill to turn the cutter.

I don't mind the effort it takes to ream the neck. I am getting good results and an improvement in accuracy. 20 cases take about 7 minutes.

My question is really: "How can I skip the step of firing the cartridge the first time?"
There seems to be a general agreement that the high pressure of the first firing will give me the best results.

Anyone ever seat a bullet, then pull it and THEN neck ream?

Garrett

There is a better way.

Get a RCBS neck expander die designed for loading cast bullets. It takes interchangable neck expander plugs that are slightly over the actual bullet diameter.

For example, the .257 caliber plug is actually tapered from .2570" to .2575" before it begins to flare out the case mouth. This will give you what you want without the pain of pulling bullets.

This is a cheap setup, about $25 with the plug.

Neck Reaming
A few years ago I tried both inside and then outside neck reaming. When I did EITHER or BOTH, the bullet just dropped through.
What did I do wrong[s]?

Maybe you removed too much material and the sizing die was not able to size the neck down enough?

I found the standard reamer sizes completely inadequate. In 22 calibers, standard reamers run .227"-.228". They are designed to work on a fired case to remove the doughnut. The problem is that most factory 22 caliber chambers are .256" to .258", and a fired case allows the reamer to do absolutely nothing. If you FL size the case and then ream with a .227" reamer, then .224" bullets will fall through.

In order for a .227" reamer to work, the chamber must have a tight neck diameter.

Madison,

One important point is that you must only inside neck ream BEFORE sizing.

If you size your case, and then neck ream, the bullet will only drop through (even with resizing again a second time).

Ralph, I appreciate your point about the cutters. I happened to mic mine the other day just to see (this is the Forster inside neck cutter). Mine measures exactly .257 in diameter, and that is after reaming about 50 cases.

Garrett

I neckream after, but my reamer measures .0015" under bullet diameter, resulting in perfect neck tension.

quote:

When I call Tech support at places like RCBS, they all recommend firing the cartridge once, before inside neck sizing.

Most of tech support recommendations for neck reaming are based on the fact that some very thick necks require reaming, as in sizing down as you have done. If the walls are uniform to start, then the advice given is good. Reamers usually provided by Forster or Wilson are for this very purpose.

You can reduce the neck walls in either case very well, easily and accurately by either use of the inside neck reamers AFTER THE NECKS ARE EXPANDED BY EITHER FIRING OR WITH THE USE OF AN EXPANDER. Or, you can more accurately uniform the neck walls by outside neck turning. The latter is preferred by those wanting closer and more exact mating of the cartridge and the chamber at the neck.

You can also purchase reamers from both Wilson and Forster in different sizes to enable reaming at any stage of the reloading process. I have several Forster reamers in .001" increments for a particular purpose in adjusting neck tension for a 338 cartridge. I've also obtained a couple similarly sized from Wilson. Neither are particularly expensive at around $25.

And you don't have to wear out your barrel by shooting bullets down it just to expand the brass, if that is your intention. Load about 13g of a fast pistol powder, top it with Cream O' Wheat or cornmeal, plug it with a small wad of toilet paper, and fire away. You now have perfectly expanded brass conforming to your chamber. Then, ream away with a conventional off-the-shelf reamer for your caliber.

I don't inside neck ream..I have one rifle a 6x45 that has to be outside necked reamed to chamber a .243 bullet in the 223 case as it has a benchrest 0 tolerence chamber...with a neck expansion on firing of .0001..