outside neck turning

[Catch]

Have finally saved some money to buy a proper neck turning tool. I have looked at the Sinclair, and the K&M on the net. I sure would like to hear some of you tell me your favorites and what you think is the best deal. I would appreciate your takes on the tools and the process before I break open that piggy bank and spend my hard saved money............I want a tool I can use with .22, 25, and 30 caliber. Thanks Catch

[Doc Highwall]

This is what I use.

http://www.accurateshooter.com/gear-reviews/neck-turning-lathe-from-21st-century/

[williamwaco]

Have finally saved some money to buy a proper neck turning tool. I have looked at the Sinclair, and the K&M on the net. I sure would like to hear some of you tell me your favorites and what you think is the best deal. I would appreciate your takes on the tools and the process before I break open that piggy bank and spend my hard saved money............I want a tool I can use with .22, 25, and 30 caliber. Thanks Catch


Depends a LOT on how many you are going to process in one sitting.

I have the Forster. Bought it 40+ years ago and can say absolutely nothing bad about it.

That said,

If I was buying today, for turning say - less than 50 at a time, I think I would opt for one of the hand held tools, probably K&M or RCBS.

[Ron of Va]

Years ago, the Don Nielson “Pumpkin” was supposed to be the one to get. Most of the benchrest shooters used it. I bought a K & M, because of the cost. It works just fine for its intended purpose. I was turning necks for a 6.5x.284, for use as a long range varmint rifle. You only turn them once.

If I had to do it over again, I would not have ordered a rifle with a tight neck chamber. I saw no advantage to doing so. Not for varminting, where my typical shot was 300-500 yards. I have 5 varmint rifles, and they all shoot about the same tight groups, ½” or less at 100 yards, without neck turning.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/802Neckturn.jpg

[USAFrox]

I use the K&M tools. Works for what I need.

[texasbilly]

I used the Forster to neck turn a number of different cartridges. The Forster did a great job, but I wasn't a bench rest shooter, so I never found that neck turning made a difference in the accuracy of my cartridges. Other factors seemed to make greater differences, including quality of the bullet, similarity of the casing, optimum combination of powder/weight, solid rifle rest, etc.

[Catch]

Doc Highwall, Thanks for your reply. I like the look of that tool. Does it have a die with an expander so that the case is precisely the right size for the turning mandrel when you begin the cut like the K&M or the Sinclair? Is it possible to order carbide cutters as well as tool steel? Thanks again.

[shooter93]

I very rarely neck turn anymore since I no longer own a full blown accuracy rifle but I will say when it comes to Sinclair's brand of tooling.....they don't make any junk.

[JWFilips]

Well Neck turning I found out is not only for Benchrest / Varmint! I shot a lot of those back in the 1980's and all were turned.
Now jump ahead 30 years, shooting cast. I have improved my groups somewhat by one time neck turning even the venerable but not target 30-30 brass. You would be amazed at how some brands of brass are non symmetrical in their neck thickness. Even turning the 30-30 has closed up my groups at 100yd by 1/2 inch...... maybe more. Is it worth it well maybe if you want to devote some time. I don't mind much. Some evenings it is better then watching the tube or even reading this forum !

[EDG]

I have a number of neck turning tools.

I have an original Marquart tool and 2 home made copies of it.
I have a similar but larger steel tool made by Ferris Pindell of the 6mm PPC cartridge fame. It came with a nice set of nylon case chucks and pilots.
I have one of the micro adjustable K&M tools and a nice set of pilots and expandiron mandrels and the case holder
I have 3 of the Forster neck turning attachments that are used with a Forster case trimmer.

I have also turned cases on a tool room lathe.

There are 3 elements of turning necks.
1. Accuracy
2. Finish quality
3. Ease of use

#1 and #2 are interrelated. They are highly dependent on the geometry of the edge ground on the tool bit.
A tool that gives a poor finish will not give a high degree of accuracy.

Of the tools that I have used the Pindell's wide 1/2" cutter produced the best finish. This wide bit is very easy to touch up with an India stone to keep it sharp and maintain an extra fine finish. I also like the Pindell case holders and the high quality pilots. I used this tool most recently to turn 38-55 brass thinner at the mouth for use with oversize bullets.

