Best way to determine what to neck turn to

[capreppy]

From my other thread regarding lowering my ES on loaded rounds, I am going to neck turn my brass. I will also do some of the other steps, but this is where I am seeking advice.

I will be ordering the 21st Century Neck Turning Lathe. It is a little expensive, but the ease of setup and consistency have me leaning that route.

What is the best method for determining what to neck turn down to? Is there a suggested minimum?

The brass that I will be neck turning:

223 Rem - Winchester headstamp (avg of 0.0095 thickness)
6.5 Creedmoor - Hornady headstamp (avg of 0.0115)
300 Win Mag - FC headstamp (TBD)

 

[Walkalong]

Standard chamber? Just enough to clean the brass up, no more.

 

[FLIGHT762]

You will get a lot of different advice about neck turning. Some say if you have Factory chambers in your Rifles, neck turning will do you no good. Others will say it would help to turn necks at about 75% of the neck surface to clean up the neck even on Factory chambers.

Custom chambers with tight necks will require you to neck turn and you have to take a certain amount (depth) off to get the ammo to chamber. That is probably where you would get the most benefit out of neck turning.

If you want to neck turn with factory chambers, I will say clean up the necks at the 75% of the circumference rate and not to turn too much off. At that rate, you can test and see if you get any added accuracy or at least less ES.

I found no real advantage in neck turning for my two 308 Win. rifles which have standard chamber necks.

 

[243winxb]

neck turning.

You will get a lot of different advice about neck turning. Just enough to clean the brass up, no more.

+1 Full benchrest prep of brass is the way to go.

 

[capreppy]

It is a standard chamber. I will only be making the effort on long range stuff (beyond 500 yards).

I will probably (depending on time and effort) be doing a full benchrest effort on the brass.

 

[witchhunter]

I turn necks for factory barrels just enough to make them round and concentric. A lot of brass has been ruined by turning too much off brass. Why not turn a few and see if they shoot better before you turn all of them.

 

[capreppy]

If I can find a neck thickness that is consistent with all the brass then that is what I will likely go with.

My 6.5 CM and my 300 WM won't come out unless I am shooting long distance so I will likely do a full benchrest prep on the brass.

My 223, I will find a few hundred that is very consistent and will do a full prep on that brass.

 

[spitballer]

Interesting subject. I use a .25" neck on my .223 bolt action rifle and can handle a maximum of .012" wall thickness, the thicker the better as long as it's uniform. Expensive premium brass fills the bill for the time being but I'd sure like to be able to turn necks myself to give me a wider choice of brass (and calibers!). Good for you cap, keep us posted.

 

[witchhunter]

The thicker the better in a factory chamber. If you have a custom chamber, you order it to the size of your turned brass, loaded with a bullet plus .001, that is why I say to only turn necks the minimum. If you have .001 then you are able to turn it a little more if need be. If you have more than that, you can't make it up, unless you get some brass with thicker necks like Lapua.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

I'd only turn necks if:

- The neck thickness was uneven in your brass.

or

- You have a tight-neck custom barrel and then I'd shoot for .002-.003 smaller than the reamer cut the neck in the chamber.

Factory ammo and chambers are a bit sloppy, expecting variations in the other.

I've seen tighter than factory, no-turn-neck reamed barrels shoot quite nicely.

Standard chamber? Just enough to clean the brass up, no more.

^ This.