I need some creative ideas for inside neck reaming

[C. Latch]

My 6.5RM brass project has hit a slight snag. Case necks seem to be just a hair thick, to the point that I fear that I need to inside ream them before I even load them (I don't have measuring tools, I just know that they seem tight in the rifle's chamber when I leave the expander ball in the sizing die; if I take it out they fit better).

The whole point of this experiment was to get brass on the cheap. I can get factory-new R-P brass for $2.50 per case off gunbroker. So, in light of that, and in light of the fact that I have a neverending supply of other unfinished projects, I want a way to ream the cases on the cheap. It seems that inside reaming would be cheaper than outside turning, in terms of tools needed.

Do I chuck a drill bit into the dremel, or something fancier, or.....???

[JSH]

Inside neck reaming will just thin the walls. Which I know is what you want to do, but. Your better off outside turning in order to get wall thickness the same. Unless you have to take a bunch out I would neck turn.

[C. Latch]

Inside neck reaming will just thin the walls. Which I know is what you want to do, but. Your better off outside turning in order to get wall thickness the same. Unless you have to take a bunch out I would neck turn.

I totally understand that from a purely precision standpoint, outside is better.

I'm looking for 'cheap' here. I simply have more projects than I have money for.

[texassako]

Well, inside neck reaming usually involves a reamer and a special die to guide it precisely. It doesn't take much to get the case walls really out of whack; so a drill bit is really out of the question. What case trimmer do you have? I have the ~$37 Lyman outside turner since I already had the trimmer, and RCBS makes one as well for about the same money. Handheld ones are only about $60. Forster makes an inside cutter for their trimmers that is a lot cheaper than a die and reamer combo.

[EDG]

Here is truly cheap.

Buy a gauge pin that is about a .001 press fit into your case mouths. About $3.

Press the pin into each case

Spin that case with an electric drill.

Use a 280 or 320 grit wet or dry paper backed up by a 6" steel scale. Wet the paper and polish about .001 or .002 off of your case necks.

You don't have a micrometer to measure your necks or your chamber?
I can't help you with that. Some things you cannot cut corners on.

[gunwonk]

I have a similar situation, making .350 Remington from .300 Winchester. I'm using a Forster inside neck reamer, like these:
https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/479


Maybe I'll do some outside neck turning later, but at the moment I can't get the neck turner pilot into my case necks. My outside neck turner is the Forster classic, and the relevant neck turner pilot is .358". I think this neck turner was intended to be used on cases after firing, but .358" is too big to act as a pilot if the case has been resized in a more or less normal manner. I'd have to expand the necks a little more. Or use the reamer. :-)

Do other neck turning tools out there have slightly undersize pilots?

[fast ronnie]

Turning necks require the inside be a uniform size. They also need to be relatively tight in order to get the walls turned evenly. he company who sells the particular neck turner will also sell a sizing punch to open the neck to the correct size for their turning tool. Reamers follow the hole they are reaming. If the hole is off-center, the reamer will follow that asme off-center hole, and more than likely make it worse as the thin part of the neck will give more as cutting pressure tends to go where there is less resistance. An undersize pilot will not do a good job of turning either, as the cutter depth will have little or no control. Sanding will work to some extent, but will take a lot longer than turning, and the necks will still be uneven. It the long run, do the job correctly and do it once. It ends up being cheaper and less time consuming than experimenting with less than desirable results.

[JSH]

The old saying, good-cheap-fast, pick two.
If you have an idea of how much you need to take off, do it before reforming.
6.5RM=6.5 Remington magnum? Dunno what you are using as a parent case but I made a bunch some years back. I think I used 7 mag...... Didn't have a neck thickness issue what ever it was I used.

