Does Neck Tension matter ?

[JFrank]

When my daughter gets through with her move I will resume loading 6.5cm, I am going to take extra care with the necks after reading these post and now I'm thinking run 1/2 with lubed necks/bullets and 1/2 dry, I can try them out at 200yrds easily and 800yrds in April. Would 25ea be enough to test or should I also try with 2 different powders 25ea (both powders shoot about the same)? Does the neck tension show up at shorter distances (200yrds) or mostly just longer distances.

Not only can ES/SD be influenced by lubing or brushing as @Nature Boy posted , but as I posted on #1&3 more or less neck tension can and will influence group size and consistency in a big way most noticeable at longer ranges. (tough to see at short range to the untrained eye)
Ensuring the optimum neck tension / bullet hold for your rifle is a simple matter of testing for yourself.

 

[JFrank]

@Nature Boy - amigo, I can't help but laugh...

NB: "Here's data which shows the difference between dry necks and lubed necks"
Rando: "what you experienced can't be experienced."
NB: "um... Yeah, it can, because I did..."

WTH are any of us doing here when folks see actual data, but refuse it out of hand?

Sometimes guys just miss a post or mis read a post, I know I have more than once but yeah the material is posted for sure.

 

[Varminterror]

Does the neck tension show up at shorter distances (200yrds) or mostly just longer distances?

Inconsistent primary ignition due to poor or inconsistent neck tension/bullet grip tends to show up on the chronograph at any range. On target, in general, it takes a bit of distance before the sensitivity of precision to ignition inconsistencies begins to outweigh the sensitivity of precision to mechanical errors. I've generally been taught, and equally observed that to flip somewhere past 200, so I really don't like doing POI or group dependent tests like this anywhere shorter than 300yrds, and preferably out at 600yrds.

But... I will acknowledge, if a guy is shooting 10" groups at 600yrds, there are bigger fish to fry, and discerning sensitivity to any singular error contributor is a challenging game. Noise > signal.

 

[JFrank]

Inconsistent primary ignition due to poor or inconsistent neck tension/bullet grip tends to show up on the chronograph at any range. On target, in general, it takes a bit of distance before the sensitivity of precision to ignition inconsistencies begins to outweigh the sensitivity of precision to mechanical errors. I've generally been taught, and equally observed that to flip somewhere past 200, so I really don't like doing POI or group dependent tests like this anywhere shorter than 300yrds, and preferably out at 600yrds.

But... I will acknowledge, if a guy is shooting 10" groups at 600yrds, there are bigger fish to fry, and discerning sensitivity to any singular error contributor is a challenging game. Noise > signal.

I like and agree with 99.% of this , however if I was shooting 10 in groups at 600 I would definitely look at neck tension right away. Every mid range powder ladder looks better when i’m on the right bushing, I posted a great example on post # 1

 

[kmw1954]

Well as some of our members know I load to shoot in a local rifle league with a 223REM. I learned the very first year of shooting that at least in my rifle for what I am trying to do it does matter. When I first started chronoing my loads I found that my ES was all over the place. I was finally narrowed down by friends at the range and members here that my neck tension was also all over the place. I worked on that one issue and the ES and my group size improved.

Back to this point, at the time I was mostly shooting from 100 to 200yds.. Then as stated my numbers were all over the place and I was getting a high number of "fliers" that I was content to blame on my inexperience. So after starting to anneal my brass my numbers improved and those "fliers" were reduced drastically.

Didn't take twice to convince me

 

[JFrank]

I don’t know what more could be said or posted about the influences of neck tension or whatever you want to call it and I thank every guy that has shared their experience,
I will share a short story.
I started reloading not that long ago~ around 2016 I suppose and the fella that took me under his wing had a favorite saying in response when I mentioned I had read this or that article. ( Your Rifle Didn’t Read That Book !) Ya gotta go out and test for your self.. that made a huge impression on me and when I built my first 6 BR I really placed emphasis on testing stuff and when I had another range mate ( currently BR long range champion and hall of fame member) that said at some point you have to take your test results and apply that to actual load development.

A subject for another thread, another time..

Shoot Small ya’ll
J

 

[AJC1]

I really enjoy this guy's presentations

Sizing Brass and Setting Neck Tenison - Which way is Best? - The Test Plan

In this video I review 10 combination to size brass and set neck tension. I review full length, neck only, collet dies, bushings and mandrels to size your br...

youtu.be