How important is neck turning and are the expensive tools really necessary?

1260 Views 14 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Yissnakk, Feb 15, 2018

Yissnakk

Discussion Starter · Feb 6, 2018

Hey guys and gals - I'm beginning to reload 300 Blackout from converted .223 cases and have learned that certain cases have a thicker wall just below the shoulder (on the .223/5.56 original) than others, which leads to difficulty in chambering when you, say, load a .309 or .310 cast/powder coated bullet vs a .308 jacketed. The SAAMI specs for the 300 BO indicate that the loaded neck be no wider than 0.334 and some of the case walls (Wolf and PPU, for instance) have case walls up to .015 but usually .013 which, times 2 = .026 + .308 gives me exactly 0.334; use a 0.309 or larger bullet and no go.

This brings me to the crux of my ramblings. Who, here, turns their case necks regularly in any scenario for precision reloading and if you do, what method do you use? I've seen some people who just clamp their brass in a drill and run it on a 1000 grit sanding pad for a few seconds, measure it out with a ball micrometer and repeat as needed until the desired thickness is achieved. Then there are these others, who are generally hawking something, that insist that you need to spend at least $100 on a good neck turning tool (Hornady is the cheapest stand-alone I could find that had anything close to good reviews).

The other option would be to just make sure I only use known good brass to make 300 blackout cases from.

I'm just seeking advice from all ye more experienced and knowledgeable than myself.

Thanks!
JJ

1 - 15 of 15 Posts

jeeper1

· #2 · Feb 7, 2018

I used to do neck turning/truing. I both did inside and outside turning. I eventually gave it up as unnecessary once I stopped shooting pistol silhouette.

Reactions: 2

RedOilMan

· #3 · Feb 7, 2018

I'd use the good brass for the 300 and the rest for what it was made for. But I am lazy.

olfarhors

· #4 · Feb 7, 2018

I never did neck turning on pistol rounds, did on rifles.
for extreme superior accuracy loads many seem to think its needed.
as I don't shoot at that level any longer I wouldn't think of doing it myself.

Reactions: 1

.452dia

· #5 · Feb 7, 2018

I used to turn the necks of my 220 Swift and 22 250 brass but found with both calibers that the brass actually thins after firing a couple of times. I had more problems with brass lengthening than getting thicker. Now understand that this was due to shooting hot loads through both these rifles. I usually just neck sized the cases then run them through my case trimmer. Still a PITB. If you can, I would just reload or reform brass that didn't require turning.

Reactions: 2

jeeper1

· #6 · Feb 7, 2018

Olfarhors, I was referring to my bolt-action pistol in 708 Remington, a bottle necked cartridge not a straight-wall pistol case.

Reactions: 1

mingaa

· #7 · Feb 7, 2018

I only load .308 factory bullets and have not had this as an issue.
IF I did, I’d toss the problem case — there is plenty of out of spec .223/5.56 to go around — at least in my circle of ranges and friends.

Reactions: 2

hdwhit

· #8 · Feb 7, 2018

I load for the 5.7mm Johnson wildcat (30 Carbine necked down to 22) and since the neck thickens as it gets formed down from 30 to 22 caliber, it is necessary for me to either neck turn or neck ream. I prefer to neck ream. The way I do it is to process the case as normal and after forming the neck the inside diameter will be 0.222 as determined by the expander plug. I then put the case on my Forster case trimmer (with a $20 reamer in place of the pilot) and ream it out to 0.224. I then full length resize the case so that it comes back out at 0.222 and thus has enough neck tension to hold the bullet.

I prefer neck reaming as opposed to neck turning for the reasons that it is simpler and doesn't create a stress concentration at the base of the neck, but either method can be made to work. Since I only need to remove 2/1000 inch of brass to be within specification it is easy to size to 0.222, ream to 0.224 and resize back down to 0.222. If you have to remove more brass than that, then neck turning might be the better way to go.

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Reactions: 1

Yissnakk

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 7, 2018

I ordered 1K of converted brass from some dude and it is looking like about 2-5% of them are going to be "bad". I may just do the ol' drill and sand paper to test the theory on a few, but if I can't get them to work, I will just pull the few and toss the rest.

Thanks gents!

Reactions: 1

TheOldRedneck

· #10 · Feb 7, 2018

Have inside neck reamed and outside turned for different wildcats and tight chambered custom guns. Inside neck reaming is easy and imported reamers can be ordered from MSC or other machine companies in any size. The reamers are reasonable. Reaming is seldom necessary for most reloading for most factory guns. Some inside neck ream to get rid of donut that forms as brass stretches with some of the hot loaded rounds like the old 22/250, 220 swift etc. In your case the number of cases you would ream and cost of reamer verse cost of cases would determine if worth cost and efforts. I would ream instead of sand if it was me but I have reamers.

Reactions: 1

Yissnakk

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 8, 2018

Yeah, I ordered brass for expedience but will make my own from "approved" brass going forward. As a worst case, I'll just toss these "unapproved" cases into my brass recycling bin. I tend to find a lot of .223 brass at the local range, and can order it from SNS casting for $0.05/round with 95% being lake city.

Just need a harbor freight cutoff saw

Reactions: 1

stupimlico

· #12 · Feb 12, 2018

Yissnakk said:
Yeah, I ordered brass for expedience but will make my own from "approved" brass going forward. As a worst case, I'll just toss these "unapproved" cases into my brass recycling bin. I tend to find a lot of .223 brass at the local range, and can order it from SNS casting for $0.05/round with 95% being lake city.

Just need a harbor freight cutoff saw

I could recommend a good 3d printed cutoff jig.

Reactions: 2

Aggie

· #13 · Feb 12, 2018

I reamed out necked down 30-30 cases made into 7mm International cases because the ID was too small after necking down. I used a Forster Original Case Trimmer with a .284 reaming tool. It worked perfectly.

https://www.forsterproducts.com/pro...onditioning-system/original-case-trimmer-kit/

Reactions: 1

Oldtanker59

· #14 · Feb 15, 2018

I recently reformed some .243 cases to .22-250 cases. I had to turn the necks, but that was because after reforming, trimming and annealing the new necks were the old shoulder material. The shoulder brass being thicker I had to turn off about 3 to 4 thousandths. You shouldn't need to turn yours though since you are shortening the cases and expanding the necks. Neck thickness should be about .013.

Reactions: 1

Yissnakk

Discussion Starter · #15 · Feb 15, 2018

Oldtanker59 said:
I recently reformed some .243 cases to .22-250 cases. I had to turn the necks, but that was because after reforming, trimming and annealing the new necks were the old shoulder material. The shoulder brass being thicker I had to turn off about 3 to 4 thousandths. You shouldn't need to turn yours though since you are shortening the cases and expanding the necks. Neck thickness should be about .013.

Therein lies the rub. I think I've found a way around the whole thing - just resize my bullets to .308 instead of .309. the SAAMI specs tell us that the neck of a 300 Blackout cartridge loaded needs to be 0.334 diameter. with a neck wall thickness of 0.013 and a bullet of .308, it comes out to just right (0.308+0.013+0.013). The Lakecity and FC brass has a neck (once a case wall) thickness of 0.011 on average, and brands like Wolf and PPU have a wall thickness of 0.013-0.015 which puts it a bit out of spec. As long as I'm shooting powder or hi-tek coated lead bullets, they remain malleable enough to chamber, but jacketed bullets using the wrong headstamp...not so much.

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