Neck turning

[Handloader109]

I'm looking at the various neck turners trying to decide which to buy.
Opinions?
I've got 300 bo that brass is too thick when converted from .223, also 22tcm converted from the same. and I'm probably going to convert 270 or 3006 to 7mm mauser.
Looking at a forster, k&n also.

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[Tatume]

I use Forster, both outside neck turner and inside reamer. You should ream after firing or turn after sizing.

[1hole]

Reaming makes for thinner case necks for safety but does nothing for making the inside and outside concentric. Neck turning accomplishes both so it helps reduce bullet runout; that's a good thing.

Turners that look about the same will work the same. That said, Foster's hand turner has a few really nice features (like their carbide cutter) that make it my favorite tool of that type.

[country gent]

As was stated above reaming will thin the neck but not true it up, turning on a mandrel will thin and make a concentric wall thickness both. Another plus to turning is chips are on outside of case.

Neck turning you need to make sure you get all the way to the shoulder or a thick doughnut will remain. reaming you can run thru the neck so this isnt an issue. on some wildcatts wall thickness is enough that I can ream close then neck turn to size. If desired turning allows the neck to be fitted to the chamber. The cutters in most neck turners can be sharpened or honed as needed with out affecting size. A reamer gets dull sharpening will affect size.

Look at the sinclairs neck turner kits with the die body that allows the cutters mandrel to expand necks up after forming. This makes for an almost perfect fit when turning the cases.

When setting the cutter remember that .001 in makes .002 on neck dia.

I shoot several tight necked rifles and must turn for them, this is the "fitted neck". on my 243 chamber neck is .267 case are turned to a loaded neck dia of .2665 Factory ammo wont chamber

[rbuck351]

I use a mini lathe. It's a bit expensive for just turning necks but you can make mandrels to fit anything any size you want and it does a lot of other things as well.

[ndnchf]

I too use a lathe for outside neck turning. Here is a short video showing how I do it.
https://youtu.be/iVzb4WopeAM

[B R Shooter]

I have used the K&M neck turners for years. I bought a Sinclair first, and it's OK, but I like the K&M much better. Get the expander mandrel and holder to get the brass opened up for a good fit for the turner mandrel. I use the carbide mandrels for turning, it's more expensive but is much better than the steel mandrels.

[243winxb]

My discontinued Lyman neck turning attachment works well, its much like the forster type.

[Mr_Sheesh]

I like the Forster as well.

Turn just a BIT off there tho, I've seen someone turn the necks down to about half thickness and frequent neck cracking resulted...

You just want consistent reduction and uniform, acceptable neck thickness.

[Three44s]

I turn necks on some of my brass in varmint cartridges. It is easier to take too much off than to get it just right IMO.

Three44s

[MostlyLeverGuns]

RCBS used to or does make a reaming die that holds the case neck snug and holds its reamer in alignment to prevent out-of-round reaming. For doing a large number of cases it might work best. Long ago Lee made a handloader that had a similar neck reaming concept. Squeeze/size the neck then run a guided reamer through. Some others may make a similar item?

[Scrounge]

I too use a lathe for outside neck turning. Here is a short video showing how I do it.
https://youtu.be/iVzb4WopeAM

Thanks for that! Also enjoyed the video of your AAMCO shaper. When I'm not wasting time online, I'm working on getting my Lewis 10" shaper running.

Bill

[vernm]

I've used a Forster for the last 40 years. No complaints. Posters have given good advice, especially about turning the neck all the way back to the angle of the shoulder. You don't want to leave material that will become a doughnut when you full length size the case.

My latest project was several hundred 300BO from 223 Rem. The Forster made it easy. I don't use the attachment to control feed. Just use eye ball and hand pressure for a smooth cut.

[1hole]

This thread has drifted into much more than neck turning.

I used to make all of my .22-250 cases from LC Match .30-06 brass so I could make fitted necks for my SAAMI spec. chamber. Thinning the resulting thick necks was mandatory for chambering.

Tool flex normally insures that all neck reaming will be round so that's really not a problem.

The old RCBS reamer set with a multi-flute cutter bored case necks well enough but contributed little or nothing to concentricity and couldn't be adjusted for a desired neck wall so it soon died out of the market.

Lee's old zero error loading set had a single cutting edge reamer that did make the inner and outer neck sides match. It worked very well but, like the RCBS reamer, it wasn't adjustable for a desired neck wall thickness so it also died off.

I like to ream my reformed .30-06 necks a tad with a Forster reamer to insure the inside walls are smooth, then I turn the outside wall with a Forster hand held neck turner to insure total concentricity. My trusty 50 year old Lyman Universal Case Trimmer (or my "new" Pacific .22 Varminter file trim die ) uniforms the length.

Then Lyman's primer pocket uniformer, flash hole deburr tool, plus a case mouth deburr/chamfer tool finishes the metal work. My beam scale lets me match cases by weight. Together, all of this work gives me very high quality cases that tightly fit my factory spec. chamber.

Carefully annealing the finished reformed cases from time to time helps my "new" case life. So does neck sizing with Lee's Collet Neck Sizer die ... so does a home shop modified (RCBS) FL die drill changed into a body die to approximate FL sizing when that's needed.

Bottom line, what all this means is there is no "Buy this, adjust that, push a lever and you'll suddenly have custom reformed cases."

[skeet1]

I too use a lathe for outside neck turning. Here is a short video showing how I do it.
https://youtu.be/iVzb4WopeAM

Excellent video! Let us know how it shoots.

Ken

[ndnchf]

Excellent video! Let us know how it shoots.

Ken

Here is a video of me shooting the rifle. In this video I mention that the cartridge was made from .41 magnum brass. At this time I was using both the lathe modified 303 Savage and shortened 41 magnum brass, but just mentioned the 41 magnum brass for simplicity.

https://youtu.be/f939OJjyNtQ

There are other antique gun related videos on my channel as well.

[ndnchf]

Despite the primitive barrel sights and my aging eyes, it does well if I do my part.

[ebb]

K&M and get the carbide expander mandrel

[243winxb]

The 300 bo may need reaming first, if a lot of metal needs removed. Then finish by neck turning. Removing more then .002" with 1 cut, when outside neck turning, may be hard to do?
Or make 2 cuts with outside NT.
My Lyman takes off no more the .0015" with 1 cut.

[Larry Gibson]

I like the Forster as well.

Turn just a BIT off there tho, I've seen someone turn the necks down to about half thickness and frequent neck cracking resulted...

You just want consistent reduction and uniform, acceptable neck thickness.

What he said^^^^^

I also prefer the Forster and use often on different cartridges. As mentioned, just a bit of turning is all that is needed for standard and even match 308W and 30-06 chambers. Remove just enough to remove the high spots. I usually won't have a "clean cut all around the neck but usually just about 50% or less is cut.

When turning a large number of necks I replace the handle with the adaptor for an electric screw driver or small variable speed drill. Makes turning a lot easier and quicker.