I have never turned necks and was wondering if someone had the time to explain how it is done and the best eqiupment for the job?

This will be on a low volume job. I do reload some, but would it just be better to farm this job out? Is there anyone who does this?

New to this please bear with me.

Cornerstone

First off what are your intentions for turning necks? If you have a factory chamber I would highly recommend that you not turn necks. Factory chambers have larger than required neck diameters, so turning the neck is only going to make the neck expand more and work harden the neck when resizing. Which will lead to shorter case life.

Now some folk like to just clean up the necks to make them concentric, but again there is usually enough expansion in factory chambers regarding neck diameter that I really do not think the effort is worth it. We are talking hunting accuracy not Benchrest accuracy.

On the other hand, if you do have a min spec tight neck chambering, it is esential to turn necks.

Let me know and I'll be glad to tell you what is envolved with turning necks.

Mike

The rifle being built is a .308 Win w/ .335 neck

In that case we need to talk neck turning. I turn necks on my Hunter BR rifle chambered in a 308 obermeyer with a 0.333" nk.

Couple options available, but first what is the rifles intended purpose? BR, hunting informal target and how many pieces of brass to you want to turn at a time?

The rifle may see some light hunting, but mostly will be a fun plinker. It will most likely go to one of my nephews as I move on to other fun projects. I will probably just buy a box of 100 Lupua,Norma or Nosler brass.

I have done some reloading and can do whatever I need to get in to this. I am going to buy some better reloading equipment and dies, but am not sure where to start. I have RCBS stuff now

quote:

Originally posted by CORNERSTONE:
the best eqiupment for the job?

This is a very fine tool for neck turning....it was designed by a very sharp guy!



It's from Hornady.

Ok, I'm hooked on this one. I have a Remington 700 VS with a factory heavy barrel in .308. It is used for informal target shooting, using factory Remington brass and 155 to 168 grain match bullets. While I was away last year I ordered a Lyman outside neck turner in the event I wanted to eventually turn necks for concentricity, deal with excess thickness. But reading these notes, I find myself thinking:

1. With the pedestrian components I am using, is it worth the trouble? Compared to putting in a Hart barrel (dimensions dependent) and using Lapua brass?

2. When would I want to turn necks? After X amount of reloads on the case, or when I can detect inconsistency?

sputster,

quote:

1. With the pedestrian components I am using, is it worth the trouble? Compared to putting in a Hart barrel (dimensions dependent) and using Lapua brass?

No

I would not neck turn even just to make the case more concentric in a factory chamber.

quote:

2. When would I want to turn necks? After X amount of reloads on the case, or when I can detect inconsistency?

Only if you have a tight neck min spec chamber. Rebarrel and if you want a tight neck min spec chamber, then turn brass accordingly.

I shoot Hunter Benchrest and use a 308 Obermeyer chamber in my rifle w/ a 0.333"nk. It is essential to clean up brass by using a tight neck chambering when shooting competitively. If I were you I would rebarrel with a min spec neck using a reamer ground for the Lapua 308 brass. That way you do not have to turn necks and when resizing the brass is not being overly resized after each firing. For informal shooting the lapua brass is excellent in its uniformity. You would not know the difference.

Hope this helps

Mike

It sure does help, Mike, thanks. So the greater dimensions of the factory chamber (necessary evil) allow the case to grow more than if it were a custom, minimum dimension chamber. I guess that when (not yet, but soon) I rebarrel the rifle, would it be best to lay in a supply of brass as well?

Sputster,

The factory chambers over the years have gone to the large side of the SAAMI spec. Thank the lawyers. These chambers work fine for those that buy factory ammo and do not reload. Having a chamber like this is why you can only get a handful of reloads on a case. The case expands in the chamber then is resized in a sizing die and gets fired again. Since the expansion and constriction of the case is so great, the brass gets work hardened and then the necks start to split.

Some food for thought. I have fired 6mm PPC cases in my custom BR rig upwards to 60 firing on a case when those 220 russian cases were a $1.00/ea. The cases are still good but not for competition.

Doesn't hurt buying a couple hundred rounds of brass now...it is only going to rise in price. The big thing is making sure your chamber matches the brass you will be using.

Mike

I don't like to butt in on someone else's topic but I didn't want to start one of my own on the same subject.

I am having my 700VS 308 rebarreled to 338 Federal. Since I have a ton of 308 norma and federal match brass I was going to neck up using the Redding dies which i already purchased. The chamber is going to be a minimum spec. Do I have to neck turn also?

Thank you,
Mike

quote:

The chamber is going to be a minimum spec

Probably not. The minimum spec is still in the range of standard (IMO)....if you specified a "tight neck" then you might have to.

Necking up the 308 will also thin the thickness a bit as well.

The gunsmith actually recommended me buying some 358 Winchester cases and necking them down and turning the necks but I can get 308 Win, Federal and Norma match cases once fired from our local Tactical Unit for free or very close to it.

In that respect I'm not too worried about case life but if there was another advantage of necking down I would go that route.

Thanks for the help,
Mike

Mike

Expanding 308 brass to 338 brass is not a problem. As for neck turning, Find out the nk dia. of the chamber. Once you expand the 308 case to 338, seat a bullet in the case an measure the diameter of the neck with the bullet in the case. Not sure what your throat is going to be like but make sure you measure the neck on the pressure ring of the bullet. If the seated rounds nk dia is 0.002"-0.004 less than the chamber no need to turn necks. If it is larger, you will have to turn the necks.

Mike