Does Neck Sizing Improve Accurcy

[drgoose]

Hello, I have been reloading for about 6 months now, initially I just reloaded 45 ACP but for the last couple of months I have been reloading 30-06. I started with a Pawn shop Savage 110 that shot pretty awful so I recently but a new Savage 111. I know it is not great out of the box but I figured it was a reasonable place to start.

It did not have an Accutrigger so I had a Timminey installed and I am pretty happy with it. Yesterday I was developing my first load for the rifle using SMK 150 gr bullets using the OCW method. One of the range officers started talking to me and apparently he is into competition bench rest shooting and everything he told me kind of made sense to me. One of the things he suggested was that I should neck size the brass only. I understand clearly why that will prolong case life but I don't know if and how it will improve accuracy.

If it does not significantly improve accuracy, I will probably let that be until I sort some other problems out (I need to determine the position of my lands and grooves, I need a chronograph, etc) since the effort of keeping the brass sorted not only by headstamp, keeping track of the number of times it has been reloaded but now also keeping track of which rifle was it fireformed in sounds like I will end up with many, many little bins on my bench.

I appreciate your input and thanks in advance.

 

[Grumulkin]

Sometimes it improves accuracy and sometimes it doesn't. At least for me, most of the time it makes no difference. In a couple of instances neck sizing with a Lee Collet die actually resulted in worse accuracy.

 

[Blackrock]

I neck size all my Varmint rounds -.222rem,22-250 and 6mm rem with great results.
I use RCBS dies on the .222 and 6mm and Forster bushing die on the 22-250.
I do have LEE Collet dies for all as well.

 

[Win1892]

I neck size all of my bench gun rounds for a number of reasons. Less work hardening and better consistency being the big two.

 

[hey_poolboy]

Each part has its role in accuracy, but mostly, it's consistency. I like to neck size because I feel the less change I make the better. If I can reload a case and only alter the neck I'm happy.

I also don't fix what ain't broke. My .22-250 will shoot a .78" group @ 235 yards with a 50gr. Hornady v-max pushed by 36.9gr of Varget lit by a CCI primer, inside of Winchester brass that was neck sized with a Lee die. With groups like that I don't plan on changing any component unless they quit making one.

 

[Robert Wilson]

The theory is that neck sized brass will fit the chamber more closely and repeatably, whereas fully sized brass "rattles around" in the chamber and won't line the bullet up the same way each time.

Reality is that this works reliably in a match chamber, but not necessarily in a factory chamber. The only way to know for sure in your gun is to try both methods in your gun.

Personally, I neck size if the cartridge is definitely going to be fired in the same gun it came out of. This isn't for accuracy so much as brass life: full length sizing a case repeatedly will eventually lead to case head separation.

If the cartridge might end up in a gun different from the one it came out of, then it gets fully sized, as a cartridge that just fits into a chamber cut to the maximum tolerance may not fit into one cut to the minimum.

And if I value absolute reliability, such as for a dangerous game rifle, full length sizing is the only way to go.

HTH!

 

[ranger335v]

If anything could be counted on to do anything good for accuracy that would be the most popular way of doing it. Neck sizing really isn't all that popular. Only YOU can say if it helps YOUR rifle and ammo.

 

[Maj Dad]

Neck Sizing Prolongs Case Life

Like some have mentioned, it may or may not help with accuracy, but it surely prolongs case life. For my bolt guns, esp. my Ruger M77 6mm Rem, I necksize after the first firing in my rifles (factory ammo - don't use much - or brass from elsewhere that I have full-length sized & loaded). For all the auto loaders (M1, M14, ARs) I full-length size if fired in my rifles or small-base size if from elsewhere. Some use small base all the time, but I have not had to use it on brass fired in my rifles. All the once-fired GI brass gets the SB first out, then just full-size. I would add that I do not use max loads in my autoloaders (bolt guns get the hot stuff) and the brass is not overly stressed.