Amount of neck tension for .30-06.

[USSR]

Long time cast boolit reloader for handguns, venturing into the same for my .30-06. I use bushing dies, so I can size the necks to whatever I want. I just ran my brass thru using a .336" bushing, and after I crimp into the bullet groove (NOE 247gr bullet) I can turn the bullet around in the neck. Because of the crimp, it wont go forward or back, but should it be a snug fit as with jacketed bullets?

Don

[TXGunNut]

I'm assuming you've already slugged the barrel and sized your boolit accordingly. With a bolt gun I use little if any crimp, generally a very light taper or roll crimp to remove the bell I put in there to facilitate seating the boolit. Therefore neck tension is critical but I approach it from the inside with a Lyman M type or Lee neck expander or a custom expander using the Lyman body. I've had good luck specifying an expander die .001 smaller than my boolit diameter but YMMV.

[Larry Gibson]

I use bushing dies to NS numerous cartridges. I use .002-.003 neck tension with GC'd cast of 115+ bhn in most.

Larry Gibson

[Char-Gar]

Step one is to shoot your loaded rounds. As long as the bullets can't be set back into the case, you should have no safety issues. Then your target will instruct you on neck tension. I have fired rounds like yours and had good success.

But, that said, I would prefer uniform neck tension of a case .0005 to .0015 under bullet size. I would get a bushing .001 or .002 smaller were I you. But shoot the existing rounds first, for educational value if nothing else, you might get a pleasant surprise.

[YunGun]

115+ BHN!?:holysheep
Lol, I'm assuming that was a typo Larry? ..and cbrick says I'm shooting 'diamonds'!... :kidding:

[Sensai]

I think Larry must turn those on a lathe!:kidding:

[USSR]

I'll run the cases thru the neck sizer again, this time using a .334" bushing and see if that tightens things up in the neck.

Don

[Larry Gibson]

Small keyboard on smart phone.........need new glasses...........or getting old........all the above?

Larry Gibson

[USSR]

Yep, just needed to use a smaller bushing with the brass I am using. Plenty of neck tension now. Hope to chronograph it sometime between now and the weekend. Looking for 1600 - 1800fps.

Don