The K&M tool is the easiest to adjust. Adjusting one of these tools down to the .00005 range can be tedious but is relatively easy with the K&M. The expandiron mandrels make it easy to expand the brass to match the pilot diameters. The K&M has a case holder that uses Lee priming tool shell holders and will hold about any case. This case holder could be driven with a powder drill if you wanted that convenience. Other than that, the K&M works just like the Marquart tools.

The Marquart syle tools are highly dependent on the tool edge that you grind. One of my Marquart tools has a wide cutting edge on a 3/16" tool bit. The other has a tool that looks like a conventional left hand cutting lathe tool. I have honed the edges of both tools. The left hand tool is used for roughing and the wide edge tool is used for the finish pass on .222 Rem Mag expanded for use in a 6X47 benchrest rifle. These are home shop made tools that are not as nice looking as the commercial products. Adjusting them is tedious so they are never adjusted. They are used only for the 6X47 brass and nothing else. The Marquart tool has a neat case holder but I only have one for the .472 (12mm) head size.

The Forster neck turners work fine as well and have a feed control cam for use on the case trimmer. This neck tuner can also be powered by a drill motor. The carbide tipped screws that serve as a cutting edge are not the best cutting edge idea but they work very well easily producing fine finishes. The carbide screw is relatively easy to adjust for size since you can regulate the cutter extension easily by allen wrench.

Turning cases on an engine lathe is less effort than with any of the hand tools but produces no better results. Again it is dependent on a good cutting edge.

I don't think you will use these tools very often. You use them once on a batch of brass that might last 5 to 10 years.
You need to have a really good micrometer and the touch for using it if you have a tight neck chamber.

[Doc Highwall]

Catch, this is what I use for proper neck expansion along with the titanium expanders.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloading-equipment/case-preparation/neck-turning/turning-expander-mandrels/sinclair-generation-ii-expander-dies-prod38807.as

[pmer]

One good thing about neck turning for a tight necked rifle is that you can stop using an expander ball in the sizing die. It might be more spendy but using the bushing style sizing dies and no expander you can skip inside neck lubing and have better case neck concentricity too because you're not pulling that ball out of the case neck.

I went with the K&M tool.

[country gent]

If your brass is consistent the right size bushing allows for expanderless sizing. I have a tight necked 243 win ( .267 neck dia. ) for long range my lapua brass is turned to .266 loaded dia for accross the coarse winchester is turned to .265. Neck turning it a technique to wring out the last bit of accuracy but should be done as a complete process, tight necked chamber fitted necks properly prepped brass. Another place is case reforming, Sizing a case down thickens the necks sometimes requiring neck turning to allow cases to fit. Have heard of 308 being sized down to 243 requiring a light neck turning to fit the factory chamber resulting in a fitted case neck if done right. I made my own tooling and turn cases necks only very occasionally now.

[Moonie]

I have the K&M and it works very well.

[Catch]

Thanks guys for a lot of good information. I now feel like I have a place to start from.........

[bbqncigars]

I just did a bunch of brass with my K-M tool and my drill press. Just to uniform the case necks. I did a couple of hundred, so that ought to keep me going for a while. FWIW, these are 50BMG brass to feed my Windrunner.:-)

[MT Chambers]

I use the Sinclair tool with their expander but only need to in a couple of .30 cals. that have tight neck chambering and are used for cast bullet bench rest.

[catskinner]

catch, I have only used a Sinclair neck turning tool and am happy with it. When you get a neck turner practice on some of your scrap brass.

[Doc Highwall]

When I neck turned the brass for my 6mm BR .266 neck, I sized it then trimmed it and then de-burred it.
Just before I neck turned I ran it over the expander that was .001 smaller then the turning mandrel and found that Frog Lube works great on the turning mandrel.

When I de-burr my cases I use a Sinclair driver and a bore brush that is wrapped with 0000 steel wool for the insides of the case neck and a small piece in my hand to do the outside.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloading-equipment/case-preparation/neck-turning/neck-turning-accessories/sinclair-driver-caseholders-prod33962.aspx