[country gent]

The easiest way to neck ream a case is in the reloading press. Use a seating die or belling die with the stem removed, it needs to have a hole bigger than bullet dia thru it. A sizing die can be converted to neck ream by boring end out to size of reamer +.001-.0015 oversized. The big thing is to determine the size reamer you will need. Bullet dia less .003 is a good start as this leaves .001 to open neck up with expander ball. So with a 6.5mm ( .264 dia ) a .260 or .261 decimil hand reamer and handle will be needed. Run case up into die and by hand ream neck thru die opening. A little beeswax or lube on the reamer helps with finish alot. The reworked sizing die is better as it helps alighn the reamer and hold it straight and true better. My one wildcatt ( 300 wsm shortened and necked to 6.5mm) I neck ream and then neck turn for thickness ( fited neck chamber) This gives me a neck wall thickness of .011 and a .0002 neck wall thickness consitency. With out a set of michrometers your working in the dark. Buy using the sizing die with bored out end the case is squeezed down to a little under then expander opens back up so the above .260 or .261 reamer should be very close. In brass a lot recomend odd number of flutes for better finnish. Another plus to the modified sizing die is it acts as a "clamp" or vise and keeps case from spinning when reaming.

[cabezaverde]

C. Latch, PM your mailing address to me. I have a gift for you.

[C. Latch]

C. Latch, PM your mailing address to me. I have a gift for you.

Message sent. I'm shocked at the generosity on this site.

[WRideout]

I have expeerimented with converting .223 into 7.62 Tok. After they are cut to length, and the case mouth smoothed up, the neck still has walls that are too thick. I tried the drill press route, but found that it doesn't run true enough; once in a while it gets off center, and will actually cut a hole in the side of the neck.

Wayne

[C. Latch]

I got a package in the mail yesterday from cabezaverde.

I opened it and found twenty nice, shiny 6.5RM brass.

So emboldened, I decided to actually shoot the thing this afternoon. I haven't had time to process the new (to me) brass, but of the 5 cases that gunwonk sent me, 4 of them were useable, and sitting there daring me to try them.

I loaded the first one - one that I had oversized - with 40 grains of IMR4895. This should be a starting load, behind a Nosler 123 CC. The case *almost* completely fireformed, and the neck of the fired round was a slip fit with a new bullet - meaning there was just enough clearance to *possibly* get by without reaming or turning these necks.

I loaded three others with 55 grains of RL19 and the same bullet (Nosler 123 CC) and fired them. One was a slightly loose fit with a new bullet in the neck, the other two, the bullet would go into the case but it wouldn't slide all the way in. I may have donuts in this brass. Either way, this tells me that the necks on this brass are none too small; they are just borderline small enough to be fired safely. So I need to find a cheap way to clean them up a bit, in the long term, but for the short term I have twenty shiny cases, and this rifle barked today for the first time in over twenty years - maybe forty years. My grandpa gave it to me two decades ago and hadn't fired it in a long time, even then.

Now, of course, comes the hard part - do I start load development, or put it back on the shelf? There aren't many near-mint 6.5RM model 700s floating around in this world. Part of me hates to scratch this one, as would surely happen if it went to the woods. Another part of me hates to let it sit in the safe for another 40 years.

[cabezaverde]

Shoot it. Guns were made to be used. Glad you enjoyed the brass. And if anyone knows of a line on some 350 Rem Mag brass, let me know.

[C. Latch]

Shoot it. Guns were made to be used. Glad you enjoyed the brass. And if anyone knows of a line on some 350 Rem Mag brass, let me know.

I'm already pondering what I could sell off to put a decent scope on this thing. It has a 70's era bushnell on it. Probably fine for what I'll do with it, but time will tell.

I am definitely wanting to shoot it more. Not sure how much I'll hunt with it, but I'm pretty much convinced to take it hunting, at least, next season.

BTW, after I posted earlier I went and processed the brass. It's ready to be loaded now.

[No_1]

If it was configured the way your Grandpa had it then I would leave the scope as is. Honor him by shooting it and taking it into the field.

[torpedoman]

inside neck trimming is nessary if you neck down a brass from say 30 caliber to 22 caliber. or make a custom brass that is shorter than the parent case where your using a part of the case that's far back from the original neck area where the brass is thicker