26 April 2005, 05:03
WaterfowlerAcceptable neck expansion?
A gunsmith sent me a fired case and a loaded round from a chamber cut by a reamer he has I'm wanting him to use (hunting rifle, not benchrest). It is a .257" round. The loaded round neck diameter measures 0.281. The fired case neck measures 0.292 OD with an ID of 0.268. Fired cases from other riles I have measured show much less expansion. Is 0.011" too much neck stretch?
Thanks!
26 April 2005, 05:38
woodsI always measure the necks of fired cases and sized cases while resizing. Typically, the OD of the neck is decreased by .01". For example, I just used a Lee Collet Neck Sizer on 300 win cases which measured .342" before and .332" after sizing. I seem to recall this is common for all my calibers.
Without guns we are subjects, with guns we are subjects26 April 2005, 06:05
Bob338For hunting and sporting rifles .002" is considered a bare minimum and folks usually prefer about .004" as I do. The die manufacturers use .010" to .011" as an absolute maximum. I'd say that neck is way sloppy if your neck walls are in the area of .012" but it's probably close to what many factory chambers are cut. You'll not have good brass life or you'll be spending a lot of time annealing to prevent neck splits, or both.