I am loading for my Rem 700 22-250 Carbon barrel rifle. I am using Win. brass. The virgin brass exhibits about .004 to .006 neck runout. This ammo(loaded with this brass) then shows bullet runout of .005 to .006". I have tried both running it thru my Redding FL die and also tried truing it up using a Lee collet die. Either or both sonetimes take runout down to .004 but usually doesn't help that much.. Also tried just pushing it over the expanding button in the FL Redding but this doesn't help either(with runout).. The Gun will not shoot this ammo so loaded into less than 1-1 1/4 inches, whereas the first fireformed then either FL or collet sized brass shows < .001 to .002 and shoots into the 6's and less. Even brass that is bastard brass (once shot in another rifle) exhibits the same .002 or less runout before and after resizing and also produces the same good shooting ammo. Why is the factory brass necks so bad out of round and what can be done to true these up before reloading them?? as I hate to have to fireform all the virgin brass I have on hand to get good ammo. All comments and responses much apprec.. Thanx, Doc Stone

Not much you can do but fireform.

It's likely part of the runout is varying neck wall thickness which is present in most brass but much more in most of our domestic brass. You might try turning the necks cleaning them to about 50% of their surface to uniform them. Don't take them down too far as likely 100% will make them too thin. Likely you got a bad batch of brass.

As cheap as the common cartridge brass is it's sometimes better to check neck uniformity when you buy it. If more than about .0015" variance, sell it at a gun show and buy another batch. It's a crap shoot as all our domestic stuff varies greatly from unusable to good. Or, start using Lapua, Norma, or some of the better made European brass.

I would like to buy some good Euro brass but can't seem to find any in 22-250 cal. thanks Bob for the response , Doc

Norma makes 22-250 brass. My friend is using it in his tika chambered for 22-250, and he honestly says the weight varience from case to case is not more than .2 grains!! Unbelievable. My winchester varies A WHOLE lot more than that (5 grains if not more). He has worked up some serious loads with that brass. It is expensive though, but Huntingtons.com or sinclairintl.com (sinclair international) both have norma in 22-250. I have a decent batch of winchester so I have not spent the money on the norma yet, but I can only fire about 300 more rounds till it is dead. Yah, you know what I'll do then.

A few years ago, I bought some Winchester brass for my 22/250.

Over the hundred, heavest was 157.8 grains and the lighest was 155.2 grains.

I've divided them into groups of 20 by weight after full length resizing and trimming length, flash hole and primer pocket.

box 1 = 155.2 to 155.8
box 2 = 155.8 to 156.3
box 3 = 156.3 to 156.6
box 4 = 156.6 to 157.0
box 5 = 157.0 to 157.8

As you can see, the change within a box is minimal. I think that weighing those cases might have been a waste of time but I won't leave anything to chance.

Fireforming with a light load and the bullets in or almost in the lands seem to make accurate cases.

THANX GUYS YA'LL ARE THE BEST. NOW I KNOW WHAT TO DO; Hock my farm and buy Norma stock. may your groups be small and your other atttibutes be LARGE , Doc

I need to clarify a statement I made earlier after reading fiftydriver's comments. What i meant to say in my last post is that if wall thickness varies from one side to the other on the same case (this is what i was calling bad concentricity), then you will get runout. Most new brass will be nonconcentric due to shipping as stated but once fired brass will be OK UNLESS the wall thickness is uneven from one side to the other, i.e. if you turn the necks and material only comes off one side, thus the case is non-concentric in this respect. Norma and lapua brass tends to have consistant wall thickness, both from case to case and concentric wise for each case. Not that winchester is bad, it is just that you need to watch for varying wall thickness from one side of the neck wall to the other (measured with a neck thickness gauge). If the necks are uniform but overall concentricity is not good (due to bending from shipping as described by fifty driver), then firing the case and neck sizing or partial resizing will fix it. But hey, I only use my 22-250 for a coyote/fox rifle and the occasional rock chuck trip. I don't nead that many brass so I can get norma without going broke, though I would advise getting 300 or so of the same lot since even norma changes from lot to lot though I believe less so than win, R-P. etc.

I bought 300 pcs of 22-250 Norma brass to use in my Cooper. Neck excentricity averaged .003. I turned all the necks down to .012, accurate to within .0005. Unfortunately I don't have a concentricity guage. I weighed all the brass to within +- .75%, and rejected 4 cases. It all shoots consistently, averaging .35 with 50 gr varmint bullets from Sierra, Hornady, and Nosler. It wasn't as concentric as I had thought it might be, but it was far better than any other brass I've used.