Case Necks

stewmeet

I have reloaded for many years but just recently started turning the outside case necks. Is there a set minimum for the thickness of the case neck.I feel I may be removing to much material.

bpost

You should have about .001 release for the bullet. A fired case should slide a new bullet in with just a bit of clearance. It should not be loose or tight.

Unless you have a custom cut tight chamber there is seldom a need to turn necks unless you are trying for case neck concentricity then just remove enough to knock the high spots off.

If you know the dimensions of the neck reamer used you can subtract bullet diameter plus two times neck thickness plus .001 to arrive at the correct wall thickness.

zimmden

Neck turning is needed if you have a tight neck custom chamber. Slight neck turning can be done on cases of factory chambers to make them more concentric. This will give you an even neck tension on seating the bullet and uniform tension upon firing. If you check case wall thickness around 3 spots on the neck with a ball micrometer, you will see a variation of .001 to .003. The neck turner will even up the brass. You only need to remove a minimum amount of brass to make them concentric. Custom benchrest chambers are usually so tight that the brass needs to be turned to .008 to .009 thickness. Factory calibers and chamberings should be .011 to .013. When necks are turned, standard resizers may not resize enough to give enough neck tension. Proper neck size bushings and dies are required. What caliber and neck thickness are you using ?

stewmeet

For now I'm only turning for my Rem Sendero in 300 RUM . I'm doing this primarily for case concentricity.

JustC

in the oversied factory chambers, you will gain little to nothing by turning necks. I do it just because it makes me feel good, and time at the loading bench is theraputic.

243winxb

Good info > quote: Custom benchrest chambers are usually so tight that the brass needs to be turned to .008 to .009 thickness. Factory calibers and chamberings should be .011 to .013. Take note that 1 of the top Benchrest shooters has adjusted his 6ppc to use a thicker custom fitted neck. From .262" up to a larger loaded round diameter of .269" leaving a thicker wall diameter.