What would be the adverse effects of lack of neck tension? I don't mean sloppy loose but what is considered "ideal"?
To be alittle more specific, this is on a 6.5-284 PacNor barrel. The fired brass measures .2885. I have standard Redding dies. The brass will chamber after it is fire formed and seems to be adequate neck tension on the bullet without resizing. The big question is if what "I" think is adequate may not be.

I recieved an email from a guy who said I was "lucky" and that I should just knock out the primer, clean the brass, prime, drop the powder, and seat the bullet.
Ok guys, I'm sure my terminology is lacking so be gentle! Thanks, Keith

If you're loading from the magazine, too little neck tension can cause the bullets to creep forward under recoil in certain cases.

For a target rifle being loaded single shot this isn't an issue. If the ammo is working for you, and turning in good groups, I don't think you have much to worry about.

For my hunting loads, I like to be able to dimple a pine board with the bullet tip without causing an OAL change. That has always worked for me...

Dan Newberry
green 788

Actually, a lot of bench shooters like their rifles chambered so that the bullet is a slip-fit in the fired case. They don't resize, but do just as you were advised.

This is only practical, however, for a bench rifle. If you use your magazine, then you need sufficient neck friction to hold the bullet in place during loading, firing, and cycling. Obviously a slip-fit would not be sufficient for hunting situations.

Maybe I am in better shape than I thought. It is indeed a single shot and is shot from the bench (or prone)only (23 pounds with optics). I have no complaints with the accuracy but being a Handloader always wants just a leeeeeeetle bit more accuracy/speed.
To green 788, I have read many of your posts on SH and SP and enjoy reading your posts and learning from your experience.

Thanks guys, Keith

Thanks for the kind comments, Keith. They come at a moment when I was beginning to ask myself what the hell I was doing here.

Hanging out here, I've allowed myself to enter discussions ranging from which motorcycle a feller ought to buy to the origins and proper use of foul language.

Perhaps it is just as another poster said--we need deer season! Truthfully, though, I'm not much of an enthusiastic deer hunter. In these parts (Southwestern Virginia) it's all you can do to avoid killing deer with your car on the way to work. Hunting them is too easy, unless you're going for a trophy (which doesn't enthuse me either). But I will take one this year for the freezer, I suppose.

I enjoy intelligent discussions regarding reloading and rifle accuracy, but am finding such exchanges difficult to start. And when such a thread does come alive, some folks get so hot and bothered that cogent discourse becomes impossible.

I've limited my time at Snipershide as of late for much the same reason. It seems that most folks over there are more interested in pop culture and pretending than hitting what they're shooting at! The little "Gremlin" characters which shoot guns and move about seem to have added to their already overwhelming adolescent membership. There are some great and very knowledgable folks getting lost in the ruckus at Snipershide, I believe.

It's refreshing to know that someone reads what I post. Please know too that I don't consider myself any kind of an expert. I rather regard myself as a thinker who very much enjoys getting the most I can out of my small battery of mostly factory rifles. Helping others have success with thier projects is also very rewarding.

Take care, and thanks again...

Dan Newberry
green 788

As long as the bullet is staying put and there is no adverse effect on accuracy your fine. With a tubular magazine a crimp is reccomended, again the primary goal is simply to hold the bullet into place. If that is achieved than the amount of tension is neither here nor there IMHO. If its just getting the job done then the other functions will still come into play just as if it were tighter. But you dont want your bullets changing depth.

Probably superfluous, but perhaps it is worth pointing out that necks do grow sometimes, both in thickness and in length. So keep an eye on the brass, you may have to turn a thousandth or two to make sure you get consistent bullet release. Done that, been there, have the T-shirt. HTH, Dutch.

An important point that I did not see mentioned is the fact that the neck must release the bullet freely upon firing, or very excessive pressures can result. I have seen this happen several times, most recently with a .300 Dakota factory chamber. Ideally, a fired case should allow a bullet to drop freely into the case before it is resized. I am aware that some benchrest/target chambers have been cut to absolute minimums so that the neck does not expand to where i has to be sized down each time, but I believe such a tight chamber would require VERY CAREFUL load development to prevent case damage from excessive pressures, and would probably not allow loading to anywhere near "standard maximum" levels.

As I was reading this thread I literally thought "I must mention the pressure problem potential" but the last two posters brought up the subject. Just to add a few thoughts.

A tight-necked chamber is something that was in vogue with the BR crowd a few years ago but is now not so common. The small benefit of not having to resize is not worth the troubles encountered should the neck thicken and cause inconsistent tension and even worse boost pressures upon firing. The neck thickening will get worse as the case taper increases. Another way of saying that is that AI type cases don't lengthen, and correspondingly thicken the neck, as badly.

As it's not considered an advantage by the BR crowd I would recommend to you that you consider turning your cases down slightly. This will not only solve a potential pressure problem but it will give you much higher quality cases as most don't come from the factory in a concentric state.

Another thing to consider is a bushing die. Rather than sizing it down quite a bit and then bringing an expander button back through for proper bullet fit as with a normal die, you would get an appropriately sized bushing to very slightly size your cases until there is sufficient tension to hold the bullet. Decreasing the working of the brass will contribute to longer case life unless you want to start talking about annealing.

Good luck and please be careful with the tight-necked rifle.

Reed

Keith, I believe consistency in tension is more important than amount. Given the caliber and the description of your rifle, I'll guess you're shooting at long distances where you could see vertical stringing with inconsistant pull amounts.

Long ago when I wore a green suit, one of our team armorers complained that a certain batch of brass used in our prone guns would relax its neck tension over a few days after reloading resulting in varying bullet pull and stringing. It's the only time I've heard of a problem and I wasn't present to see it. The bench guys seem to like the "loose is better" approach, probably for good reason.

Redial

[ 08-09-2002, 21:01: Message edited by: redial ]